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Boris Herrmann

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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The First 24 hours of the race saw many IMOCA casualties very early on with top wind speeds of 45 knots and with six boats having to retire or stop for repairs. Our own boat Malizia - Seaexplorer also encountered some technical issues although issues of the electronics kind and not a structural issue with the boat. The boat itself is performing well and weathered the strong winds that saw three competitor boats with boom or mainsail damage through the course of the day. The electronics issue we are experiencing has caused the autopilot to not receive all the necessary data to function. That has made it very challenging to continue sailing as these boats are not designed to be hand steered for long periods of time. 

Through the night the pair were in fifth place and into the morning they managed to hold on to sixth place in the rankings. At around 07:43 UTC Boris reported to the shore team that they were encountering issues with the data feeding the autopilot. The autopilot itself is fine and working well but the data input feeding it was not all present due to the technical problems. 

The autopilot is a key piece of technology which drives the boat without the need for the sailors to steer. This is crucial when solo or short-handed sailing such as in the Transat Jacques Vabre or the Vendee Globe. The data around this is incredibly complicated taking into account many variables to steer a perfect course for the boat, having to react to wind, waves and the aggressive motions of a foiling IMOCA. With the advancement in technology many now believe that the autopilot is more efficient than any human steering the boat. 

On land the shore team worked on different solutions and in the meantime Boris and Will connected the secondary pilot to see if this would work. This was also not working and so the pair were forced to stop the boat in the Ocean to see if they could reconfigure the data sources and get the pilots working again. This first attempt was unsuccessful but the pair were able to get the second pilot up and running and so have been able to continue the race albeit in 12th place now at 15:00 UTC.

Whilst the duo continue to work on a solution with the electronics experts back in France, the damaged boats in the fleet can be seen on the tracker to be sailing to safe harbors along the French coast. The front running three boats as expected are Charal, For People and Paprec Arkea. The team’s aim is to get further south over the coming hours as more strong wind is forecast over the next 12 hours. 

Will and Boris checking the data input

TJV start - Malizia - Seaexplorer

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