The final leg of the 2nd Ocean Race Europe starts on Sunday. In contrast to the premiere, which was won by "Einstein" in a dramatic and surprising final sprint in 2021, there will be no German winner this time. Boris Herrmann's "Malizia - Seaexplorer" is too far behind the leader with a total of 18 points.
Paul Meilhat's Team Biotherm is in the lead with a whopping 41 points. Up until third place in the fourth and penultimate stage, the French riders were first on all stages and at every classification gate. The almost clean slate has given the Vendée Globe fifth-placed Meilhat and his crew a cushion of twelve points over the co-favourite "Paprec Arkéa" (29 points) and 13.7 points over the also co-favourite "Holcim-PRB" (27.3 points).
Ocean Race Europe: the finale approaches
In theory, Team Biotherm could even afford to miss an entire stage without directly losing the lead. A maximum of 16 points are still up for grabs: Two for the first boat at the scoring gate after the Genoa stage start at the longitude of Santo Stefano, an island in the La Maddalena archipelago. Plus seven points for victory on the fifth and, at around 2000 nautical miles, longest leg to Boka Bay in Montenegro. A further seven points are awarded for victory in the short final race on 20 September in the Boka Bay area.
Team Malizia is currently eleven points behind second place and 9.3 points behind third place. The Italian team Allagrande Mapei Racing, which won the fourth stage, has only one point to make up. Boris Herrmann had already announced after his disappointing sixth place on the penultimate stage: "I hate losing. This will motivate me to do even better on the next stage."
The result on leg four hurt Team Malizia and its skipper. Which is why Team Malizia would like to finish the Ocean Race Europe, which connects Europe and covers a total of around 4500 nautical miles, with a respectable success. Despite, or perhaps because of, the weakness in reaching in light winds, which Cole Brauer described as "a little discouraging" on leg four, the Herrmann team will be on the attack.
Clapcich studies for the Vendée Globe premiere
The hoped-for farewell gala for "Malizia - Seaexplorer" before the 2022 boat is handed over to Francesca Clapcich has become a stress test. The crew led by Boris Herrmann will have to show great resilience in the often calm Mediterranean. Others are fighting for the podium places. Nevertheless, the upcoming skipper Francesca Clapcich is using every minute of the Ocean Race Europe to explore her upcoming boat for her own Vendée Globe premiere.
"Frankie" Clapcich says: "Being on the Malizia-Seaexplorer and racing every day is fantastic because at the end of this race I will take over the boat myself. That's when my campaign on the water with 11th Hour Racing really begins."
I learn something new every day and I definitely feel more comfortable now when we have problems on the boat." Francesca Clapcich
Clapcich, who won the last Ocean Race around the world with 11th Hour Racing and is now looking towards her own first Vendée Globe summit push, has been on a steep learning curve in this Ocean Race Europe. She says: "I know where to look for solutions - also on the technical side. I know how to separate and connect the systems, where things are stored on the boat, and that's something really positive for me that only comes from sailing and racing."
Herrmann masters "Malizia - Seaexplorer" in his sleep
Francesca Clapcich also experienced some fascinating things: "It was good to have Boris with us on the final stages because he knows the boat so well. Every time something is wrong or the wrong sail is set, he simply senses it. He sleeps in his bunk, wakes up and says: 'I don't know whether we should sail with the J3 now. Then I ask: 'How do you know that - you were asleep?' But he simply senses such things because he has spent three months of his life alone on the boat, perceiving every single sound and every single movement of the boat."
Boris knows when the boat is set up correctly and when it's not." Francesca Clapcich
According to Clapcich, this is an enormously important quality. Stage five will be another opportunity to learn how to handle the boat that the Italian-American will take over after the Ocean Race Europe. Why did she choose "Malizia - Seaexplorer"? She says: "There were several good reasons: "First of all, I didn't want to build a new boat. We talked about it in my team and with the sponsors. We put all the options on the table."
