Boris Herrmann started his professional offshore sailing career in 2001 as the youngest participant in the Mini Transat race. Since then, he has circumnavigated the world 6 times. The Southern Ocean holds few secrets for him, after a Barcelona World Race, an attempt in the Jules Verne Trophy alongside Francis Joyon, and a Class40 race around the world. In 2020, he became the first German to ever compete in the Vendée Globe, finishing in 5th place. After launching the new Malizia – Seaexplorer in July 2022, he finished 3rd with his Team Malizia in The Ocean Race, winning the Southern Ocean and final legs, and breaking the 24-hour distance record.
Boris Herrmann and his Team Malizia run the A Race We Must Win – Climate Action Now! campaign since 2018, combining sailing, science, and education. Since then, the German skipper has been carrying a laboratory onboard his boat that measures valuable Ocean CO2, temperature, and salinity data in partnership with the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, GEOMAR and Ifremer. This data is used by scientists worldwide to better understand the role of the Ocean in climate change and incredibly valuable as Malizia – Seaexplorer sails in the most remote areas of the world where almost no research vessels go. Through the award-winning My Ocean Challenge programme, his Team Malizia also educates children around the world about the Ocean and climate change.
This will be my first solo race in my Vendée Globe 2024 campaign. In any case, I had to return to the other side after the Transat Jacques Vabre, so it makes sense. It's going to be a great race in the North Atlantic. This year, I've done some crewed and double-handed racing, so I'll be back to solo sailing. I really enjoy racing at this time of year. I'm really looking forward to it!
By going from crewed to double-handed and then solo, I'm faced with a real reduction in personnel (laughs)! It really changes the way you sail. When you're double-handed, there's a fluid system where you listen to each other, where one person wakes the other up when they're really tired... When you're single-handed, there's something very pure. Sleep is shorter, rarer and less comfortable. You have to find the right rhythm between yourself and the boat, and then you have to manage your emotions in all circumstances.
I'm lucky enough to have a great team who will be mobilised and who won't need me to prepare the boat. When I arrive, we'll have a little debriefing, a few interviews and then I'll have a few days with my family. We're going to try to mix moments of relaxation, discovering the island, sports - I'd like to do some wing-foil - and alternate with long periods of rest to be as fit as possible.
2023
The Ocean Race - 3rd with Team Malizia
2022
Route du Rhum - 24th
Défi Azimut (crew) - 3rd
2020
Vendée Globe - 5th (80d 14h 59m 45s - 6h bonus)
Défi Azimut - 7th
Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d'Olonne - 7th
2019
Transat Jacques Vabre - 12th
Rolex Fastnet Race - 7th
Bermudes 1000 Race - 6th
2018
Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe - 5th
Monaco Globe Series - 7th
2017
Transat Jacques Vabre - 4th
Rolex Fastnet Race - 3rd
2009
Portimao Global Ocean Race - Winner
Rolex Fastnet Race - 3rd
2008
Transat Quebec - Saint Malo - 7th
2001
Mini Transat - 11th
Name: Malizia III
Architect: VPLP
Building: 2022, Multiplast
Launching: 19/07/2022
Lenght: 18,28m
Beam: NC
Draught: 4,50m
Weight: NC
Mast height: 29m
Mast type: wing-mast
Foils: yes
Upwind: NC
Downwind: NC
Team Malizia’s A Race We Must Win – Climate Action Now! mission is only possible due to the strong and long-lasting commitment from its seven main partners: Hapag-Lloyd, Schütz, the Yacht Club de Monaco, EFG International, Zurich Group Germany, Kuehne+Nagel, and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company. These partners, ranging from the logistics industry, to insurance, to banking band behind Team Malizia to support its campaign, each of them working towards sustainability projects in their own field to innovate around climate solutions.
