Those who have already taken on this race are either hooked for more or cured for good. “I’ve had my share,” says Ian Walker, “now it’s the younger generation’s turn.” The Brit won the Volvo Ocean Race 2014/15 and considers the first stage to be the preliminary decision. Whoever arrives in Cape Town first is usually the overall winner because the different weather conditions up to South Africa already instilled in a crew the spirit it needs.
Although the route to Cape Town is interrupted this time by a short pit stop on Cap Verden, Walker’s prognosis is likely to be correct: “You fumble your way out of the Mediterranean Sea, look for a way through the Canary Islands, in the middle, downwind or upwind Mountains, the trade winds must reach first, and in the south the first downwind surfs await. Since the stage has a bit of everything, the crew that comes out strongest is the one who knows how to master all these conditions.” How much of this applies cannot be seen at the start. But since something of the spectacle of “flying” yachts can be experienced up close on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Alicante, it has a certain importance.
“Biotherm” skipper Paul Meilhat was sure to draw the most attention when he rushed across the line at full speed at the starting gun and stole the show. The 40-year-old Frenchman, who is treated as an outsider because of his team’s short preparation time, was up and away. Only Kevin’s Escoffiers “Holcim-PRB” stayed on his heels for the time being. After the five Imoca racers left the course heading south as dusk fell, Boris Herrmann’s “Malizia” had worked its way up to third place, followed by “11th Hour” and a little behind “Guyot”.
we can win
Boris Herrmann, skipper of “Malizia-Seaexplorer”
Two hours before the Imoca fleet, the six teams in the VO65 field started the first part of their Sprint Cup. It ends for the time being with the Cape Verde Islands, to be continued in the summer with the European stages of the Ocean Race (OR). At first, these yachts, each served by a dozen young up-and-coming sailors, might have an advantage over the Imoca foilers. Although these reached speeds of up to 35 knots shortly after takeoff, this was only for a short time. And we can expect stormy winds from the west up to Gibraltar, which downwind racers will have a hard time with.
So what to expect?
“Even if we ended up last on the first stage,” Boris Herrmann said in a phone call before the start, “we don’t have to be ashamed. Billing is based on seven stages. I think we can win.”
These are unfamiliar tones from the 41-year-old German, who usually hides his ambitions behind cool calculations. “I can’t start all over again, ifs and buts..” he adds.
In fact, after changing their damaged foils just days before the start, the Malicians, as they call themselves, are no longer among the contenders for the stage win. They currently lack the database to reliably assess the risks and load limits of the new configuration. Creating a working basis here will be part of the task of the first stage.
The teams and what sets them apart:
The US team is the favourite 11 the hour racing. Not only that skipper Charlie Enright and navigator Simon Fisher have plenty of ocean racing experience – Fisher, 42, has honestly earned the title of “Mister Ocean Race” with his 6th participation, he has even won it once, Enright, 36, is there for the 3rd time. They also had the longest preparation time. For this they bought the former “Hugo Boss”, with which Alex Thompson had finished second at the Vendée Globe, and even trained with two boats for a time after their new building had also been completed.
Like the Americans, all teams are trying to bring together sailing skills that have so far hardly been able to benefit from each other. So now people from the Figaro school, Imoca experts, speed experts with trimaran experience, Olympians, OR veterans are on board.
Kevin Escoffiers is also highly traded “Holcim PRB”. For the French it will be the 3rd circumnavigation of the OR. His new construction is extremely fast, as the Route du Rhum proved. But the decision for the OR was made very late. After the sinking of his PRB at the last Vendée Globe, Escoffier, who studied boat design, concentrated entirely on the next race. But when his sponsor was bought by the Swiss group, his new building was not only repainted and the distinctive orange color removed, the decision was also made to use the OR to carry the name Holcim out into the world.
Although Escoffier nominated his team very late, they are top-class. Among others with the German silver medalist from Tokyo Sanni Beucke. Not there at the start but will increase as the race progresses.
As Enright & Co. their training boat to the French Benjamin Dutreux sold, they probably thought he would use it for the next Vendée Globe in two years time. But the 32-year-old sat down with the three Berliners who had brought him on board for the Ocean Race Europe after the last Vendée Globe. Together they decided to continue the cooperation at the OR, the for Robert Stanjek, Philipp Kasuske and manager Jens Kuphal threatened to be a long way off, since even after seven years of effort, not enough sponsors could be found for their project.
Dutreux had what they needed: a boat and the financial backing of the Guyout family. The Germans had a goal and are now taking on 50 percent of the budget. It is the declared attempt of the cooperation to merge Dutreux’ solo knowledge with the expertise of Olympic sailors. So while he’s wondering before the race how he’s going to be able to cope with so many people on board, Stanjek & Co. are wondering how they’re going to cope with the loneliness in the Southern Ocean.
An unsuccessful maneuver after the start caused the four-strong team, which has an OR expert on board in Annie Lush, to fall eight kilometers behind the field. A deficit that “Guyot” largely made up for in the evening.
Many participants associate formative childhood memories with this race, which have implanted an image of special meaning in them.
So experienced will harris from the Malizia team at the finish of the OR in Plymouth 2007 for the first time that there is more to sailing than doing lonely laps in a dinghy on a lake. He was overwhelmed by the crowds of people watching the boats in the harbor and listening spellbound to the stories of the skippers. “I hadn’t seen before that people were interested in the adventure of sailing. Very cool.”
For the 28-year-old Briton, the OR represents one of two highlights of what he is striving to achieve in his career. The other would be to win the Vendée Globe. For almost ten years he has subordinated his life to these goals.
“I would say I’m pretty nervous,” says Harris. “I wake up early every morning wondering what I can do to be prepared. My time at the OR control center five years ago taught me one thing. At first I thought that nothing would happen at all and in fact there was little going on. But in the end, events took a sudden turn. Two people had died, masts had broken and a boat had crashed onto a reef. Surely there will be drama again this time. I remember Team Brunel trailing far for the first half of the race. But just before the finish line in The Hague, they were only five minutes away from winning. I want to convey this confidence in my own chances to my team. Even if things don’t start well for us, I want to motivate the others not to let up. Everything can happen.”
Boris Herrman makes the usual serene impression before the race. Inwardly, the task doesn’t bother him as much as the prospect of having to do everything on his own for months. With four circumnavigations of the world, he has the most experience among skippers. He answers the first question about his ambition like something he can no longer hide from. The Route du Rhum “didn’t go so well,” he says. Now they wanted “to show that the new building is fast”. If it’s the effort of sailing around the world, then to win, that’s the top priority now.
“We just have to be smart not to break the boat,” adds Rosalin Kuiper.
In the first three days of the race, the crews will already face difficult challenges. The field has to cross a high-pressure bridge on Monday night, where hardly any wind is to be expected and local effects are likely to make themselves felt. A stormy westerly wind then prevailed on Wednesday, blocking the exit at Gibraltar.
Imocas don’t like these conditions. Then the VO65, supposedly obsolete models, can demonstrate that it is sometimes simply a matter of pushing your way through offshore sailing.
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