LITMIR.BIZ

      A race we must win! Protecting the oceans is an additional goal for me.

      Weeks of exhaustion after this incredible feat of strength. Months of searching – for the next sponsor, the next project, and even to an extent for himself. He has always set the bar extremely high. At one point rejecting, almost categorically, the idea of jumping from one boat to the next as a professional, hiring himself out as a mercenary sailor when there’s no big project on.

      At that time, having reached this plateau but not yet the peak, Boris Herrmann’s ascent could have come to an end. The man whose boyish looks and cultivated manner were misinterpreted as signs of vulnerability and lack of grit came very close to failing due to his own incredibly high standards.

      INNER RETREAT

      Then, once again, his stubbornness, his strength of will, but above all his boundless love of the sea prevailed. To this day this love remains his strongest motivator. It enables him to hold on when the going gets tough and to find alternatives when a direct course is not possible.

      Anyone who has sailed with him for a while senses this before they really understand it. One time, in the middle of an Atlantic crossing, he crouches down on deck on the lee side, looks along the spinnaker sheet rope into the huge sail and on to the horizon. A haven of peace in the midst of the wind and the crashing waves. He sits on his haunches for minutes on end without saying a word, his face aglow in the low sun. It would be interesting to know what he’s thinking, what’s going on inside him, but he’s so immersed within himself that it would seem insubordinate to interrupt his inner monologue with a question.

      »I like to withdraw into myself sometimes, to dream and find inspiration while I’m steering or trimming,« he says. It’s like a little break for his soul and his brain, overflowing with impressions, as the boat tears unstoppably through the seas.

      MULTI-TALENT

      It seems practically impossible to overestimate the challenges that the single-handed sailor has to deal with on an Imoca60. He has to be skipper, boatswain, trimmer, navigator, ship’s cook and PR manager in one, 24 hours a day for 70 to 80 days at a time. This requires intelligence, intuition, meticulousness, multi-tasking skills, fitness and an almost superhuman resilience in the face of setbacks.

      So maybe it’s a good thing that Boris Herrmann is taking on the Vendée Globe only at his third attempt, in 2020. Because qualities such as these have to develop – hardly anybody has this much experience and maturity at a young age. He wouldn’t have been nearly as good, as complete, as he is now.

      The resident of Hamburg, who will race for the Principality of Monaco, has even more to offer. Not only can he sail, he can also share his extreme experience with others: in three languages, with a style of his own and a talent, rare among professionals, for storytelling that goes beyond tweets and posts.

      A few years ago he wrote for »YACHT« about chasing records: »State-of-the-art offshore racing boats sail so fast that we have to surmise the optimum course across the seas far in advance. The brain anticipates the formation of the waves, the crests and valleys, projects an imaginary slope before it appears for a few seconds before us at the exact point that we’re steering towards.«

      This reads like a metaphor of his life as a navigator and solo skipper who has plotted a course from the small, inland Zwischenahner Meer to the Olympus of high-sea sailing, from the Optimist to the Open60. This course doesn’t even exist. Boris Herrmann still found a way.

      After all these years at the finish line – the joy is indescribable.

02

      After years of working towards participation in the Vendée, the hours of start delay due to fog no longer matter.

      BY

      JOCHEN RIEKER

      “THERE ARE TWO TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES THAT A PERSON CAN MAKE: NOT FULFILLING THEIR DREAM, AND HAVING FULFILLED IT”

      BERNARD MOITESSIER,

      LA LONGUE ROUTE

      It’s still very quiet this Saturday morning in the country house in Longeville-sur-Mer, half an hour’s drive southeast of Les Sables d’Olonne. In the remote, slightly dusty AirBnB rental with Ikea guest beds, Team Malizia has set up its headquarters for the week, far away from the hustle and bustle of the Race Village.

      The fresh north-westerly wind, which will reach gale force in the Bay of Biscay in the afternoon, is pushing through the old doors and windows and moaning softly in the chimney. The heating gave up during the night, and the house is noticeably cooler this morning. Just a few hours ago, champagne corks were flying and the rooms were filled with excited chatter and laughter.

      There’s a hint of a hangover feeling as Boris Herrmann comes down the creaking stairs at seven-thirty in jogging bottoms and fleece jacket, his features still a little crumpled with sleep and bearing the traces of having spent three months alone at sea. But there’s no reason to be down this morning, not at all!

      Less than two days ago, on 28 January at 11.19 am, he finished the Vendée Globe, the hardest regatta of them all: single-handed, non-stop around the world. This was the goal he had been working towards

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