LITMIR.BIZ

      Few solo sailors can do this as well as the German. Alex Thomson is one of them, a born entertainer, as is his countrywoman Pip Hare. But most of the others come across as much less inspired, less eloquent, more closed – as if they were just fulfilling a duty.

      “He’s at peace with himself,” says Sidney Gavignet, a renowned high-sea sailor from France, the land of the sailing philosophers. This is like a knightly accolade. Boris, he says admiringly, speaks “like a prince of the sea.”

      He makes good use of the organisers’ package offer of almost unlimited internet access via satellite. In this Vendée Globe, Herrmann is “always on”. Before the start he set up a WhatsApp group in which the 33 skippers can communicate with each other. And he’s active in a handful of other groups in his own periphery with which he’s always in contact. Never before has a Vendée skipper allowed people to look so closely over his shoulder and into his soul.

      Proximity and immediacy are boosted enormously in social media. Even before the start, Herrmann was the sailor with the most Instagram, Twitter and Facebook followers in Germany. Now, at sea and alone, his candid video clips and audio messages have enabled him to multiply the numbers he is reaching. With the lockdown in pace at home, even fans with no knowledge of sailing can identify with his isolation. And everyone who sails is suddenly getting calls from their friends who only want to talk about the Vendée Globe. Boris Herrmann has become a superstar, a man of the people.

      FLY, BORIS!

      Because his campaign is also committed to climate protection, with he and his wife Birte having developed a school project that informed more than 20,000 children worldwide during the race about the importance of the oceans, he has a very broad appeal. He’s the good-looking, unaffected guy in the red and white Norwegian sweater, who even after a major mishap can still convey confidence in his videos.

      Carried on a wave of affection, he still has something left for the finish. He, the outsider, the skipper with one of the smallest teams and a tight, at best average budget, is sailing into the Bay of Biscay with a chance of winning this thing. Back in Hamburg, Frank Schönfeld, a sail maker and singer, rewrites a song that becomes a hymn: Fly, Boris!. On the eve of the expected finish, the last of a hundred extrapolations predicts that first place is theoretically possible, second place probable.

      “The last few miles,” says Boris Herrmann in an audio message to his friends. “The die is cast, the cards are on the table. This is the most exciting moment I could have imagined, more exciting than I would have wished for.” He curbs expectations, including his own. Fifth place is still the most realistic option, he says, and adds that he doesn’t want anyone to ask him afterwards, “why we didn’t win”.

      He checks his systems and his radar multiple times. As he has during the entire race, he takes the utmost care not to exceed the load thresholds of his foils and the rig. It’s foggy, windy. The Seaexplorer – Yacht Club de Monaco is dashing through the night at around 17 knots as he goes to his berth for a final lie down to remain fit. Then he crashes, without hearing a proximity alarm, into a Basque high-sea trawler. He has no choice but to listen to the sound of his carbon fibre hull scraping against the steel plate of the fishing boat, his torn foresail flapping in the wind. He sees the images that will remain with him forever. Scenes like those of a horror film for someone five hours away from the fulfilment of his life’s dream.

      EVEN THIS HE SHARES WITH THE WORLD

      In this race, there is almost nothing separating them – luck and misfortune, ebullient celebration and existential concern, high spirits and tension, success and failure. To be a sea hero, celebrated and worshipped, or a daredevil.

      28 January 2021: Crossing the finish line on their own keel after the shock of the collision.

      And who knows, maybe it’s even a good thing that he didn’t make the podium. This leaves him with something to aim for. Saturday morning in the country house in Longeville-sur-Mer, at a remove of two days it’s still too soon for the man from Hamburg to commit to a comeback. But this he will concede: “I think I’d probably like to.”

      Go for it! Birte Lorenzen-Herrmann keeps her fingers crossed for her husband.

      »I DON’T WORRY WHEN BORIS IS ON THE BOAT«

      BY

      TATJANA POKORNY

      BIRTE LORENZENHERRMANN

      Before the race of his life, there are 1,150 kilometres separating Boris Herrmann and his wife. However, in their hearts and their actions they are one. Interview with Birte Lorenzen-Herrmann.

      As Boris Herrmann starts the Vendée Globe on Sunday, 8 November 2020 at 1.02 pm off the coast of Les Sables-d’Olonne, his wife Birte Lorenzen-Herrmann, 1,150 kilometres away in Hamburg, is just as excited as he is. Their original plans have changed due to the corona pandemic, and she is staying at home with their four-month-old daughter Marie-Louise. Above all to protect her husband, whom she married in Hamburg in March. They originally pictured this pre-start phase very differently, planning to be in France with their families, friends and partners. However, like so many other people they have accepted the reality of COVID-19 – and are acting accordingly.

      While Boris Herrmann has spent the final days before the start in strict isolation with the family’s pet dog Lilli in Les Sables-d’Olonne, in a small apartment right on the seafront, his 36-year-old wife has been taking care of their baby. Formerly a maths and art teacher, in 2018 she started working full-time on the »My Ocean Challenge« programme, which combines sailing, science and education. Currently on maternity leave, she runs the programme on a voluntary basis from their apartment in Hamburg’s HafenCity, or at her parents’ home in Kiel.

      Combined with the worldwide regattas in which Boris Herrmann and his Team Malizia are participating, the children’s and youth education programme initiated by Birte Lorenzen-Herrmann is an intensive, prestigious passion project for the couple and Team Malizia. The goal of the »My Ocean Challenge« education programme is to focus on climate change and ocean health in particular and thus the education and awareness of future generations, while simultaneously inspiring them with sailing adventures. It brings ocean-related topics to schools worldwide to create awareness of climate change. And now they are facing the greatest adventure of all.

       Ms Lorenzen-Herrmann, your husband is starting the race of his life on Sunday. What are your hopes for him in this solo sail around the world, as the first German Vendée Globe skipper in history?

      I hope that the Vendée Globe will be a great personal success for Boris. Of course, I want him to make it to the finish, and for it to be a sporting success, but also for him to have some wonderful experiences and spread his message about the climate.

       Do you worry about your husband when he’s out there at sea?

      I actually don’t when he’s sailing, because when we were together on the boat, he gave me such a strong feeling that this is his home and he knows

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