According to Clapcich, a new build would have been an option. But: "I'm not an engineer, I don't have the background in boat design and I don't have a strong opinion on exactly how it should be built." Francesca Clapcich has a degree in sports science. The Ocean Race winner, Olympic and America's Cup participant prefers to take a solid approach to her first Vendée Globe. Reason number two for her decision in favour of "Malizia - Seaexplorer": "I wanted to get going as quickly as possible."
Into the future with "Malizia - Seaexplorer"
Clapcich sees being able to compete in the Transat Café L'Or with Will Harris this year as an advantage for her own Vendée Globe future. She says: "There weren't many boats available for it." Reason number three for the decision in favour of "Malizia - Seaexplorer", which will be wearing a new 11th Hour livery in just a few weeks' time: "I wanted to be part of an established team. This is the first time I want to tackle the Vendée Globe. I don't have much experience in solo sailing, I don't come with a full technical team," Clapcich explains in an interview with YACHT online.
Francesca Clapcich describes Team Malizia as a very open international team. That is important to her. She is not French and does not live in France. She admires Boris Herrmann for the way he established himself there many years ago "when there weren't many non-French people on the scene" and established his team at such a high level. This is another reason why she feels comfortable under the umbrella of Team Malizia, which supports and manages her campaign in many areas.
Regarding the boat itself, Francesca Clapcich said: "If everything goes well with the qualification, it will be my first Vendée Globe. My first priority is to finish the race. To finish it with a good result. I'm not doing it for the adventure. I'm not that kind of person.
I think "Malizia" is an extremely reliable boat that has already shown incredible performance in stronger winds and waves." Francesca Clapcich
The crews for leg five of the Ocean Race Europe
These more powerful winds may not be the order of the day in the Ocean Race Europe with its predominantly complicated light wind conditions, but they are the sides of "Malizia - Seaexplorer" that are set to draw again in the future. Just like in autumn at the Transat Café L'Or. Before that, however, there is now the Ocean Race Europe final. Boris Herrmann is contesting leg five with co-skipper Francesca Clapcich, Cole Brauer and Will Harris.
The crew lists published on Saturday show only a few changes in all teams. Paul Meilhat will fight with Amélie Grassi, Benjamin Ferré and Spaniard Carlos Manera to secure the early "Biotherm" victory. Team Paprec Arkéa will be looking to defend second place with Yoann Richomme, co-skipper Corentin Horeau, Mariana Lobato and Gautier Levisse on course for Boka Bay.
But the Swiss team Holcim-PRB with skipper Rosalin Kuiper, Nico Lunven, Carolijn Brouwer and Alan Roberts also wants it. According to the rotation principle, Franck Cammas is sitting out this time in Team Holcim-PRB. Stage five of the Ocean Race Europe will show to what extent fourth-placed Team Allagrande Mapei Racing can push ahead after their recent "home win" with skipper Ambrogio Beccaria, co-skipper Thomas Ruyant, Hugo Feydit and the strong Abby Ehler. On the other hand, Team Malizia is only one point behind the Italians with a strong French crew and will be fighting to overtake the Beccaria crew again.
New hunting ground on course for Boka Bay
This leg is new and takes the fleet to an area that many sailors are not yet familiar with. It leads from Genoa southwards westwards past Corsica and Sardinia, on to a waypoint above Sicily (roughly on the longitude of Palermo), then back a little and round Sicily to the first waypoint in the Ionian Sea. Between Apulia in the west and Greece and Albania in the east, the route heads north again to the destination harbour of Boka Bay - exciting new territory for most Ocean Race sailors.
The starting signal for stage five will be given on Sunday (7 September) at 3 p.m. local time off Genoa. Before that, the dockout show will begin at 12.30 p.m. for all those who are present in the stage harbour of Genoa. Click here to go to the tracker after the start. And this is the course for stage five:
