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Boris Herrmann

Will Harris

Rosalin Kuiper

Axelle Pillain

Antoine Auriol

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

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Boris Herrmann returns onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer as skipper

 as skipper © Ricardo Pinto / Team Malizia

Leg 5 of The Ocean Race starts this Sunday 21 May at 14:15 local time (18:15 UTC, 20:15 CEST) and will see Team Malizia race towards Aarhus, Denmark. This 3,500 nautical mile transatlantic race back to Europe counts for double points, and 3 teams including Team Malizia are currently only separated by one point at the top of the scoreboard. Boris Herrmann is back as skipper and confident in Team Malizia’s chances at scoring a strong result.

 from Newport, Rhode Island to Aarhus, Denmark. The German skipper is back onboard his 

race yacht after his planned break in Leg 4, with a lot of energy and confidence in the boat’s and team’s chance of performing well. Leg 5 counts for 

 for the first time since the start in Alicante over four months ago. Across the Atlantic and around the British Islands, the fleet of IMOCAs will face 

“Leg 5 is an exciting one”, explains 

. “It is an iconic, ocean racing leg, and there is excitement up to the finish. Currently, things couldn’t go any better for our team and for the race as a whole. We are now in 

 with 11th Hour Racing Team, only one point behind Team Holcim-PRB so almost on equal points. We have everything to race for. Biotherm is not too far behind, they could come back into the podium game. Anything can happen, we need to stay focused and keep up the good work.”

 as navigator. The French sailor jumped in for injured Herrmann in Leg 2. “Yann and I actually never sailed together”, notes the German skipper. “I am very excited to have him onboard, he brings a great amount of experience to the team.” The crew is completed with co-skippers 

 (FRA/GER), the three of them having sailed all the legs since the start of The Ocean Race. Between the sailors, Team Malizia’s crew has done 

. “Nico did an excellent job so far so there is for sure a little bit of pressure. But I have crossed the Atlantic over 20 times, less often towards Europe, but still, I know the way quite well. As for Boris, Will, and Rosie, they know the boat extremely well. Each time they sail, the boat goes faster. The team is really on a positive curve, which makes me even more excited to reunite and sail with them.”

 comments: “The next leg has the highest statistical chance for strong waves and winds, and that’s where we are definitely stronger than other teams. I kind of like that the next leg has double points and I am 

 that we can perform well and get a good overall result.” 

 who has been the leader onboard twice in this race adds: “We launched the boat less than a year ago and are already at a 

After leaving Newport, the crew will be in for a bumpy ride. “For the first part, we will have to deal with the local effects created by the warm 

. “It is a fairly strong current that runs along the coast and tends to change the weather forecasts, which are never that good or accurate in these areas.” 

 start to form, and ideally, you would try to pick up one of these storms and ride away across the Atlantic over the top of England.” 

, where it will be cold and foggy. “Then comes the 

, an exclusion zone imposed by the race organisers and where we are not allowed to navigate in order to avoid icebergs”, further explains 

. “We will probably go very far north, to 60°N, not far from Iceland, with daylight lasting

 at this time of the year. Once we are past the north of Scotland, we will have more 

, with quite a few oil platforms and wind farms to avoid.” 

 concludes: “Finally, we will be coming into my home waters of the 

! This leg has a lot of variations and it will be a 

“We sailed 80% of the miles but there are still 45% of the points up for grabs”, says 

. “We are super hungry, everyone is feeling this energy. With downwind racing, it could be our leg, we know our boat is quick. We are very keen to go and send it. I am also very much looking forward to sailing to Europe. It has been a big adventure around the world but the European waters are the ones I know the best, and I am excited to be sailing home very soon.”

The stopover in Newport has been one of the shortest so far, but 

 at the end of Leg 4 nine days ago. The sailors took a few days off to 

 with the boat in the water and focussed on performance analysis. Other teams were not as lucky having dismasted in the previous leg. Team Holcim-PRB is now back in the water in Newport with a new mast, and Guyot environnement - Team Europe has made it to safe harbour and is making a plan on if and how they could rejoin the race in Europe. 

Before the Leg 5 Start on Sunday, the fleet of IMOCA yachts will race in Saturday’s 

. Although the points of the In-Port Racing Series do not count in the overall race scoreboard, they are still important as they work as a 

A Race We Must Win – Climate Action Now!

mission is only possible due to the strong and long-lasting commitment from its 

: Hapag-Lloyd, Schütz, the Yacht Club de Monaco, EFG International, Zurich Group Germany, Kuehne+Nagel, and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company. 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.

Team Malizia's IMOCA race yacht Malizia - Seaexplorer sailing in Newport

Co-skippers Will Harris and Yann Eliès

Co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper racing in Newport onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer

Co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper racing in Newport onboard 

Team Malizia's skipper Boris Herrmann

IN-PORT SERIES scoreboard before Newport’s In-Port Race

OVERALL LEG scoreboard at the start of Leg 5