The Ocean Race: Team Malizia in the lead - Boris Herrmann: "I'm absolutely delighted!"

It is still early morning on Friday evening German time on board the "Malizia - Seaexplorer" in the Southern Ocean. Boris Herrmann has just come on watch, made himself a cup of tea and is slowly waking up. "It's duty by the book. Everyone on board who has noticed that we have taken over the leadership is quietly pleased."

Boris Herrmann: "First again for the first time in a fortnight!"

On Friday afternoon, the race tracker showed Team Malizia in first place for the first time, ahead of the previous leader "Holcim - PRB". A feast for Malizia fans! "I'm very pleased, of course," says Boris Herrmann, thinking aloud about the new scenario: "We're assuming that we'll now all be more or less grouped around this high-pressure story. We are first again for the first time in a fortnight. We were first after the start. Unfortunately, we lost that pretty quickly to Holcim. And then the 700 nautical miles were gone ..."

Boris Herrmann pauses for a moment and then says: "To be back now is mega, a mega gift! With everything that has happened to us in the meantime ..." The discovery of the crack in the mast of the "Malizia - Seaexplorer" and the monstrous repair marathon, in the course of which Will Harris and Rosalin Kuiper achieved the unimaginable at a mast height of 28 metres, are vivid memories. Boris Herrmann, Nico Lunven and the two repair heroes already had their stage exit in sight. It was hard to imagine that they would manage such a successful race to catch up as they did today.

"The race is once again completely set to zero"

Now the battle continues with around 5,500 nautical miles to go to the Brazilian port of call Itajaí. There are still around 3,000 nautical miles to go to Cape Horn. The entire fleet of four Imocas has moved close together in light winds of around ten knots. On Friday evening, the leading "Malizia - Seaexplorer" and the fourth-placed "Mālama" from the US team 11th Hour Racing were separated by just 20 nautical miles in the currently not at all furious fifties.

"Now that the race has been completely reset, it's starting all over again," said Boris Herrmann. He continued: "I reckon that 11th Hour Racing will be able to repair the mainsail in the doldrums. Then all the boats will be operational again. I'm also pleased to see that Guyot is making good progress towards Itajaí, where we'll be starting with five boats again."

Kevin Escoffier: "I don't think we are as focussed and precise when sailing as we used to be"

After demanding high-speed and record-breaking days, all teams also use the short break to recharge their batteries. The lighter winds are welcome, as Boris Herrmann says: "It's pretty cold and foggy down here in the Southern Ocean. You have a hat on and your hands in your pockets. Only the tip of your nose sticks out and it's cold. The wind is gusting, you take the sheet in your hand and then you fiddle it again. The sea is quite calm. It doesn't beat. You can relax a bit."

Meanwhile, "Holcim - PRB" skipper Kevin Escoffier knows that his current fate is largely down to the weather conditions, over which he has no control. The light wind wall in the east has slowed down the leaders earlier and more than the chasers. Nevertheless, Escoffier is also of the opinion that his team could have sailed better this week. The man nicknamed "Positive Kevin" was self-critical: "I don't think we are as focussed and precise when sailing as we used to be. We have discussed this and are now doing it the way we used to. It's important that we have a little debrief after every watch and write down our goals every time."

"We didn't look so much at Malizia"

Escoffier attributed the fact that Boris Herrmann's team snatched the long-defended lead from the Escoffier quartet to the prevailing conditions: "As far as Malizia is concerned, we didn't look at them so much because they haven't had the same wind as us for a few days now." Part one of that statement is hard to believe. Part two is certainly true and, thanks to its positioning, gives Team Malizia the current advantage at the 53rd parallel south, while Team Holcim - PRB has lost ground even further south. The "stage restart" in the middle of nowhere in the Southern Ocean harbours a lot of excitement for the weekend.

"Connected!" - click here for the new Malizia podcast "End of Watch".

Would you like to swap jobs with Malizia's on-board reporter Antoine Auriol for a day? Maybe you'll reconsider after watching this clip:

Click here for the live tracker and the interim results.