I'll just summarise the many questions about the low: I am now more than 200 nautical miles behind. I had less wind than the boats ahead of me. As a result, my average speed compared to the boats ahead of me has been slower and slower over the past few days. My deficit means that I will miss the low on Tuesday evening, Wednesday and Thursday.
The Cape Town Express will probably depart without Herrmann
The boats in front will rush to Cape Town with the low. I will arrive in Cape Town in a system behind them. By then my deficit may have increased tenfold. It could easily be 500 to 1200 nautical miles behind. So around 1000, I would estimate. I would also be a good whole day behind Justine and Paul (ed.: Justine Mettraux and Paul Meilhat), who I would have liked to catch up with, but I can't manage that at the moment.
The low I can get is quite light-winded. It won't give me an advantage over the competition. It's a bit devastating at the moment, but my mood is still good. I think there will be chances to catch up in the Indian Ocean. Not before. The people in front of me are all top athletes. They are all very well-prepared teams with an incredible concentration of talent. Chapeau to these people, huge respect!
I do everything I can, I sail as well as I can. I don't have a fundamental speed problem either. They just have a crazy run - and there's less wind behind them. They always come into the stronger wind first. The whole thing runs a bit smoother for them. With the low, they're going to jet off. So it doesn't look good.
You're never safe from good surprises." Boris Herrmann
But if we then have rough conditions in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, I still hope to be able to catch up with one or two others. But I believe that this gap is now decisive for the race overall, in the sense that I won't be able to catch up with the leaders until Cape Town. Simply because I'm a system behind. But the race is long and there are many surprises. You're never safe from good surprises!
Unusual Vendée Globe kick-off
The second week of racing comes to an end today. It is unusual that we have not had a retirement for technical reasons so far. Maxime Sorel's retirement due to his ankle is a special case. On the other hand, we haven't had any wind either. We've rarely had more than 15 knots of wind on average. There was a stronger wind once at Cape Finistère. I blew right through the whole fleet.
With our 4-wheel drive, we simply don't have that much to report in these flat Atlantic conditions." Boris Herrmann
So it's a bit of a worst-case scenario for our performance profile with our ship here. But apart from that, when I was next to other competitors, I was able to hold my own or even win something. I was able to compete well with Justine, who is now doing well at the front.
It's more like I got tangled up in the doldrums zone last week. Where we tried to make several jibes to the south-west. I didn't have a good hand there. The others just sailed round the outside of me. I sailed straight into it with Justine. And she came out 50 miles ahead of me.
Two black nights and one day were fatal
Then the boats ahead of me got through the Doldrums well. They were the first to get the stronger south-easterly trade wind and extended their lead. In principle, it was a pretty simple race: two nights and one day were really what broke my neck - you could call it that if you exaggerate a bit. In other words, they were the ones that put me behind. Since then, things have remained fairly stable.
Of course, I would much rather be next to two ships that I could see on the AIS and match with. And with whom I could also see: Okay, they have the same wind, I don't have to worry about having less wind than the others. That's always more relaxed.
That's not the dream situation here." Boris Herrmann
My state of mind, which can be seen in the videos, is actually like this. I'm in a good mood. I'm not letting myself be impressed. My motto at the moment is: I'm here, I'm also living a dream: my dream, my own race. I'm doing as well as I can. We'll see what comes out of it in the end.
Vendée Globe: "What's going on?"
How do I deal with everything and what do I enjoy? I find inner peace, see the beautiful stars at night, the blue sea. The boat is going well at the moment, it's just nice and easy reaching. I also enjoy having great video conference quality when talking to friends and family. And I've slept well a few times now. I estimate that I get four to five hours of sleep in 24 hours.
But often it's only half an hour at a time and you wake up again because something beeps, maybe because the boat is slowing down, like it is right now as we speak. A moment ago we were travelling at 16 knots, now only ten knots. Then of course you wake up, get up and have a look: What's going on?
"A snowball in my face, please!" - Boris Herrmann's latest clip with a cooling-off request from the evening of 23 November:
