Boris Hermann, skippering the Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco in the Vendee Global, has just crossed the equator and is currently in seventh place in the gruelling solo around-the-world sailing race.
German captain and Team Malizia member Boris Hermann crossed the equator on the Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco in seventh place at 6:50am on Thursday morning, 2 hours and 54 minutes behind Louis Burton on the Bureau Vallée 2 and 37 minutes before Britain’s Sam Davies on the Initiatives Coeur.
Posting a video on YouTube, Hermann’s spirits seem quite good, despite his admission that it is not always smooth sailing.
“People always think it’s sunshine sailing here, but it is a bumpy ride. The sea is bumpy, and we are going well above 20 (knots) and sometimes she takes off and bounces pretty hard in the waves. So yeah, it is sunshine and steady trade winds…quite a rough ride and the nerves are a bit tense,” he said.
The week has been beset with challenges, with sailors facing three storms, including tropical storm Theta in the Atlantic.
But with an air and water temperatures of 27°C, and steady trade winds, it isn’t all bad.  “I feel great. I have found my rhythm over these last two days and got rid of the stress of the start. I’m ready to attack the Doldrums,” confided Herrmann when sailing off Guinea-Bissau.
“I’m very happy with this position, to be in the top 10, in contact with some highly experienced sailors who are on boats that are not from the latest generation. There’s a race within the race when you look at the first three who are a cut above, and then us. But anything is possible.”
Hermann updates his progress regularly, with videos on his website, https://www.borisherrmannracing.com/as well on the Yacht Clud of Monaco website at https://yacht-club-monaco.mc/
 
Photo: Jean-Marie Liot