This Wednesday evening, Vendée Globe sailor Boris Herrmann had a chat with Yacht Club de Monaco members and young sailors in the Club’s Sports Section. He gave them unique insights into what life is like on board his IMOCA Malizia-Seaexplorer and his state of mind at this point. “You have to stay in the moment,” he said, emphasising the importance of not looking ahead to the finish too early to avoid the time seeming to be interminable.

The skipper spent time describing his day-to-day life in the trade winds and talked about his current position, slightly set back to the west. It’s a less favourable position for the moment, but he hopes to make up for it soon when the weather changes, as a depression is forecast in the coming days.

During the session, Boris answered numerous questions from the younger generation including one on how he manages the sails alone: “It’s doable,” he explained, “as long as there are no technical problems. But as soon as something breaks or falls in the water that’s when it can get really complicated”.

He also returned to the issue of solitude at sea, a problem that really affected him four years ago during his first Vendée Globe: “This time I feel really good on board. Mentally I am much stronger. I haven’t had the same problems with it as I did on my first Vendée”.

When sharing his best memories of the trip so far, Boris described a one-off day in the Pacific when he was sailing through sleety snow which is very rare in these latitudes. As we all know, the Vendée Globe is a non-stop, solo, round the world race without assistance, but it is also about surpassing yourself. “What’s great about the Vendée is finding those inner limits and discovering that you are capable of doing so much more than you thought,” he says.

As the finish line in Les Sables-d’Olonne approaches, Boris is staying totally focused. As he said, “nothing is finished before the finish line!”, before going on to talk about the future for his boat. Installation of new more effective foils is on the programme along with an already promising calendar. But it’s a case of one step at a time for the Malizia-Seaexplorer skipper who is expected to arrive sometime between 24th and 26th January. “Meanwhile, we must celebrate all arrivals in the coming weeks, as every contestant who manages to finish is writing a chapter on their own personal victory. Each has their own story to tell. And that’s the Vendée Globe”.