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Interview"Losing is not an option" - Boris Herrmann on sustainability in racing

Tatjana Pokorny

 · 24.12.2023

Focussed ambassador: Herrmann's drive for good places is as strong as his will to do good
Photo: Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia / The Ocean Race
International regatta sport is struggling with new ideas for a clean course towards a more sustainable future. Is the regatta sailors' fight for the health of the world's oceans and against climate change well-founded, or is it just greenwashing? An interview with Boris Herrmann

Boris Herrmann and his Malizia racing team are committed to climate protection like no other international racing team. We spoke to the professional racer about the various endeavours to make racing more sustainable.

YACHT: How do carbon fibre projectiles and environmental protection, such as travelling around the planet and the desired reduction in CO2 emissions, go together?

Boris Herrmann:I am constantly confronted with this topic. This is the first time that an article on this particular topic has appeared in YACHT: Racing goes green. This is still a relatively new challenge for all of us, and the narrative is not yet crystal clear. The range of the playing field is huge.

It stretches from where to where?

It ranges from the smallest actions such as beach clean-ups to the extreme green and left side. Take Roland Jourdain, for example. Together with Stan Thuret and other comrades-in-arms, he founded the "La Vague" collective in France and wants to develop competitive sport in relation to ecological and social challenges. Stan Thuret has actually given up his career and let another skipper sail his boat. That is clearly going too far for me.

On the other hand, there is a kind of greenwashing, where the cloak of sustainability is covered over not-so-green activities?

I don't want to make negative judgements about certain events, teams or sponsors. I don't always know how to categorise everything myself. The fact is that sailing per se is a sport with nature. And that we all need to get better. It's absolutely okay to strive for this goal in small steps and with small ideas such as beach clean-ups.

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According to the motto: Anyone who does something meaningful is good?

That's how I see it. We shouldn't be bashing and we shouldn't be looking to see which sustainability measures are better or worse. It's a good thing that there are now so many different types of commitment. You have to approach the topic with determination, but also with gentleness and not let yourself get carried away.

Between the two extreme positions lie many ideas and initial answers to the goal of a more environmentally friendly course for international regatta sport in the future ...

Yes, it is in this area of tension that the answers to questions about decarbonisation, sustainability, environmental and ocean protection that affect society as a whole are now emerging, which we as race organisers, as teams, as skippers, as suppliers or partners must find. We are all challenged to do something.

The answers vary greatly in quantity and quality ...

Diversity is inspiring and great, as long as it doesn't jeopardise our activities per se. I don't think that's right and I'd like to explain why with an example: when we go to the Elbphilharmonie, that's culture. For example, a concert with an international conductor who is flown in. That's not green, but it's part of the high culture of our society. When the Olympic Games or international football matches are celebrated, many people also fly in for them. That's not green either. When I go sailing, that's also part of our culture. Sport is part of our culture. Sport is important and has a social function. So I wouldn't call sport, and therefore our culture, into question per se by saying that I'm going to give it up because the boat is made of GRP or carbon fibre.

Sailing is green! We utilise the power of the wind. We are the platform to show the potential of sustainable energy"

But what?

We are challenged to try and reduce our footprint and to find increasingly clever solutions along the way. I believe this is the right approach. This approach can be found as a political stance everywhere in society. Not to say that I no longer dare to go out on the streets, but to say, for example, as a writing journalist, that I don't travel everywhere, but also try to use video conferencing.

As Vendée Globe and Ocean Race circumnavigators, you are active in the Imoca class with your racing yacht "Malizia - Seaexplorer". What is the sustainability situation there?

The Imoca class, with its president Antoine Mermod and other team members, has people who work intensively on the topic of sustainability in consultation with the sailors. They have come up with some great ideas. For example, we are saying for the future that we want to build moulds for the boats from glass fibre and not carbon fibre - as per class rules. A sponsor has been found who will carry out life cycle analyses of the Imoca boats when we build them. As a result, we have dedicated studies and know, for example, how many tonnes or kilograms of CO2 are emitted by each component.

That tells you something?

The production of deck and hull moulds, for example, accounts for almost half of the CO2 emissions in the construction of an Imoca. Such levers can be used to a great extent. For example, by saying that at least two ships or more must be made from one mould. We then no longer build the mould from carbon, but from glass fibre. To do this, we have to bake it a little longer because it is done at a lower temperature. That's where you really get down to the nitty-gritty of technical solutions in the endeavour to reduce the footprint.

