Boris Herrmann and Will Harris Ready to Race in the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre 2023
by Media Team Malizia 27 Oct 2023 10:58 BST
Boris Herrmann (right) and Will Harris (left) are ready for their second Transat Jacques Vabre race together © Antoine Auriol
The Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre 2023 will see Boris Herrmann and Will Harris race onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer from Le Havre, in northern France, to Fort-de-France on the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean. It will be the second time that the Malizia duo will sail this race after their participation in 2019, when Will Harris first joined our team.
"I am very much looking forward to doing this race again with Will", comments skipper Boris Herrmann. "This time, it will be on our new boat Malizia - Seaexplorer and a different route, not to Salvador in Brazil but to Martinique. For the first time, we will confront some of the new boats in the class that I will compete against in the Vendée Globe next year. Having sailed around the world with Will, and him having skippered the boat in two legs of The Ocean Race, he is the best pick as co-skipper for this race. It's really a pleasure and joy to go sailing together now."
A record 95 boats across 4 classes (Ultim, Ocean Fifty, IMOCA, Class 40) are setting sail on Sunday 29 October 2023 in the longest and most difficult double-handed offshore sailing race. For this 16th edition, the different boat classes will depart at staggered timings and race along different courses, which should allow relatively grouped arrivals in Martinique.
The 40 IMOCA race yachts will start at 13:29 local time and compete over 5,400 nautical miles. The race is expected to last between 16 and 18 days, during which the sailors will have to navigate key passages like the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and cross the doldrums twice.
After the start line in front of Le Havre and a coastal course to Étretat, the boats will try to get out of the often tricky conditions in the English Channel as quickly as possible. Strong currents and intense marine traffic are characteristic of the area and the challenging weather conditions forecasted will keep the sailor's on their toes.
"Once we round Brittany, we will then cross the Bay of Biscay which can be a bit rough at this time of year", explains Boris Herrmann. "After Cape Finisterre, we will try to catch the trade winds, sail past the Canary and Cape Verdean islands and head further south toward the São Pedro e São Paulo archipelago. The IMOCA fleet will have to round the archipelago before heading back north to Martinique."
"This means that we will cross the Equator twice, so the fourth time this year counting The Ocean Race", comments Will Harris. "We will toast to Neptune, hoping for an uncomplicated passage of the doldrums as it will be crucial to come out of them well-positioned, in order to catch the southeasterly trade winds amongst the first boats and push until Martinique." As they approach the finish line, our Malizia sailing crew and their competitors will pass between the iconic Rocher du Diamant and the island's coast and end the race in the bay of Fort-de-France.
"We will be running the Ocean Pack, as we have done in every race and delivery for many years now, in order to collect further Ocean CO2 data for marine scientists", adds Will Harris in a virtual press conference on Wednesday. "Certain sections of the race will be similar to ones we sailed in The Ocean Race earlier this year, so I'll be curious to see what scientists can observe on a more seasonal scale. We will also experiment with something new and try to collect some environmental DNA samples through a filter system added to the Ocean Pack. This race will be a great opportunity to test the setup and perfect it for the coming races."
The British sailor who has earned a degree in Oceanography at the University of Southampton in 2015 explains: "I'm also excited that we will deploy another drifting buoy, at about 32 degreesW, an area where data is cruelly lacking. It will be our third drifting buoy deployment in 2023, my very first one was actually in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2019 when I joined Malizia - this shows how consistent we have been as a team in supporting marine research."
The drifter will be able to measure sea-surface temperature and air pressure, as well as surface current. From its remote position in the Ocean, the buoy will send frequent highly accurate scientific data updates to the Global Telecommunication System (GTS), an international data network of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This platform allows forecasters and scientists around the world to access the information - for free. The deployment is part of the Eumetnet's E-SurfMar European programme, coordinated by Météo France. Boris Herrmann concludes: "The global project will help scientists around the world to gain a better understanding of the Ocean and how natural and human-induced changes affect it. It will also significantly improve the accuracy of modern weather forecasting and weather models, which are an integral part of ocean racing."
Team Malizia's A Race We Must Win - Climate Action Now! mission is only possible due to the strong and long-lasting commitment from its seven main partners: Kuehne+Nagel, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, Hapag-Lloyd, Schütz, the Yacht Club de Monaco, EFG International, and Zurich Group Germany. These partners band behind Team Malizia to support its campaign, each of them working towards projects in their own field to innovate around climate solutions.
How to follow the start of the race.