Boris Herrmann Comes In 2nd Place In The New York Vendee Transat Race. Finish and Interview

Germany’s top ocean racer Boris Herrmann secured second place on the 3200nautical miles New York Vendée - Les Sables d’Olonne solo race across theNorth Atlantic when he crossed the finish line at 04:52 hrs (french time).
HIS RACE IN FIGURES
Finish time:
14:52:32 (UTC)
Race time:
10d 20h 52min 32s
Distance covered:
3 169.88 nautical miles
Average speed (on the great circle route):
12.15 knots
HIS FIRST REACTION
"Congratulations to Charlie! I've been lucky to sail a lot downwind and have had a greatnorthern experience. I'm very happy to arrive this Sunday afternoon with the sun shining,to see everyone in the channel. It's magnificent! Thank you to everyone for being here,for being in Les Sables d'Olonne!"
HIS RACE
On the last big ocean race before this winter’s Vendée Globe, the skipper of MaliziaSeaExplorer establishes himself as one of the podium favourites for the legendary nonstop race round the world race by today adding a successive second position to the onehe took on the westwards solo race from Lorient to New York earlier last month. Arrivingin the USA he finished only 2 hrs and 19 minutes adrift, remaining a threat to winnerYoann Richomme until the final miles of the race.
Herrmann and winner Charlie Dalin, who finished last night at 1144hrs local time, werethe only two skippers to break out of a low pressure trough one week ago, a tacticalescape which allowed them to build a big lead on their pursuers.
Bidding for victory the German skipper took a very challenging northerly route whichrequired him to fight through very light winds for many hours in order to get to fastdownwind conditions on the NE and E side of a high pressure system. His audaciouschoice, yielding speeds between 20 and 25kts at times showed promise even untilyesterday, winner Dalin admitting to having last minute concerns even at 24 hours fromthe finish line.
With an ocean racing career stretching back to a first Mini Transat in 2001, then includingThe Transat in Class 40 in 2008, the same westwards race he has just completed,Herrman has now made three IMOCA podium finishes in two years after co-skippering his
Malizia team to third place on the crewed The Ocean Race, the crewed round the worldrace during which they won historic event’s longest ever, most difficult Southern Oceanstage from Cape Town to Itajai, Brazil.
Celebrating his 43rd birthday on the eve of the start from New York, Herrmann was in thematch from the get go, always electing to be in the northernmost group. The first fewdays of the race were especially challenging as the winds were very unstable as thecombined effects of the east flowing Gulf Stream current and its heat, the moving weatherfront and mixed up weather systems.
But Herrmann retained his customary analytical inner calm and put his trust in his routingand – after many hours of study – combined with a measure of intuition – to head northaround and across the huge anticyclone which was dominating the North Atlantic, playingto the strengths of his VPLP designed IMOCA which is orientated most towards the strongwinds and big seas of the Big South where he considers the Vendée Globe can be won.
Arriving into the French home of the Vendée Globe against a backdrop of the final day ofEuropean elections might be considered significant considering Herrmann internationaloutlook. As comfortable speaking French, English and Spanish as his native tongue, he Isat the spearhead of the drive to make solo and short handed ocean racing moreinternational and is a passionate, driven environmental campaigner with his program
ARace We Must Win - Climate Action Now
operating on multiple different fronts.
And while he has come to enjoy most of solo ocean racing’s challenges, he cherishescompany, admitting to have grown to love his experience racing round the world with hisMalizia crew but equally racing double handed. His fifth place on the last Vendée Globewas as much the result of his ingrained consummate seamanship – striving to deliver highdaily averages, playing the long ultra marathon game rather than ‘crash and burn’ – afterlearning so much from record passages with luminaries Giovanni Soldini of Italy andFrances Joyon with whom Herrmann sailed two Jules Verne attempts, missing the recordby two days in 2012