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Will Harris

Cole Brauer

Francesca Clapcich

Julien Villion

Flore Hartout

We compete on the highest level in the toughest races, inspire action & create awareness and highlight solutions to the climate crisis.

Home

 took the start of the 60,000 km-long crewed race around the world. The first leg is leading the fleet of five IMOCAs from Alicante, Spain to Mindelo, Cabo Verde, with an expected duration of about six days.

This Sunday afternoon, Team Malizia’s sailing crew comprised of 

surrounded by the team, friends, family members, and more than 50,000 visitors witnessing the dockside farewells. The newly built race yacht docked out at 14:29 hours CET to the sound of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”, soon embarking on her first race around the globe. 

The programme for Sunday’s start was an inshore course almost identical to last week’s Inport Race, before heading towards Mindelo. 

, Biotherm crossing the start line first, Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia in fourth position. They raced in 

, before bearing away towards mark 2. Biotherm kept their lead, passing both marks first. Soon after, GUYOT Environnement - Team Europe struggled with their J0 causing them to lose their position whilst they dealt with the problem. 

 passed mark 3 in fourth position, flying by the Malizia supporters cheering from a chartered ferry. As the fleet sailed in the direction of the island of Tabarca, Team Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team exchanged for the third and fourth positions.

The fleet will have an easy early evening of reaching, before encountering a 

tricky weather transition with light winds

 explained before the start: “The northwesterly winds will allow us to sail quite fast reaching angles down to the southeastern corner of Spain. Going into tonight, we will have to fight our way through the light winds, not sleeping much, and 

. Finally, once we get through this transition, we will be hit by the strong westerlies funnelling through the Alboran Sea, slowing our progress to Gibraltar as we tack upwind in a heavy sea state and up to 40 knots of wind.”

 for the crew skippered by Boris Herrmann, as they try to make tactical decisions whilst also preserving the condition of their 

. “The boat exciting the Mediterranean in the lead will be in a great position, able to use the strong trade wind situation to their advantage, and propelling them on a fast sailing angle towards Cabo Verde”, explains Will Harris.

As of 21:00 hours CET this Sunday evening, 

, however, Leg 1 and the race around the world have only just begun.

Team Malizia will be sharing the adventure of the race across all their channels and launching a 

 following the team during The Ocean Race. They will also be spreading their 

A Race We Must Win – Climate Action Now!

 message as they sail around the world, raising awareness amongst children about ocean protection and climate change through their 

. They will run their onboard mini laboratory, embarking on the race with the aim of collecting their second set of rare ocean CO2 data around the world.

This mission is only possible due to the strong and long-lasting commitment from Team Malizia’s 

: 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 

 mission, each of them working towards projects in their own field to innovate around climate solutions.

The fleet of five IMOCAs as the crossed the start line of The Ocean Race 2022-23

The international sailing team skippered by Boris Herrmann has embarked on the legendary round-the-world race, facing human, technological and sporting challenges onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer over the next six months.