Transat Jacques Vabre: Boris Herrmann - first winter summit, then new foils
Tatjana Pokorny
· 25.10.2023
For the second time since 2019, Boris Herrmann and co-skipper Will Harris set off across the Atlantic in the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV). The starting signal for the 16th edition of the Transat classic will be given on 29 October off Le Havre, where hundreds of thousands of fans will enjoy the summit meeting of the ocean giants in the week leading up to the start.
The 16th TJV: 4 classes, 4 courses, 95 boats and 190 sailors
Four courses of different lengths will take 95 boats and 190 sailors in four classes (Class 40, Imoca, Ocean Fifty, Ultim) and on four courses of different lengths to Martinique. In the 30th anniversary year of the race, it is a record-breaking fleet that is heading to the Atlantic for the autumn endurance test. Boris Herrmann has just returned to Le Havre. Before the hot season finale, YACHT spoke to him about the last big comparison test in the Imoca class before the start of the Vendée Globe starting year.
Boris, how are you looking forward to your second Transat Jacques Vabre with co-skipper Will Harris?
I'm really looking forward to the race! I'm really looking forward to it and feel it's a privilege to be able to start now. We've never had 40 Imocas at the start in our class. It's absolutely crazy to have 40 boats in such a class in ocean racing, sailing across the ocean in a regatta fleet!
Let's take a look at your Imoca class: who are your favourites and where do you rank with "Malizia - Seaexplorer"?
With "Charal", "Paprec Arkéa", "For People" and "Macif Santé Prévoyance", there are four top boats and, close behind them, around ten others at eye level, including us. With a good hand, there's a lot in it. But you can also be out of the top ten just as quickly. That was the case with Will's and my première, when we made a mistake with a navigational decision. It went off in the west - we were in the south.
This time it's going to be different ...
Of course we want to get the maximum out of the boat and ourselves, but I wouldn't be ashamed if it wasn't a top ten result. The Transat Jacques Vabre is not the Vendée Globe, where other things are important in the non-stop race around the world.
It is a very demanding sea area"
How can the Transat Jacques Vabre be described as a race?
It's a mixture of a routine exercise and a big race across the Atlantic, the wild wintery North Atlantic, starting in the Bay of Biscay. Anything can happen. The challenges of sailing through the Channel and around the corner of Brittany are always similar right from the start. It is a very demanding sea area.
Important decisions often have to be made early on ...
Yes, there is the intensity of the first night. And then you usually have to make a big strategic decision at the end of the second day. Maybe you have to decide in the heat of the start: Do I head south through the Raz de Sein, do I leave the Île d'Ouessant to the left or to the right. These are such early, big decisions for paths that subsequently determine where you end up further south in the Atlantic. That's where the big weather calculations come in, while you're still battling in choppy seas in the start phase.
"Malizia - Seaexplorer" is well equipped for the last highlight of the season?
We are still strong and confident in strong winds and choppy seas. When it comes to light wind foiling, it will be more difficult for us compared to some of our competitors. We will fight and see what we can get out of it. It's simply a race for which you have to find the right factors and the right path.
I have huge confidence in Will. He is a super sailor, a perfectionist"
Your boat has already undergone its first refit after the Ocean Race in the summer. The most important improvements?
We have made the boat lighter and believe that it is already much better. We have redesigned the cockpit a little and installed a new, central seat with a view to the Vendée Globe solo race.
You are still using the replacement foils from the Ocean Race. But new ones are in sight ...
Next year we will be getting a pair of new foils for the Vendée Globe at the beginning of April. The current ones are about ten per cent smaller than the class rules allow. The new foils will then be optimised for our boat and also use the maximum foil size of the class rules. They will be built at CDK. It's also good to have a replacement ourselves.
Shortly before the start of The Ocean Race, the foils had to be replaced:
Do you feel comfortable with Will in the double pass?
Will and I rode the Transat Jacques Vabre together for the first time in 2019. I have huge confidence in Will. He's a super sailor, a perfectionist.
I also want to see how I stand alone"
Like yourself ...
(Laughs). Yes, but I am in other areas. And sometimes not at all, but rather very relaxed, which my team then has to deal with. I leave the field to Will to navigate with complete confidence during preparation.
After a short break in Martinique, the solo challenge "Back to La Base" will follow the Transat Jacques Vabre. Some Imoca soloists still urgently need this return race to France as proof of mileage for their Vendée Globe qualification. This applies, for example, to Fabrice Amedeo, who is sailing the TJV with Andreas Baden from Kiel on"Nexans - Art & Fenêtres". And also for ex-Malician Nico Lunven, who, due to a lack of qualifications in his new role as "Holcim-PRB" skipper does not participate in the TJV, but after the transfer with Rosalin Kuiper and other team members solo in the "Back to La Base" regatta.You've already qualified for your second solo race around the world in 2024/2025, but you're still sailing the single-handed return race. Why?
There are simply two races where I can get up close and personal with the others. And I wanted to have this self-assessment at the beginning of the winter and therefore as early as possible. I also want to see how I'm doing on my own. How I get back into single-handed sailing. Then maybe we can take stock in December before the Vendée Globe year begins.
In addition to you, two other German players will be competing in the Imoca class: Isabelle Joschke from France and Andreas Baden from Kiel. In the smaller Class 40, the young professionals Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink, who have recently started living together in Hamburg, will celebrate their première on "Sign for Com". Never in 30 years of Transat Jacques Vabre history have there been so many German participants...
That's absolutely marvellous! I look forward to seeing them all in Le Havre and wish them all every success.
In Germany, NDR will be streaming the TJV launch live on 29 October from 1pm on ndr.de will be broadcast in the original English version. If the start has to be postponed, new transmission times will be announced.
Video preview 30 years of the Transat Jacques Vabre - the 16th edition of the Transat classic takes a record field across the Atlantic in four classes:
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Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