Do such endeavours stand for "racing goes green"?

I wouldn't necessarily say: racing goes green. Sailing is green per se! We utilise the power of the wind. We are the platform to show the potential of sustainable energy. The power of nature, the power of the wind, the beauty of nature and the oceans. Sailing as a sport is not fundamentally at odds with nature. It takes place with nature. On this basis, we must try to manage the challenges of becoming greener quickly, well and collectively, without jeopardising everything.

In the Imoca class, Armel Tripon is currently an example of the secondary use of moulds. He uses the moulds from which "Malizia - Seaexplorer" was created.

That's right. And we have two engineers who manage his technology in this regard.

What does Tripon want to achieve?

By using our moulds for the deck and hull in a slightly modified form, he achieves a huge reduction in footprint. He also uses carbon fibre for the construction of his Imoca, which has failed in aviation and would otherwise be thrown away. However, it can still be used in this area of application. This reduces the CO2 footprint of the entire campaign even further.

Do you know of any other examples of sustainable projects?

Briton Phil Sharp has been focussing on hydrogen for a long time and calls his ship "OceansLab". He wants to show that hydrogen electrolysis can be used to generate electricity on an Imoca. This is also a promotional measure for his own start-up. He has co-developed a hydrogen power generator for ships - very exciting. There are also examples where racing teams are involved in sailing cargo ships.

Maritime transport is responsible for around three per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. For example, we have a co-operation with Windcoop and share the same fascination and vision for wind propulsion technologies. This co-operation gives wind power a voice in the maritime industry. With a view to more efficient shipping, I am also thinking of the Artemis eFoiler, a foiling workboat. Nicolas Abiven, the former project manager of Vendée Globe sailor Jean-Pierre Dick, is now project manager at Solid Sail. This is a large industrial consortium in Saint-Nazaire that develops and builds huge sails for cruise ships and small cargo ships. There are many great ideas from the regatta industry for applications in the real world.

Are there any green life hacks from regatta sport for the normal cruising sailor and their endeavours to be more sustainable?

That's a very good question! For new builds, you can certainly think about bio-composite in the cruising yacht sector. The class rule for the installation of 130 kilograms of biocomposite gives us advantages in terms of measurement. The hydrogen generators that we use, which are also available for cruising boats, are interesting. People can generate electricity on longer trips and save a lot of diesel. Solar support is also great. We use it a lot on the Imocas. Especially when you're moored and don't have to switch on the generator so often. You can retrofit all that.

Many blue water sailors have a small solar system at the stern. But you can also, for example, have powerful mobile panels on board and place them on deck when you are at anchor. This can generate a lot of electricity when the sun is shining. And a wind generator mounted on a stand at the stern can also supply the boat with power when the wind is blowing. Unfortunately, it usually makes a stupid amount of noise.

One of the most environmentally damaging problems in regatta sport is the non-degradable or difficult to degrade boat building materials such as carbon fibre. With regard to recycling efforts, the problem is that the baked material compounds are difficult or impossible to break down again. Do you have the imagination to visualise that one day we will get to a point where the materials at the end of a boat's life cycle can be cleanly separated and reused according to the circular economy model?

I can't give a qualified answer for boatbuilding. But I can hope so. The basic problem is clear: different materials are mixed together in boat building. In the case of fibreglass boats, for example, separating the resin and the fibres at the end of a boat's life cycle is more energy-intensive than burning them together. One could perhaps pay attention to carbon dioxide capture during combustion.

How realistic is it that the basic building materials in racing yacht construction will one day consist of 100 per cent fully degradable and recyclable materials such as flax and the like?

The initiative with the biocomposites comes from yacht racing itself. A lot is happening there. Roland Jourdain was one of the first to get involved in 2010 when I joined the Veolia Environnement team. He was the project manager. Two or three companies are continuing this successfully today.

In Germany, for example, there are the World Sailing award-winning boat builders from Greenboats, who are heading for new horizons in boat building and can also support your team ...

The Greenboats people from Bremen build high-performance daysailers from environmentally friendly materials. The natural fibre-reinforced composite materials consist of linen fibres and epoxy resins based on linseed oil and not glass fibre-reinforced plastics. This is not yet completely recyclable, as there is still an oil content in the resin. But this will be eliminated when interest in the boats increases, research and development continue and there is an overall determination to build truly green boats that will one day be able to hold their own in racing.

