10 years of Malizia: The start of Imoca and the first sponsors - Part 2

How did Team Malizia become what it is today: Germany's best-known sailing racing team with international appeal. A look back at the beginnings shows that nothing fell into Boris Herrmann's lap either. His first Imoca, which became famous with him at the Vendée Globe premiere, was a VPLP Verdier design built by the Gitana racing team. Launched in August 2015, the Herrmann team, which was just starting to build up, took delivery of the boat in Lorient in March 2017.

Click here for part 1 of the series "10 years of Malizia".

"Our project was totally underfunded at the time. Pierre (editor: team founder Pierre Casiraghi) was never a sponsor or financier. The Yacht Club de Monaco sponsored our GC32 project, the running costs. Then there was an extension to the GC32 contract: yes, we now also finance the charter and the insurance for the Imoca," Boris Herrmann recalls the beginnings.

One year after the team was founded, Imoca set out on its journey

When he got the ex-"Gitana 16" in spring 2017, "we had the boat, but zero running budget". Things got underway on the basis of a "minimal overhead" from the GC project, which covered Boris Herrmann's salary. "So I didn't have to pay myself. I could afford a car from it. That was 50 per cent of the campaign: me and a car," recalls Boris Herrmann of the important second year in the team's history, which began in 2016 with the two-year GC32 project alongside Pierre Casiraghi.

Boris Herrmann lived in his car on Kernevel beach in 2017. The crêperie Boo't A Boo became his living room. The Boris Herrmann crêpe with bacon, mushrooms and egg filling, which they dedicated to him there, is still on the menu. During this time, Herrmann also learnt the current Imoca President Antoine Mermod know and appreciate. "He had a different role back then, but was somehow a clever guy with an overview. I think he was great. He had a vision and didn't dwell on the little things," says Herrmann.

His thoughts wander back to the time when he set off with "Malizia 2": "We took the boat to the Bâtiment Défi (ed.: now Maison des Skippers) and Antoine helped me a bit. I was able to ask him: When do I need to service my keel hydraulics? What else do I need to do?" Mermod advised Boris Herrmann. And he also wanted to know from him who he could get as his first team member. Because: Boris Herrmann was still alone in his new Imoca project.

Into the future of Malizia with a Gitana Imoca

Herrmann describes the acquisition of the Gitana-Imoca today as follows: "Gitana put the boat in the water for us. The purchase contract said: one trial sail under their direction, then the boat was mine at the jetty. They organised everything with putting it in, setting the sails, one trial sail. Seb Josse was still there at the time. Then it was on the jetty. Matze Steiner and Albert Schweizer (editor: long-time companions of Boris Herrmann) were there. We toasted with sparkling wine on the jetty. That was the christening with maybe four or five friends. Then I was alone with my boat."

In order to be able to go sailing the next day, Boris Herrmann wrote in the Imoca WhatsApp group: "Who would like to go sailing on the old 'Gitana' again?" There was a good reason for his hope for curious fellow travellers, says Herrmann: "The boat had always been kept a total secret before. Team Gitana had made curtains so that you couldn't see inside."

Herrmann remembers it well: "The first Imoca skipper to turn up the next day was Conrad Colman. With Armand de Jacquelot, who is now co-designing our new boat with Antoine Koch. Charlie Dalin and Seb Col arrived on the second day." Charlie Dalin, Herrmann knows, "was still a Figaro sailor at the time. Herrmann wondered: "What kind of guy is he? He wants to steer all the time. And Seb Col managed Charlie the whole time. I always asked Alan Gautier if he could help with the mooring and unmooring with his canyon boat."

We simply had nothing." Boris Herrmann

The Malizia one-man team had also received the mooring lines with the purchase. Boris Herrmann had bought an old container from the people at his Hamburg gym, who also traded in containers. "Ours was completely rusty and not entirely watertight. It was then here in the harbour in Lorient. We stored our things in it. We simply didn't have the budget."

We bought sauces from Aldi, cooked on board and I slept in the van." Boris Herrmann

Although one or two GC32 colleagues helped out in the early days with "Malizia 2", Boris Herrmann realised that he would need more consistent support. "Antoine recommended Milena, his rigger on 'No way back', to me. He was managing the project at the time. I called Milena. She was then our boat captain for two years. She filled the roles of project manager, boat captain, transfer skipper and many more."

Boris Herrmann is still impressed by the hands-on support: "Milena was only in her mid-twenties at the time. She removed the keel hydraulics and brought them to La Rochelle. She did it all on her own. She never said: 'No, I can't'. She always said: 'Yes, I'll do it'. If she had any questions, she simply called someone."

