Les Sables d'Olonne has been in a state of emergency for weeks. The number of visitors is breaking all records. Yesterday morning, when there was still fog over the small town of 48,000 inhabitants, the queues at the entrances to the Race Village stretched for hundreds of metres. And even at eight o'clock in the evening, it was still very busy.
Anyone who wanted to stop for dinner in one of the restaurants on the north side of Port Olona was at best fobbed off with an apologetic smile. Reservations have been hopeless since Friday, such is the capacity, or rather the overcrowding. Around 400,000 visitors are expected at the start today alone, which will push the town and its mobile phone networks beyond capacity.
With remarkable devotion, they pay homage to the heroes who set off, only to arrive back here ten or eleven weeks later - hopefully! - to arrive back here in one piece after travelling around the world. An epic stage for "one of the planet's last great adventures", as Boris Herrmann rightly calls the Vendée Globe.
The Hamburg native said goodbye to his team, his closest partners and companions early yesterday evening at "le Pierrot". The restaurant, located directly on the seafront promenade of Les Sables, is one of many. The 43-year-old's arrival, which was greeted first by a murmur and later by loud shouts of "Boris! Boris! Boris!" shouts, the pub mutated into a hot spot.
While people had previously made a careless pilgrimage past, they suddenly formed a gigantic crowd. Several hundred pulled out their smartphones and followed every move of the co-favourite of this Vendée Globe. Far behind, some German fans raised a banner: "Müritz sailors greet Boris!" It was the first time that goosebumps were felt. A sailor as a sports superstar - nowhere is this celebrated as much as here on the French Atlantic coast.
When he disappears into the twilight today, suddenly alone after a predictably tough start, Boris Herrmann will be able to savour these moments and probably come to terms with them for the first time. It is hard to imagine a greater contrast between land and sea, between overture and race, between party mood and loneliness.
When he finally reaches for the microphone, he first brings the 27 members of Team Malizia to the front. He thanks them and the sponsors, as well as team founder Pierre Casiraghi and Prince Albert of Monaco, who are among the guests. "Together, we can look back on almost ten years of joint endeavours - from the Vendée Globe to the Malizia mangrove project. And there are many more to come," he promises. "You can all be proud Malizians today, no matter what happens in the next three months."
He's ready for the race, says Boris, and even more: "I'm fired up because you've built and prepared the best possible boat for me." There is something out there at sea that he is looking forward to. He can't really grasp it yet. "But I can feel it."
Cole Brauer is most likely to have guessed what the Malizia skipper was talking about. The 29-year-old, who finished second in last year's Global Solo Challenge and is the first American woman to sail single-handed non-stop around the world, recently joined the team. Together with co-skipper Will Harris and team manager Holly Cova, she will accompany and commentate on Boris' race once a week in future - from on board her Class 40.
She starts in A Coruna in a fortnight' time. Boris will be long gone by then when she releases the lines, at a completely different pace and in different conditions. But Cole will probably be closest to him emotionally. She has sold her boat to an Australian woman and is accompanying her on the transfer to Sydney. Next summer, you will probably see her again with Malizia at the Ocean Race Europe.
Other sailors had also come to the Pierrot: Boris's former skipper from his youth, Julien Kleiner, for example, and with him 505 legend and Kieler Woche series winner Wolfgang Hunger. They were still enjoying a beer with him when the restaurant was already being remodelled for regular service. A moment of reflection before what comes next.
When asked whether he would swap places with his former helmsman at 13:02 on Sunday if he was unable to work and entrusted him with his "Malizia - Seaexplorer", Julien said without thinking: "No, never in my life, no way!"
