From the outside, it is barely perceptible that anything is different here. "Malizia - Seaexplorer" looks familiar. Since she was in the media for months last year in The Ocean Race, her unconventional line with the high freeboard and long cabin superstructure has lost any exotic status. With two second places in this year's transatlantic regattas, the VPLP design has recently impressively underlined its place among the best of the new Imoca generation.
And yet "Pifou", the Technical Director of Team Malizia, still found dozens of improvements for Boris' ultimate mission: the Vendée Globe. Most of the optimisations can be found below deck. But if you look closely, you will also discover differences on the outside.
Three fold-up hydrogenerators from Watt&Sea now hang from the stern. Two carry a three-bladed propeller, one has only two blades. The reason: the generators of the previous generation proved to be susceptible to damage, which is not surprising given the enormous speed potential of "Malizia - Seaexplorer". Now Boris not only has an additional device that is always ready for use. It should also work at higher speeds.
More solar panels and 250 litres of diesel on board
The team has also increased the number of solar cells. There are now several new panels on the running deck, but Pifou doesn't want to talk about them yet. "Maybe after the Vendée Globe," he says. Apparently a technology in the prototype stage that is being trialled there. He sounds very confident. "During the Transat CIC, we only used twelve litres of diesel to charge the batteries," and during the New York - Vendée return race it was just eight. "So we know that we can now run almost without an engine, but we're still playing it safe."
Boris has stashed a good 250 litres of diesel to ensure he always has enough energy in the batteries - come what may. He could therefore lose all the hydrogenerators and the entire solar park could fail without its performance being compromised. This redundancy thinking runs through the entire technical preparation.
For example, "Malizia - Seaexplorer" still has a jib for a J1 stay and furler on the bow in front of the structural J2 forestay. The bowsprit could break and Boris would still be able to set a reacher or a space windsail.
Team Malizia has also stocked up on communications technology. In addition to the Thales satellite dish, there is now an HP aerial and a Mini M aerial from Starlink at the stern of the pushpit. Should the pushpit break, there is another satellite dish in front of the mast, as well as an Iridium mobile phone below deck for emergencies.
Pifou has refined the already dual autopilot even further to make it easier for Boris to switch from one system to the other. All encoders are now also available in duplicate so that Boris can simply switch from A to B - without having to reconnect cables, which is only possible downwind in heavy seas and can easily cost 10 or 15 nautical miles.
How Boris customised his boat below deck for the Vendée Globe
Below deck, the conversion from crew to solo operation caused the most development work. Pifou and his team were able to lighten the boat by around 150 kilograms. That may not sound like much, but together with a reduction in the ballast in the lead bomb, "Malizia" has lost a lot of weight.
The light wind characteristics also benefit considerably from the new, larger foils, which generate more lift due to their surface area and profile. "We now get out of the water earlier," says the Technical Director, who previously worked for Jérémie Beyou's team. But that's all he can say.
Boris has several places in the cockpit for working, navigating, relaxing and resting. He can fix the carbon bucket seat with mountain bike damper to the cockpit wall on either side, depending on his preference. From here, he can adjust the autopilot and tilt keel and also reach the winches in front of him - i.e. drive the spinnaker or traveller by hand when he is sailing at the limit.
In the passageway to the aft cabin, he has a reclining seat that can be adjusted via buoys and offers a little more privacy. He can also take short power naps there while he calls up weather data, uploads videos or calculates routings. Co-skipper Will Harris loves this space. "I think I would spend two thirds of the Vendée Globe here," he told YACHT yesterday.
Fully reclined, the seat resembles a lounger; with the backrest raised, it is a comfortable armchair. The monitor can be optimally positioned using a U-shaped carbon fibre bracket - both for lying and sitting. When not in use, it can be folded away aft or upwards. The galley is located to port of the centre seat and almost lives up to its name. A gimbal-mounted single-burner hob is the centrepiece. Boris can also use it to bring a small pressure cooker up to temperature if he ever feels like cooking really firm pasta. He didn't have that level of convenience four years ago; he had to use a jet boiler.
On the starboard side, the skipper can move from the deckchair to the bunk. It consists of carbon tubes with mesh covering and special foam padding that encloses the body and head in a U-shape. It looks claustrophobic, but should be very cosy, says Pifou. The bunk can be tilted to either side using a buoy, as is usual on regatta yachts. But there is another special feature: aft, it is connected to the hull via a damper, similar to the bucket seat. This is intended to dampen the movements that affect the head and upper body in particular when the boat bumps across the seas at 20 or 25 knots.
Pifou's team developed ten different versions of the bunk and seat on the computer; three were built and revised again and again. Now everything should fit. To find peace and quiet, Boris can even draw a black curtain and block out the sun, which can help him fall asleep quickly.
For the Southern Ocean, the man from Hamburg had a small Eberspächer Airtronic installed. He can choose to have the heat blown under the seat or towards the bunk via a heating hose. However, there is a second, much longer hose that extends into the foredeck. Why is that? "If a bulkhead breaks in the south or the hull structure gives way, Boris can accelerate the hardening of the resin."
The thing with the wooden foil in the stern
It seems as if the team has really thought of everything. That's why the Technical Director seems to be an amazingly relaxed person in the days leading up to the start. But that is deceptive, of course. His mind and soul are permanently wide awake. That won't change during the race either. Together with Boat Captain Stu, he will be monitoring "Malizia" 24/7 so that Boris can be contacted at all times.
He resisted one of his wishes for a long time, but then gave in "as always, when Boris really wants something," he says with a laugh. The skipper was after another place to stay that would give him pleasure on light days. Pifou found that, well, not a priority.
In the end, he still had a trampoline net rigged behind the reclining seat. It's a cool spot to look out of the window and switch down a gear. And because Boris wanted to conjure up a cabin atmosphere in this part of the boat, Stu Mc Lachlan covered the raw carbon fibre laminate with DC-Fix wood foil a few days ago. An endearing quirk that Pifou ultimately approved of because he knows: "A happy skipper is also a fast skipper."