The Malizia mini team surpasses itself

Despite the many hurdles, there was a magic to this beginning that Boris Herrmann will never forget: "It was unbelievable how the two of us ran this 'Gitana' (laughs), which had previously been surrounded by at least twelve people and two dinghies. They also told me that it was very complex, that I needed a proper structure, a technical director and lots of people."

Boris Herrmann describes the real situation back then as follows: "We got the most sophisticated boat from the best sailing team. After three years on the Gitana, it was so well perfected that it simply worked reliably for a year and a half without any problems. We could simply use it without a huge team. I sailed the Route du Rhum with the old sails."

Boris Herrmann considers "Malizia 2" to be "my life and my home". In his book "Nonstop" he told her at the time: "I'm afraid that something might happen to her and really only find peace when I'm on board." He considers it a privilege to be able to sail this boat, even if it was "wildly put together" at the beginning.

The Malizia supporters in the early days

According to Boris Herrmann, Hamburg businessman Claus Löwe was also important in these early years. Herrmann took part in the Atlantic Anniversary Regatta on "Malizia" with his sponsor. The race led from Bermuda to Hamburg in 2018. Löwe entrusted Herrmann with the management of the regatta, came along himself with fellow regatta sailors from his crew and supported the Malizia campaign.

After Pierre Casiraghi, Claus Löwe was another important "stepping stone" for Boris Herrmann, a supporter on course for the future. "And then there was Gerhard Senft," says Boris Herrmann about Team Malizia's development period. Stuttgart property entrepreneur Gerhard Senft, whom Boris Herrmann met through companion and advisor Arno Kronenberg, who had also recently discovered the "Malizia Explorer" research vessel, played a key role in the team's development.

Boris Herrmann contested the CNB Owner's Cup off Sardinia in 2016 on Gerhard Senft's CNB 76. On the last Sunday of the regatta - Herrmann has also just told this story again Loïck Peyron during a chance flight together - the CNB regatta director stopped by the jetty to see all the participants. He also stuck his head into the Senft boat and shouted: "Ah, Boris, you absolutely have to sail the Vendée Globe!"

How the Malizia-Imoca puzzle came together

Then Gerhard Senft said to Boris Herrman: "What is the Vendée Globe and why did he say you should sail it? Why does he know you and what are you up to?" Herrmann explained the race and the boats to Senft and told him about the racing teams, owners and investor models involved. Gerhard Senft is interested and says: "Send me some information to my office on Monday." On Monday evening, Senft replies to Boris Herrmann like this: "You'll have to show me one of these boats, we'll have to discuss the details, but in principle: yes, we can do it."

"That was it again," says Boris Herrmann in the retrospective, "this overnight success, which actually has a 20-year history. Where coincidences fall on fertile ground and everything interlocks." The course was set in the summer of 2016. "We travelled to Lorient and sailed with 'Pifou' (editor: Team Malizia's technical director Pierre Francois Marie Dargnies) on 'Maître Coq' so that Gerhard Senft could experience an Imoca."

They also watched the Vendée Globe launch together in autumn 2016. "Then everything came together: Claus Löwe, who helped a little with the budget. Pierre, who shook hands with Gerhard: We'll pay for the charter and insurance. Christoph Enge, who said we'd take out the insurance. And Gerhard Senft, who was the banker. That's how the constellation of planets came together, that's how the puzzle came together."

On course for a Vendée Globe premiere with home remedies, but without chichi

Four years followed, "in which we sailed a lot," says Boris Herrmann. "Two transats every year. We sailed the most of all the teams and rebuilt the boat with Stu (ed.: Boat Captain Stu Maclachlan) during the Covid pandemic. Stu was in charge of that. We totally embraced the Malizia spirit. We got things right with just a few home remedies and without chichi."

This happened in the years 2019/2020 until the Start of Boris Herrmann's legendary Vendée Globe premiere. Schütz was also actively involved as a technical partner. The current Team Director Holly Cova had previously come on board in 2018. The friend of a friend, who studied law in the UK, had come to Hamburg to find a job at a start-up. She started out as an assistant at Team Malizia, but quickly proved to be a clever mind.

"She approached everything with pragmatism and without any fuss. She didn't spend a lot of time on big presentations, but simply called people. We all realised that things were going really well with her. Then she stayed," says Boris Herrmann. That is still the case today.

We are continuing the "10 years of Malizia" series in loose order with different focal points.

A leap in time to Team Malizia and Boris Herrmann's current world - in episode 3 of the series "Born to race" this week, ten years after the team was founded, everything revolved around Foils and the new "Malizia 4", which is due to be launched at the end of June: