Boris Herrmann reports broken port foil onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer in the Vendée Globe

Broken port foil onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer - Vendée Globe © Boris Herrmann / Team Malizia

This morning, on Thursday 16 January 2025, Team Malizia's skipper Boris Herrmann informed his team and race management about serious damage to the port foil of his Malizia - Seaexplorer racing yacht following a collision with an OANI (abbreviation of a French term for "unidentified object or animal" used when the skipper does not know what he collided with).

The incident happened at 02:31 UTC during the night as Boris Herrmann was sailing in the Vendée Globe race in the North Atlantic at 10 degreesN and 37 degreesW, approximately 900 nautical miles off the northeast coast of Brazil, and 13,7 knots boat speed. Boris Herrmann is safe and unharmed. After initial inspection of the boat, the German skipper reported severe damage to the port foil. The rest of the boat has no obvious damage and he is able to continue sailing.

After inspection it was clear that the damage is not repairable and the foil rendered unusable. On discussing the situation with his team they agreed if left in place, it could likely compromise the integrity of the hull and the safety of the boat. The team is currently assessing whether, given the extent of the damage and its location, it is feasible to move the foil, to retract it as much as possible, and to keep it secured until the finish. Should this not be safe or possible, Boris Herrmann would be left with no choice but to try to cut the foil from the boat. The team is looking at every option to keep the foil and would only decide to cut it off as a last resort.

However the situation unfolds, Boris Herrmann is hopeful to finish the race, as we have seen with Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) who lost a foil early on in the Vendée Globe and managed to continue. Losing the use of a foil is a handicap in terms of performance but luckily with a lot of port tack to the finish, the starboard foil will be the one in use for a lot of the rest of the race. This is another setback for the German sailor but securing the boat and continuing to finish the race is the main goal now for the resilient skipper. "It's a another difficult day today", he said to his team. "But it can always be worse, the boat is safe and I'm unharmed and we keep going. We keep trying our best, as always."

Team Malizia's A Race We Must Win - Climate Action Now! mission is only possible due to the strong and long-lasting commitment from its seven main partners: 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 campaign, each of them working towards projects in their own field to innovate around climate solutions.