At the halfway stage of the Atlantic leg of the Ocean Race, Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia had fallen behind the leading boats, “United by the Ocean” and “11th Hour Racing”, by up to 110 nautical miles. Saturday’s collision, compounded by an autopilot failure, had set back the IMOCA – which was only two months old – and placed a heavy strain on its crew. It was a tough weekend for the Malicians.
However, whilst the entire fleet – from Paul Meilhat’s leading “United by the Ocean” to Conrad Colman’s straggler “MSIG Europe” – has now stretched out to a gap of around 460 nautical miles, Team Malizia managed to make up significant ground again at the start of the week. On the morning of 7 September, at around 9.30 am, Boris Herrmann, Cole Brauer, Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion were just around 50 nautical miles behind the frontrunners at the head of the field.
There, on Monday morning, the crews aboard “United by the Ocean” and “11th Hour Racing” (formerly “Malizia 3”) were locked in a nail-biting duel within sight of one another. Ocean Race Europe winner Paul Meilhat, Mariana Lobato, Benjamin Ferré and Sara Stone on “United by the Ocean” took the lead for the first time at around 10 am on Monday morning.
The Supersprint Queen: fast, faster, “Malizia 4”
Previously, Team Malizia had despite the technical challenges they presente won the fourth of the daily Supersprints late on Sunday afternoon. For the new Koch design, which had been launched in Lorient on 6 July, it was already the third of four possible victories. The Supersprints are held simultaneously over 20 minutes, starting at the exact point where the boats in the Ocean Race Atlantic happen to be at that moment. Naturally, this means that conditions are not the same for everyone.
The rest the fast “Malizia 4” leads the Supersprint standings with 26 points, ahead of the Japanese Verdier-Imoca ‘DMG Mori Global One’ (23 points) – which is also just two months old – and ‘11th Hour Racing’ (21 points). They are followed by Paul Meilhat’s “United by the Ocean” (16 points), Oliver Heer’s “Embrace the Challenge” (11 points) and “MSIG Europe” (8 points). Click here for the provisional results of the Supersprint special classification.
The new situation at sea has also arisen because the leading quartet are no longer sailing within the strong low-pressure system. Ahead of them lie rather changeable, and at times light, conditions. On Monday morning at around 8 am, “11th Hour Racing” was only managing an average speed of around ten knots over a four-hour period. At a comparable time, “Malizia 4” was still maintaining an average speed of 17.5 knots over four hours. At that point, Boris Herrmann’s speedster was still sailing in much stronger winds as it closed the gap.
Autopilot failure in a storm puts the Malizia crew under pressure in the Ocean Race Atlantic
The team certainly didn’t have it easy at the weekend. Following a collision with a marine creature and problems with the foil system, a failure of the autopilot put the crew under extreme strain in stormy weather with gusts of up to around 40 knots. Justine Mettraux had to steer manually, whilst Julien Villion took care of the mainsail. Boris Herrmann and Cole Brauer worked tirelessly below deck to get the autopilot up and running again.
Team Malizia themselves had commented on this: “Imagine your autopilot suddenly failing in the midst of stormy winds with gusts of up to 40 knots. Whilst one crew member steers the boat through rough seas, another reefs the mainsail and the rest below deck try to get the system up and running again. That was exactly the reality on board the ‘Malizia 4’. Gauthier’s footage, taken right in the thick of the action, is spectacular.”
The fact that “Malizia 4” remains competitive despite its problems is a strong sign in the current situation. The ongoing compression caused by the lightening winds has recently helped the hard-pressed crew. If the Malizia crew can now stabilise their performance, they are by no means out of the running for a podium place with less than 1,300 nautical miles to go to the finish in the second half of the Ocean Race Atlantic, which is already underway.
Ocean Race Atlantic: a problem shared is a problem halved?
Francesca Clapcich also gave a vivid account of just how gruelling conditions were in the North Atlantic at the weekend. The Italian-American said: “I can’t remember many days like this on an IMOCA. It wasn’t really about the wind. We had strong winds, but it was mainly the swell that was dreadful. The angle of the waves – a sort of broad reach or half-broad reach – was extremely gruelling!”
Francesca Clapcich also described how this affected the crew: “I think it takes more mental than physical energy. We had such strong winds and such heavy seas that we had to reduce the sail area a little, but after that the boat just ran itself. Mentally, it’s really tough. You can’t move about on board; it’s hard to eat, it’s hard to drink. It’s nice to have other people on board – you share the hardships.”
There was also good news from Oliver Heer’s “Embrace the Challenge”. The crew managed to repair their badly torn mainsail and hoist it again. “These last two days haven’t been easy. They’ve been stressful and tiring. As a team, we now need to stick together and enjoy the final 2,000 nautical miles,” said Oliver Heer once the repairs were complete.
Malizians under pressure! Click here to see the striking images captured by Team Malizia’s on-board reporter, Gauthier Lebec, during the Ocean Race Atlantic at the weekend, showing the autopilot failure and the crew’s struggle to maintain control of the boat in 40-knot winds:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter