It took Boris Herrmann around a decade and a half "as a young man starting out in a medium-sized German town" before he arrived at the point on his journey where he founded Team Malizia with Pierre Casiraghi in 2016. Together, the native of Oldenburg and the Monegasque laid the foundations on which their dream of a sailing team became a reality and grew.
Team Malizia: an unconventional racing team
"In a way, the team name symbolises the founding myth of Monaco and also means pirate. That fits in quite well with our way of thinking. We don't just want to copy others, but try to do things a little differently, in our own style," explains Boris Herrmann in the film documentary "Unconventional".
We like to have this little pirate style in our team." Boris Herrmann
The first decade as an international sailing racing team is what Team Malizia is celebrating this year. The team has now released a documentary that provides deep insights into the thoughts, dreams, hopes and, above all, the work of those who once set out to build Team Malizia and make it what it is today. Team Director Holly Cova is also part of the core team. She has managed Team Malizia since 2018.
Two key figures: Holly Cova and Will Harris
Having grown up in a sailing family herself, the law graduate says: "Sailing was always my passion, but I didn't realise that such a profession existed. I didn't realise that you could be the team manager of a racing team." Today, the passionate nature lover and mentor for women on board also looks to the future. with pride in what Team Malizia has achieved.
It's a dream project to be part of. It hasn't been an easy journey." Will Harris
Boris Herrmanns long-time loyal companion and co-skipper Will Harris joined the team in August 2019. As British as the team director herself, Harris says today: "I think I now associate every aspect of my life with what we are trying to achieve. And with what we have already achieved with Team Malizia."
Will Harris had just completed the Solitaire du Figaro with his own project in 2019 when a journalist told him that he had heard in an interview with Boris Herrmann that the German was looking for a co-skipper for the Transat Jacques Vabre. According to Harris' recollections, the journalist added: "I think you two would be a good match." At the time, Harris had no idea who Boris Herrmann or Malizia were.
The skipper and his co: Herrmann and Harris
He quickly found out via Facebook and found a video clip of Pierre Casiraghi doing a backflip off the boat at the start of the Route du Rhum. "It became a pretty famous video," Will Harris still remembers today. And then he saw the opportunity: "I would love to try Imoca sailing." So he applied, still thinking: "I'll never get the job. There must be 100 people Boris would like to sail with before me. But I sent him a message to see what would happen."
Will Harris met Boris Herrmann in person for the first time on the day that Team Malizia presented the Atlantic cruise with Greta Thunberg to the public. Harris recounts in the documentary "Unconvential": "He shook my hand and said hello. And then he said: 'Here's what we've just announced: We're taking Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic. I need to make a quick phone call'. Then I didn't see him for two days."
According to Harris, he "really joined the team on the day it became really big and everyone knew who and what it was". In April 2019, Team Malizia sailed Greta Thunberg from Plymouth to the UN Climate Summit in New York for over two weeks. "It's not that Boris was famous in 2018. I think at the very beginning, there was also a concern: would we find the money to continue?" says Holy Cova, recalling the early development of Team Malizia, which significantly increased its profile at the time through the Thunberg project.
Team Malizia sails through valleys, storms peaks
Will Harris remembers "many ups and downs" in the early days. He remembers that things didn't look rosy on the sponsorship front at the beginning: "There were no potential signs that we would get partners or sponsors." Boris Herrmann also remembers those times well: "Finding a sponsor in a country that has never taken part in a Vendée Globe who wants to do it is almost impossible, I would say," Boris Herrmann recalls his thoughts from the past. But he also knew: "If we were to do the first participation, it should be a good story."
And it really was, as the latest documentary and many other films and books now tell. Boris Herrmann experienced his Vendée Globe premiere in 2020/2021: "You have to understand that this race was a historic event that will never be repeated. In the midst of the Covid pandemic, the rest of the world was at home doing nothing. No other sport was taking place. The TV stations didn't know what to broadcast. And then we're out there on the ocean..."
The 2020/2021 Vendée Globe was a magical event in the history of sport." Boris Herrmann
Boris Herrmann even believes that "we are still surfing the wave of this outstanding event". Two weeks after the thriller final, the collision with a fishing boat on the last night, the nevertheless acclaimed fifth place and the subsequent media hype and talk show marathon, Holly Cova then said to Boris Herrmann: "Okay, you stop all interviews, all meetings immediately. It's now or never: if we want to do a campaign with a new boat - The Ocean Race and the Vendée - then we're already late. We have to start today."
The Malizia "rhythm of life": four- to five-year-old chapters
The following development is well known. The team manages to bring together a committed and powerful group of partners and sponsors to plan and build its own Imoca. It was christened on 9 September 2022 in Hamburg in front of an XL audience at the foot of the Elphi. Boris Herrmann's second Vendée Globe has long since become history. Team Malizia has not left it at that. The team's commitment to sustainability applies to sport and the world's oceans.
The documentary goes into this and many other aspects of the racing team in depth, giving its protagonists a chance to speak at length. "At its heart, Team Malizia is an offshore sailing racing organisation. We have a large climate protection programme around it. We have cycles of four or five years," says Holly Cova, explaining the racing team's "rhythm of life" today. "We have summit events. The Vendée Globe is one of them, a solo race around the world. The other race is The Ocean Race. The crew race also goes around the world, but with stops in between."
The boats of the Team Malizia racing team are all well-known: Between 2016 and 2018, the then still very small team took part in regattas with the GC32 catamaran "Malizia 1". This was followed by four years with the second-hand Imoca 60 "Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco" between 2018 and 2022, followed by the cycle with Imoca's own boat "Malizia - Seaexplorer". The latest "Malizia 4" is due to be launched in Lorient at the end of June. She will be the centre of the latest five-year chapter of Team Malizia, which has already begun.
Malizia founder Pierre Casiraghi: "Proud of the journey"
Team Malizia's co-founder Pierre Casiraghi commented on the anniversary: "Ten years ago, Boris and I set ourselves the goal of building much more than just a racing team. Our aim was to create a long-term project that combines sporting ambition, innovation and a real commitment to the oceans. We also wanted to inspire younger generations and awaken new vocations in sailing."
Casiraghi's thoughts after a decade of Team Malizia: "Decade When I look at what Team Malizia has become today, I am very proud of the path we have travelled together with our sailors, partners and supporters over the last ten years. What makes this milestone particularly special is that the spirit with which we started in Monaco has remained unchanged to this day."
New interior views of "Malizia 4", which is due to be launched in Lorient at the end of June:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
