Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia can put the pedal to the metal again on the queen stage of the Ocean Race. The crew seems to have succeeded in the almost two-day repair operation. An initial inspection of the work on Friday by Rosalin Kuiper showed that there is a good chance that the German racing yacht will be able to continue sailing once the repaired area has fully cured.
Co-skipper Will Harris, together with the crew and the technical team, had already spent several hours on Thursday sanding and preparing the damaged area around the 30-centimetre-long crack in the mast and applying the carbon-fibre fabrics to the mast. The Briton survived the dangerous mission covered in carbon dust and with bruises all over his body. Boris Herrmann, who coordinated the repairs, said: "It takes a lot of courage to do what Will did. The whole team did an epic job. All we can do now is keep our fingers crossed and wait to see if it goes well."
Like a flying Dutchwoman: Rosalin Kuiper with a new mast record?
On Friday, it was "Malizia" sailor Rosalin Kuiper who took over the dizzying job from Will Harris below the 40th parallel south in 20 knots of wind. The Dutchwoman worked for two and a half hours in the 28 metre high mast to complete the repair work, inspect it and take videos and photos. "That must be a new record. So good! I can't believe she managed that," said Boris Herrmann, appreciative and grateful.
During her mission, Rosie Kuiper also carefully tapped the mast in the repaired area to check whether the carbon fibre laminates had bonded to the mast as planned. Based on the pictures, she consulted the technical team on land again. Their recommendation: The headsail could be set again on "Malizia - Seaexplorer" on the evening of 3 March and the boat could take up full speed.
Rosie Kuiper was the female MacGyver of Team Malizia in the final spurt of repairs
"This is such a relief," said Boris Herrmann on day five of the current third "monster stage". Rosie Kuiper's other tasks at Sky Command included rigging the castle on the Code Zero drop. Code Zero had come out of nowhere from above two days earlier. This had also caused the crack in the mast. Rosalin Kuiper described this job as a "real challenge because we lost the halyard lock and the halyard runs through the lock at the top of the mast and then back down the mast".
The rigging team ashore, led by Marine Rigging Services, had previously explained to skipper Boris Herrmann and ocean racing newcomer Rosie Kuiper how they could convert the spigot (the latching lower part of the halyard latch) from the less commonly used J4 and combine it with the halyard of the Code Zero. After Boris had prepared the measure, Rosie went into the mast to make the final attachment.
Double pass in the Indian Ocean: Rosie in the mast, Boris on the boom
To help Rosie with the repair, Boris had to climb onto the boom to hold the halyard to the side and give her a better angle for the repair. With this successfully completed, the team can use the Code Zero halyard to pull up the J0. The J0 must now replace the larger, more profiled Code Zero in some areas. Normally, a J0 is used for downwind sailing in winds of around 20 knots.
However, the task list on board "Malizia - Seaexplorer" was not yet complete with the mast mission, which was finished for the time being. The team has rested a little in the meantime, but also used the break from sailing to repair more equipment. Nico Lunven and Boris Herrmann focussed on repairing the J2.
Boris Herrmann: "It goes on! We are not far away from 11th Hour Racing ..."
Nico Lunven finally let the team know: "Now we're sailing again, the repair seems to have gone really well, I'm looking forward to navigating again and getting us back into the race!" In a phone call with team director Holly Cova, Boris Herrmann had already said at midday on 3 March: "I am so happy that we are sailing again. The workshop has been tidied up and most of the things on board have been repaired. I feel so ready for the next part of the race. It fills me with energy when I think about what we have just achieved with the whole team. I'm ready for the rest of this leg! It goes on! We're not far from 11th Hour Racing and Biotherm and the race is still long!"
The fleet was led by the Swiss team Holcim at the start of the sixth day. PRB. Team Biotherm followed just under 600 nautical miles behind, ahead of the US team 11th Hour Racing. Team Malizia was only six nautical miles behind 11th Hour Racing on Friday evening. Guyot Environnement - Team Europe with Berlin co-skipper Robert Stanjek is still on its way back to Cape Town. The boat has hull damage and will be closely examined in South Africa before a decision is made on whether it will continue to take part in the Ocean Race. On Friday evening, "Guyot" still had a good 200 nautical miles to go to Cape Town.
