The Ocean Race: Sanni Beucke "full of anticipation" for her flight premiere

Light winds, tough tasks: The second leg of The Ocean Race starts on 25 January at 19:10 German time off Mindelo in Cape Verde. The 4,600 nautical mile course will take the five teams to Cape Town. While "Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper Boris Herrmann has to take a break with a scalded left foot, Susann Beucke will be making her debut in the Swiss team Holcim -PRB. "I'm so looking forward to going flying with the boats. That must be crazy. I would have thought I'd be scared too, but there's just anticipation," said the 31-year-old silver medallist at the Japan Olympics, who only switched from Olympic sailing to sailing a year ago.

With Crocs, sea boots and liquorice to the premiere

Susann Beucke's Ocean Race team Holcim - PRB won the first leg ahead of Charlie Enright's US team 11th Hour Racing and Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia. This means that the 31-year-old will be joining skipper Kevin Escoffier's leading team for her first Ocean Race outing. "No pressure ..." she says and laughs. "Of course, Kevin and the team have raised the bar even higher with their first stage win, but it's also a good feeling to be part of this team."

The only German sailor in this Ocean Race edition boards "Holcim - PRB" with Crocs, sea boots, "autumnal" high-tech clothing, liquorice sweets and shrink-wrapped photos of her family. For the first time in her life, she will be on board with the team for several weeks at a time. Day and night, in calm and in hair-raising conditions. The assignment brings further challenges, as Beucke explains: "I'm the only one on board who doesn't speak French yet. But I understand it and can ask questions at any time."

"Am I converted now? Not really..."

Susann Beucke's predecessor Abby Ehler, who is taking a break for two stages and will not replace Beucke until after the queen's stage along the three large capes in Itajaí, had safety concerns about Imoca sailing before her fourth participation in the Ocean Race. Kevin Escoffier was nevertheless able to convince her to join his team.

After stage one, Ehler said: "Am I converted now? I wouldn't say I'm really converted. But the speed and acceleration of these foilers are captivating. Also, learning a new skill to 'steer' the computer that controls the boat feels like futuristic technology!"

The three-time circumnavigator continued: "Ultimately, sailing is sailing, it's about making a boat fast and trimming it accordingly. As a sport, we are lucky to have so many different disciplines. Now I'm passing the baton to Sanni Beucke for now and wish the team the best of luck for the time ahead and especially the monster leg through the Southern Ocean. I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike in Itajaí for the stage to Newport."

Crew changes in all teams - except Biotherm

There have also been crew changes in other teams. In Guyot Environnement - Team Europe, Berliners Robert Stanjek and Phillip Kasüske are continuing their Ocean Race première. While Benjamin Dutreux recovers for a leg as planned, Robert Stanjek takes over his skipper role on "Guyot". Sébastien Simon joins the team. In addition, Annie Lush will be replaced for one leg by Anne-Claire Le Berre, a Frenchwoman with Imoca experience.

Boris Herrmann's role as skipper on board "Seaexplorer - Malizia" will be taken over by Briton Will Harris. The fourth position on board, which is vacant due to Herrmann's injury, will be filled by the experienced Frenchman Yann Eliès, who has a great feel for the boat, good ideas and seniority. Francesca Clapcich is taking a break from the 11th Hour Racing team. She will be replaced by Swiss Route du Rhum high-flyer Justine Mettraux. Only Paul Meilhat's Team Biotherm will continue the Ocean Race without a crew change for the time being.

Stage two: heat battles and doldrums, Passat fun and speed bolting

The tests on leg two will be different to those served up by the first leg, which was initially brutally stormy and then enjoyably fast. From 25 January, the aim is to get through the calms belt with its lulls around the equator as quickly as possible in what will probably be unusually light winds at first. Only then will the Imoca yachts rise up on their foils in the trade winds to the south over longer phases, fly towards Cape Town and possibly set new speed records.

The notoriously dull St Helena High lurks further on. In the final before Cape Town, it is important not to get stuck in the slipstream of the mighty Table Mountain. Phillip Kasüske explains: "Giant storms are not to be expected. The question is: who can get through the Doldrums the fastest? If someone finds a low-pressure area there that they can jump onto, they'll be gone quickly."

Rosalin Kuiper: "We have shown that we can fight"

Team Malizia starts the second leg optimistically, even without Boris Herrmann. The injured skipper took stock once again the day before the start without him: "The first leg had two phases. In Gibraltar, even our always good-humoured on-board reporter Antoine Auriol said that his fun barometer had reached zero. Of course, it's no fun sailing for two days in winds of up to 55 knots. We were then very fast in the second phase, making up 70 nautical miles on 11th Hour Racing over two days. If the leg had lasted a little longer, it would have been very exciting again. We crossed the finish line on a high."

Herrmann also referred once again to his crew sailing with the handbrake on during the stormy opening phase of the first leg, when "Holcim - PRB" and "11th Hour Racing" pulled away from the German boat. "In contrast to us, however, two competitors also broke their sails considerably. On one boat, the J3 broke. Sail battens broke and a lot more. I have no regrets about the way we sailed." The somewhat more conservative long-term strategy could pay off just as much as the full bow of the "Malizia - Seaexplorer", for which they are now increasingly envied.

Will Harris, Team Malizia's new skipper for leg two, made it clear before his debut: "We are very happy with the boat we have." Rosalin Kuiper looked ahead and said: "I think we have a big leg ahead of us. A lot is going to happen. I only know the stories so far, I've never been down there myself, but I'm ready. Our team is ready. Our very good crew work during the first stage showed that we can fight. We want to continue that on stage two."

Part one of the new documentary series "Malizians", which has just been released, takes an interesting look back at the preparations for the 14th The Ocean Race:

From the start of the second stage, you will return to the tracker.