I also see a huge opportunity to get sponsors on board with ideas and commitments from racing"

Alongside its sailing competition, the SailGP is organising a sustainability league with prize money for the best teams. Performance is assessed and scored in areas such as "Sustainability, Commitment and Strategy", "Clean Energy", "Waste and Single-Use Plastics", "Travel and Accommodation", "Food at Events", "Technology and Innovation", "Using the Team Voice", "Gender Equality and Inclusion" and "Collaboration". Is this a good way forward, even if it doesn't mean that the Formula 1 of sailing, which is travelling to twelve venues around the world this season with its entire team entourage and high-tech carbon fibre racers, will become an eco-sport?

The SailGP, like other organisers such as the Ocean Race, the Vendée Globe, the Imoca class and many more, has to face such challenges. The Impact League in the SailGP is a great idea. For the Ocean Race Europe 2025, for example, we have also proposed a "Leg Zero" in which environmental aspects and ideas of the individual teams are evaluated. This "Leg Zero" could be used as a tiebreaker in the event of a tie, even if it is no trivial task to set up and implement such a project properly.

What else can you do as a team to make regatta sport more sustainable?

As a visible team, we have strong leverage and can generate followers who find what we do exemplary. Better still, we can gain fellow campaigners. People who take up these discussions and say: "Okay, I want to do something for sustainability too." I believe this is an important task for racing, which is why the Ocean Race was called "Racing for purpose - sailing for a good cause". It's about bringing the topic to the forefront of society as much as possible, putting it on the agenda at panel discussions or press conferences and in our team communication. And then working together to find solutions. We can also contribute our racing spirit: We can do it, because losing is not an option. That's my approach.

This is about credible, sport-motivated commitment, which sailing can exemplify?

Exactly. One is to advocate for greener boats, recycled ropes, recycled sails and many other improvements and to drive forward and utilise the developments. That is important. But I also see huge opportunities for all teams to bring about positive changes with partners and sponsors, to stand on the mat with ideas and commitments from racing and demand implementation so that they become increasingly involved. We do this with our partners. See Hapag-Lloyd's idea of the sailing cargo ship based on our suggestions. That's a good influence we can have.

Absorption vs. CO2 emissions: Malizia plants mangroves

The construction of the Malizia-Imoca generated around 480 tonnes of CO2
Photo: Team Malizia/Yann Riou

The 83 Imoca racing yachts built from carbon fibre, honeycomb and foam over the past 31 years will not become eco-boats overnight. However, the Imoca class association is working hard to improve their sustainability. In 2021, the class decided to carry out detailed life cycle analyses for new builds in order to make more targeted improvements.

The first results of the studies carried out with the MarineShift360 tool by the 11th Hour Racing team are now available. 11th Hour Racing achieved 550 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) during the Imoca build, Team Malizia around 480 tonnes. The class association, teams, designers and shipyards are working intensively on the reduction and are aiming for 390 tonnes.

At the same time, teams like Malizia provide compensation. At Malizia Mangrove Park ( maliziamangrovepark.com ) in the Philippines, almost 820,000 mangroves were planted between November 2020 and October 2023 in collaboration with the Mama Earth Foundation. In their compensation calculations regarding CO2 emissions and offsetting, Team Malizia's experts do not use the usual ten to 15 kilograms of CO2 absorption per mangrove per year, but only a conservative five kilograms in order to achieve a reliable model calculation. Boris Herrmann explains: "If you put the 480,000 kilograms of CO2 emissions from our new Imoca building in relation to the absorption capacity of the mangroves, then there are 96,000 mangroves that can compensate for this in one year and then achieve much more with an average lifespan of 25 years."

Herrmann continues: "Mangroves have several advantages. They grow much faster in the consistently warm tropics than trees in our latitudes. They absorb a lot of CO2 from the atmosphere evenly, and they don't take away anyone's land. They are safe from forest fires." Mangrove forests also ensure an abundance of fish and thus directly help local fishermen. They also protect coasts from wave action and tsunamis and dramatically increase biodiversity. "The project has a great future. We still have a lot of plans there. As our partner Zurich is providing us with concrete support here, we can hope to plant one million mangroves per year in the future. We are also collaborating with scientists and the NGO rrreefs to rebuild the coral reefs in front of the mangroves."

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