Team Malizia found a way to grab a last-minute win in leg 7 of The Ocean Race, saving the best for last. On the waters off the finish port of Genova, skipper Boris Herrmann from Yacht Club de Monaco and his crew boldly grabbed the leg lead in extremely light and variable conditions at 0600 UTC on Tuesday morning, by virtue of heading close to shore and picking up a gentle breeze along the coast. This allowed them to ease past Team Holcim-PRB, who had led for the majority of the leg from The Hague to Genova, as well as Biotherm, and win their second leg of The Ocean Race.

“I’m very happy and very proud of this team. It’s been a privilege to work with all of them,” said skipper Boris Herrmann, reflecting on the end of his around the world race. “It’s incredible to finish the leg to Genova in first place,” said Rosie Kuiper. “I still can’t believe it. We have done a lap around the world, pushing ourselves day in and day out and to finish like this is so special… lt’s been a crazy adventure and we had such a good time. We will miss each other and miss being out at sea together.”

Following the finish of Malizia-Seaexplorer, the wind nearly died completely, leaving Biotherm and Holcim-PRB crew to play a very downspeed chess match to get to the finishing line.

The overall leaderboard for the IMOCA fleet in The Ocean Race remains ‘provisional‘ awaiting the Request for Redress that has been filed by 11th Hour Racing Team after being hit just after the start by GUYOT environnement – Team Europe, who acknowledged responsibility for the incident. The World Sailing International Jury will hear the Redress request on Thursday.