Malizia scores win

“Four weeks ago, if I had been told ‘Repair your mast because you might win this leg’ I would have not believed it and said that’s not possible, we are too far behind and can’t push the boat anymore. But it worked out beyond our expectations.”

“It is a dream come true to win this leg of The Ocean Race, after everything we went through on this leg, I am so happy,” said Malizia’s Will Harris.

“We really did this as a team, not just the sailing team but the whole team. Our boat was built for this Leg and I think we really showed what the boat and this team can do.

“Not only that but we had a good time doing it, we worked hard but we also enjoyed this race so much! Of course, Cape Horn was a highlight for me but also just the times of being on the deck and feeling the waves hit me, it really made me feel what it was to be in the Southern Ocean.”

Early in the leg, it didn’t appear likely that we would see Team Malizia at the front of the fleet for the finish.

Within days of the start in Cape Town the team discovered serious damage to the top of their mast and needed to devote nearly two full days to effecting difficult repairs at sea, with an uncertain result.

Meanwhile, Team Holcim-PRB had escaped from the rest of the fleet and was a full weather system and nearly 600 miles ahead.

On board Malizia, the makeshift reinforcement of the top of the spar was successful and the chase was on.

By the time the teams reached the Leg 3 scoring gate, Malizia had closed to less than 200 miles from Holcim-PRB, moving up into second place and collecting 4 points.

As the fleet raced south of New Zealand and into the southern depths of the Pacific Ocean, the game closed up significantly within 10 miles and exchanging the lead one to the other as they raced along the ice exclusion zone.

During one of the worst periods of the leg, with the boat lurching a violent sea state, Rosalin Kuiper was tossed from her bunk and suffered a head injury. With a focus on getting Rosie stabilised and recovering, the crew was taxed even more, down to a three-person watch rotation for the rest of the leg.

A day out from Cape Horn and Team Malizia had a narrow advantage of less than 30 miles, leading the fleet around the iconic passage and winning the Roaring Forties trophy in the process.

The final push north was hard-fought. Team Holcim-PRB and Team Malizia were racing within in sight of each other – exchanging body blows all the way up the South American coast.

The penultimate night – Friday night – was a battle through yet another fierce storm, with gusts of 50 knots screaming off the coast and whipping up the sea. Boris Herrmann and his crew on Team Malizia handled the conditions with aplomb, and emerged into the daybreak with a 60 mile lead after Holcim-PRB did a crash gybe overnight and suffered damage. This was the largest lead any team had enjoyed since New Zealand over 10 days ago.

On the last day of the leg and into the final night at sea Team Malizia sailed fast and confident towards the finishing line, extending its lead to more than 80 miles and taking an historic win.

Congratulations to Boris Herrmann, Will Harris, Nico Lunven, Rosalin Kuiper and on board reporter Antoine Auriol and the entire Malizia team on their victory.

For Kevin Escoffier’s Team Holcim-PRB, the points gained on this Leg solidify his position at the top of the leaderboard.

“We always said at the start of this leg that the first job is to get to Itajaí with the crew and the boat in good shape and we have done this,” he said. “To also get 9 out of 10 points for the leg is very good of course and sets us up well for the rest of the race.”

The mutual respect between the teams was evident, with both skippers paying tribute to the other. Boris Herrmann postponed any sleep options to be dockside to greet the Holcim-PRB team on arrival.

Two boats are still at sea and racing up the Atlantic towards Itajaí. 11th Hour Racing Team is now 525 miles away while Biotherm has 650 miles to go. Their ETAs stretch into Wednesday.

The latest positions are on the Tracker and the leaderboard is available here.

theoceanrace.com