# Boris Herrmann

Boris Herrmann (born 28 May 1981) is a German yachtsman and author competing mostly in offshore races in the IMOCA 60 class.
He placed fifth in the 2020/21 Vendée Globe and third in the 2023 The Ocean Race. With the experiences of these races he wrote two books. He is currently preparing his campaign for the 2024/25 Vendée Globe with the Malizia-Seaexplorer, the first boat developed under his own management.
Together with Pierre Casiraghi he founded the sailing team Team Malizia to support his IMOCA 60 campaign. The team belongs to the most professional and financially more competitive teams in the IMOCA 60 class.

## Early life

Boris Herrmann was born on 28 May 1981 in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony where he grew up in a household enthusiastic towards sailing.
He finished school at the Neues Gymnasium Oldenburg. Next to his activities in sport he studied economics in Bremen with a specialisation in sustainable management.

## Sailing career
### Start in Mini and 505 dinghy classes (2001-2007)

In 2001 Boris Herrmann was the youngest (and the only German) participant in the Mini Transat race, a single-handed yacht race across the Atlantic. He came to finish eleventh which earned him his first larger appearance in the yachting press.
From 1999 onwards he competed in the 505 dinghy class. In 2006 Herrmann finished second in the European Championship as well as in the German Championship in the 505 class. He also competed in the 505 World Championships finishing 17th in 2005, 7th in 2006 and 9th in 2007 in highly competitive 100+ boat fleets.

### Class 40 and various offshore sailing projects (2008-2017)

In spring 2008 Herrmann sailed his Class 40 yacht “Beluga Racer” to a second in the Artemis Transat, the oldest transatlantic regatta for single-handed yachts.
Boris Herrmann won the Portimão Global Ocean Race in 2008, a five leg regatta around the world for Class 40 boats. He and his co-skipper Felix Oehme (the Beluga Offshore Sailing Team) came to win three of the five legs of the race, and left behind the team Desafio Cabo de Hornos. This makes them the first German professional team on a German yacht to win a leg of an international trans-ocean race and the whole race itself.
With the crew of the Italian skipper Giovanni Soldini he was part in setting a new record on the "Golden Route" from New York to San Francisco in 2014. With a modified Volvo Ocean 70 yacht "Maserati" they finished in 47 days and 42 minutes, about 10 days faster than the previous record.
In 2015 he was part of an international crew skippered by Francis Joyon for an attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy. Though completing the circumnavigation they failed to break the record of Loïck Peyron from 2012 by 2 days. He made a second attempt for the Jules Verne Trophy in 2016 again with Francis Joyon as a skipper and on the trimaran IDEC Sport. They abandoned the race after 6 days due to bad weather making a record highly unlikely.
2016 and 2017 he participated in the GC32 Racing Tour leading the Team Malizia alongside Pierre Casiraghi.

### IMOCA 60 circuit (since 2017)

In 2020/2021 Boris Herrmann was the first German (apart from the Franco-German Isabelle Joschke) to take part in the prestigious 2020 - Vendée Globe, which started on 8 November 2020 in front of Les Sables-d'Olonne in the Vendée department in France. He crossed the finish line in 5th place with an elapsed time of 80d 20h 59m 45s. In total Boris Herrmann achieved 5th place between Jean Le Cam on 4th and Thomas Ruyant on 6th place. Due to a granted time compensation of 6 hours as part of the rescue of Kevin Escoffier in late November 2020, Boris Herrmann came out with a total regatta time of 80d 14h 59m 45s.
On the 19th June 2022 he launched his new boat Malizia-Seaexplorer, with which he participated in the 14th edition of The Ocean Race. The ship is constructed for his participation in the 2024/2025 Vendée Globe.
In 2023 Boris Herrmann competed in the 14th edition of The Ocean Race, sailing around the world in the toughest crewed race in the world over with co-skippers Will Harris, Rosalin Kuiper, Nicolas Lunven and Antoine Auriol. The crew passed Cape Horn in first place in leg 3 of the race. During the first leg he injured his foot which led to him skipping the second leg. Herrmann and his crew reached third place overall and second in the in-port-series.

## Other activities

On 29 July 2019, it was announced that Boris Herrmann was to sail climate activist Greta Thunberg from Plymouth to New York City in mid-late August 2019 on his emission-free racing yacht Malizia II. They departed on 14 August 2019 and arrived on 28 August the same year.

