The fifth leg of the Ocean Race could hardly have got off to a better start for Team Malizia with returning skipper Boris Herrmann: First the crew on "Malizia - Seaexplorer" won the harbour race, then they led the small but mighty Ocean Race fleet on course for the North Atlantic. In the meantime, however, 11th Hour Racing took the lead again on Monday evening. Kevin Escoffier's Team Holcim - PRB also narrowly overtook Team Malizia around 22 hours after the start.
Under Code Zero we were significantly faster than 11th Hour Racing" (Boris Herrmann)
Boris Herrmann von See explains why the ocean race tide has turned after the Malizians' outstanding speed: "We're just trying to find our speed here. We were in first place until not so long ago. Under Code Zero, we were significantly faster than 11th Hour Racing. Now we've all switched to J2. Under J2, we have a bit more difficulty maintaining our speed. We also lost about 3.5 miles in the manoeuvre. But that's quite normal. So overall, everything is in the green."
Looking back on the in-port race in Newport and the start of the fifth stage on Sunday, Boris Herrmann said: "The harbour race was great fun. It was exciting! Everything went really well: We got away well, sailed well. Pretty much flawless, I would say. We caught the little pushes and turns well and basically sailed through them a bit easier than 11th Hour Racing. In that respect, it was a very good start to the first 24 hours. Now we just have to see if we can get a bit of speed back here and keep up the pace, because the other two are much faster at the moment."
Team Biotherm sails again with two men and two women
This was also evident from the live tracking late on Monday afternoon. Just one day after the start of the fifth leg on 21 May, 11th Hour Racing was leading the classification with a lead of almost seven nautical miles over the Swiss "Holcim - PRB" with its new mast. Team Malizia trailed the leaders by 8.3 nautical miles.
At the same time, Paul Meilhat's Team Biotherm was still lagging well behind. Immediately after the start of the leg in Newport, the French team caught a gap of more than 20 nautical miles in a flat wind field. In the meantime, the team, once again sailing with two men and two women, has already made up five miles. On board, Paul Meilhat, Alan Roberts, Mariana Lobato and Amélie Grassi are fighting to get closer to a podium place in the Ocean Race on this double scored leg.
Rough seas in sight
Conditions at sea could deteriorate considerably this week as the fleet will soon reach the favourable Gulf Stream, which will, however, fight against the predicted northerly winds. This kind of test of strength between current and wind usually leads to a much more unpleasant sea state.
Informative and entertaining: the harbour race in Newport and the start of stage five in the replay
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
