The days in Team Malizia follow a fixed pattern. At half past twelve in the afternoon and half past six in the evening, there is a hot meal for the entire crew, which has now grown to around 40 people. The chef works in a converted caravan; his ability to create amazing dishes in a small space is legendary. He now also supplies the team from Paul Meilhat (Biotherm), who are working next door.
Over the past two weeks, dinner was not the end of the shift for many, but the beginning of the extension. The conversion of the boat to new foils, hastily purchased from another team, required ten or twelve hours of work a day, sometimes 16. Stuart from England, a composite expert who has already worked for Alex Thomson and Ben Ainslie, hardly knows any different. But even he, the cool, always good-humoured veteran, sometimes sighed. Until around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, when everything was in place and nothing wobbled.
"I actually wanted to be home by now," he said. "But now I'm waiting until the boat is craned back into the water and we have a fizzy drink to toast the success of the operation."
Boris Herrmann, who is usually up for any party, remained more reserved. He, too, could tell that a weight had been lifted. But he didn't feel like celebrating just yet. "We shouldn't do that until we've been on the foils with the boat for the first time," he said. It was not yet clear that this would happen just one day later. The wind forecast was too light, the potential of the new wings too uncertain.
Where they come from and how close they are to the original "Malizia - Seaexplorer" foils is something the otherwise openly communicating team is keeping a veil of silence about. What is clear is that they differ significantly in both length and shape from the VPLP attachments that were fitted until December.
The original foils have long tips that point only slightly upwards from the so-called elbow - the angle after the shaft mounted in the hull. They therefore correspond to the current design concept of the class.
The wings of "Malizia - Seaexplorer" that have now been fitted, on the other hand, are crescent-shaped and protrude much less into the water at the sides. They are strikingly similar to those of "l'Occitane", the boat designed by Sam Manuard for the 2020/21 Vendée Globe, which is now being sailed by Louis Burton under the name "Bureau Vallée". However, this only applies to the tips of the foils; the elbows, shaft and hull exit of the foils are very different.
Visually, "Malizia's" new hydrofoils are closest to those of Sam Davies, who in turn sails on a modified replica of "Bureau Vallée". However, her "Initiatives Cœur 4" is considered lighter in comparison to Boris Herrmann's deliberately solidly designed and built boat.
All the more astonishing how effortlessly "Malizia - Seaexplorer" got onto the foils in only a moderate breeze, and that on the very first attempt. The dynamic buoyancy, installation position and weight distribution obviously fit very well. According to the fairly rough data from MarineTraffic, Boris' boat sailed downwind at between 9.5 and 10 knots, while the speed on the beam was 15 to 17 knots over long stretches - significantly higher than Kevin Escoffier's crew on "PRB - Holcim", which had started a little earlier, however; the figures are therefore not directly comparable.
According to a companion, "Malizia - Seaexplorer" even managed a top speed of 18 knots and was already travelling at around 13 knots through the water on the foil - hardly any different than with the original appendages.
Video footage from on-board reporter Antoine Auriol showed a relieved, almost relieved and relaxed smiling skipper, who put his hands together in a gesture of thanks.
Mission accomplished, at least so far.
However, there are still more tests to come - and the first in-port race on Sunday, which we will report on in detail. The next few days promise more wind and a little more wave; then the crew can test their new wings under more pressure, which is important before they set off on the first leg to Cape Verde on 15 January and shortly afterwards to Cape Town.
Only then will it be possible to say exactly how well the new foils work. And above all whether, unlike the first set, they will really hold in regatta mode. At the moment, the angle of attack can apparently only be changed minimally, and in the maximum uphaul position they protrude a handspan further out of the hull than would be desirable. This means more wetted surface and turbulence in light winds. These are all trifles, however, when you consider that the participation of "Malizia - Seaexplorer" was still completely up in the air three weeks ago.
Jochen Rieker
Herausgeber YACHT
