When Boris Herrmann had just pulled in the second reef overnight, he discovered the problem: a tear in the mainsail. "Fortunately, I was able to repair it pretty quickly within about half an hour because the tear was just above the reef at a good height and I didn't have to take the mainsail down. Fingers crossed: no more problems with sails! That's my wish for the New Year," said the 39-year-old from Hamburg, who was in fifth place in the classification heading for Cape Horn on New Year's morning, travelling fast in increasing winds.
At the front of the leading group, "Apivia" skipper Charlie Dalin is not letting up on 1 January 2021. Around 130 nautical miles behind the leader Yannick Bestaven on "Maître Coq IV", Dalin kept up with the fastest speed recently. Around 600 nautical miles from Cape Horn, both skippers - well positioned off the front - achieved 24-hour times of 452 and 417 nautical miles. Only the third-placed "LinkedOut" skipper Thomas Ruyant came close to matching this with 375 nautical miles. All the other hunters had to contend with light winds on New Year's Eve and were unable to complete 300 nautical miles in 24 hours before they too accelerated considerably.
"The contrasts out here on the sea are incredible. From those calm moments this morning, I'm now travelling at full speed with two reefs and J3, very small sails," reported Herrmann during the night. On New Year's morning at around 9 a.m. German time, he had already pulled in the third reef and said: "Now I'm travelling with three reefs and J3s and sometimes with boat speeds of 25 knots in pitch-black night. The wind is very fickle."
For the new year 2021, Boris Herrmann has resolved to "live more in the moment here on board". He has also made other resolutions: "I want to further develop our children's education programme 'My Ocean Challenge' and try to continue doing something for climate protection." The first German skipper in the Vendée Globe is expecting his own Cape Horn passage on 4 January. In contrast to the stormy conditions with winds of more than 40 knots and seven or eight metre high wave crests that the two front-runners are likely to encounter on Saturday evening during their Cape Horn passage, Boris Herrmann is expecting slightly better conditions for his own "summit assault" on Sunday evening or Monday morning: "I'm behind the low. I have the strongest conditions tonight. At Cape Horn itself I'm expecting downwind around 20, 25 knots. So good conditions. I hope I can see the cape."
Boris Herrmann welcomes 2021 with Victory signs and colourful garlands on board the "Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco" in a cheerful mood
Herrmann has a lot planned for his Atlantic home stretch after the passage: "I want to and can attack there. I mustn't start counting down the days. Then it will be incredibly long. I hope that I can show a bit more of this boat's potential." Herrmann explains why his Imoca yacht is still "100 per cent intact" at this point in the race: "We have prepared the boat well for four years with a good team. I had developed a kind of paranoia about watching over every detail. So I think that a certain perfectionism has led to the current state."
Herrmann's interim results at his debut on New Year's morning are promising: "The results are positive. I'm currently fifth and have a good chance of moving up to fourth place. Damien Seguin no longer has a gennaker. I don't think he can really play a major role in this race. But of course there are always surprises and, as we all know, the final score is only settled at the finish. The scientific data that we are collecting is a very important component of this campaign. Nobody can take that away from us."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