## Sailing results

| Year | Pos | Event | Class | Yacht | Notes |
| Round the World Races |||||||
| 2023 | 3 | The Ocean Race | IMOCA 60 | Team Malizia | Crewed Third overall, Second in in-port-series with Will Harris, Rosalin Kuiper, Nicolas Lunven, Yann Eliès, Christopher Pratt, Antoine Auriol |
| 2020 | 5 | Vendée Globe | IMOCA 60 | Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco | solo |
| 2015 | - | Jules Verne Trophy attempt | Ultim | IDEC Sport | crewed; skipper: Francis Joyon; unsuccessful attempt for fastest circumnavigation |
| 2010 | 5 | Barcelona World Race | IMOCA 60 | Neutrogena | with Ryan Breymaier |
| 2008 | 1 | Portimão Global Ocean Race | Class40 | Beluga Racer | with Felix Oehme |
| Transatlantic Races |||||||
| 2024 | 2 | Transat New York Vendée | IMOCA 60 | Malizia-Seaexplorer | solo, 10d 20h 52m 32s |
| 2024 | 2 | The Transat CIC | IMOCA 60 | Malizia-Seaexplorer | solo, 8d 9h 12m 31s |
| 2023 | 4 | Retour à la base | IMOCA 60 | Malizia-Seaexplorer | solo; 9d 20h 02m 41s |
| 2023 | 7 | Transat Jaques Vabre | IMOCA 60 | Malizia-Seaexplorer | with Will Harris; 12d 09h 01m 03s |
| 2022 | 24 | Route du Rhum | IMOCA 60 | Malizia-Seaexplorer | solo |
| 2019 | 12 | Transat Jacques Vabre | IMOCA 60 | Malizia II | with Will Harris |
| 2018 | 5 | Route du Rhum | IMOCA 60 | Malizia II | solo |
| 2017 | 4 | Transat Jacques Vabre | IMOCA 60 | Malizia II | with Thomas Ruyant |
| 2008 | 2 | Artemis Transat | Class40 | Beluga Racer | solo |
| 2008 | 7 | Transat Quebec - Saint Malo | Class40 | Beluga Racer | with Meike Schomeker, Matthias Beilken and Michel Kleinjans |
| 2001 | 11 | Mini Transat | Classe Mini | Global Crossing | solo |
| Other Races |||||||
| 2023 | 7 | 24h Le Défi Azimut | IMOCA 60 | Malizia-Seaexplorer | with Will Harris |
| 2022 | 3 | 24h Le Défi Azimut | IMOCA 60 | Malizia-Seaexplorer | Team trials, skipper, crewed |
| 2020 | 7 | 24h Le Défi Azimut | IMOCA 60 | Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco | |
| 2020 | 7 | Vendée-Arctique – Les Sables d’Olonne | IMOCA 60 | Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco | solo |
| 2019 | 7 | Rolex Fastnet Race | IMOCA 60 | Malizia II | with Will Harris |
| 2018 | 7 | Monaco Globe Series | IMOCA 60 | Malizia II | with Pierre Casiraghi |
| 2017 | 3 | Rolex Fastnet Race | IMOCA 60 | Malizia II | with Pierre Casiraghi |
| 2017 | 5 | GC32 Racing Tour | GC32 | Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco | crewed |
| 2016 | 6 | GC32 Racing Tour | GC32 | Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco | crewed |
| 2013 | 7 | CIC Normandy Channel Race | Class40 | Red | with Mathias Mueller von Blumencron |
| 2011 | 8 | CIC Normandy Channel Race | Class40 | Red | with Mathias Mueller von Blumencron |
| 2010 | 3 | Happy Baie! La Trinite sur Mer | Class40 | 40 Degrees | with Conrad Colman and Jesse Naimark-Rowse |
| 2009 | 3 | Rolex Fastnet Race | Class40 | Beluga Racer | with Didier le Vourch, Yvon Berrehar and Gérald Bibot |
| 2008 | 5 | Marblehead Halifax | Class40 | Beluga Racer | with Brian Hancock, Arno Kronenberg and Jan Sangman |
| 2008 | 6 | Grand prix petit navire | Class40 | Beluga Racer | solo |
| 2007 | 9 | World Cup | 505er | | double handed, with Julien Kleiner |
| 2007 | 1 | German Championships | 505er | | double handed, with Julien Kleiner |
| 2006 | 7 | World Cup | 505er | | double handed, with Julien Kleiner |
| 2006 | 2 | EuroCup | 505er | | double handed, with Julien Kleiner |
| 2005 | 17 | World Cup | 505er | | double handed, with Julien Kleiner |
| 2001 | 11 | Mini Fastnet | Classe Mini | Lop Lop | with Matthias Beilken |