Malizia 4 is all set to debut in The Ocean Race Atlantic, with the start from New York set for 6.00pm French time this Monday evening. For Yacht Club de Monaco member Boris Herrmann, the transatlantic crossing of over 3,000 nautical miles marks the IMOCA’s racing debut against five other teams in a sprint to Lorient estimated to take eight or nine days.
Barely two months after its launch in Lorient on 6 July, the new IMOCA of Team Malizia founded by YCM Vice-President Pierre Casiraghi has already been in action, clocking up 6,500+ nautical miles of sea trials, training sessions and crossing the Atlantic. No more tests, it’s time to race.
Boris Herrmann is supported by a crew that unites American Cole Brauer, Swiss sailor Justine Mettraux and Frenchman Julien Villion. Gauthier Lebec is also onboard as a reporter. It is a unique line-up for Team Malizia, as required by this first edition of The Ocean Race Atlantic, where each IMOCA has four sailors, two women and two men.
The German skipper is champing at the bit to get racing. After weeks spent getting to know and fine-tuning his new boat, he feels he can rely on a solid crew of members who have already sailed together such a lot during the preparation phase. “I have complete confidence in this crew. They are among the best sailors in the world, and I am proud and honoured to sail alongside them”.
The crossing looks set to be a first head-to-head comparison between the latest generation boats in Malizia 4, designed by Antoine Koch, and Kojiro Shiraishi’s new DMG MORI Global One designed by Guillaume Verdier, and four proven extensively developed boats with many miles of racing under their belts.
Among these four is a boat Boris Herrmann knows inside out: the former Malizia-Seaexplorer, now called 11th Hour Racing. Francesca Clapcich is at the helm alongside Will Harris, a long-time co-skipper for Team Malizia. For the first time, the German team’s new IMOCA will be also racing against its predecessor.
United By The Ocean, formerly Biotherm with Paul Meilhat onboard, Ollie Heer’s Embrace The Challenge, and Conrad Colman’s MSIG Europe complete this fleet of six boats.
Over a course of more than 3,000 nautical miles, pure speed won’t be a given. From the start on the US East Coast, Julien Villion anticipates unstable potentially stormy weather systems and rapidly forming transition zones. The Gulf Stream and exclusion zones are also expected to influence routing decisions early on. Once offshore, conditions could open up the race, and as they approach the Bay of Biscay and then Lorient, a high-pressure system could once again reshuffle the ranking.
It is against this backdrop that Malizia 4 makes its debut in The Ocean Race Atlantic, with much to learn, yet already having logged thousands of miles on foils. It is a significant event on a broader perspective as it’s the first crewed transatlantic race and will allow Boris Herrmann and Team Malizia to continue developing their new IMOCA ahead of The Ocean Race 2027.
Last but not least is a dimension to racing that is so important to Team Malizia, and that’s the onboard OceanPack which continuously measures sea-surface CO₂ levels, temperature, and salinity. The data collected is then made freely available to the scientific community. Malizia 4 has been contributing to this programme since its launch, building on all the measurements Team Malizia has been taking since 2018.
Before setting course for France, the six IMOCAs will leave Brooklyn Bridge Marina and sail past the Statue of Liberty, before heading out to sea and the virtual start line located 100-plus nautical miles offshore – Destination Lorient.
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