Team Malizia, featuring Vendee Globe racer and IMOCA 2018/2020 Champion Boris Herrmann and Yacht Club Monaco Vice-President and Team Malizia founder Pierre Casiraghi, is building a new 60-foot sailing boat that will be used for the team’s hectic race schedule over the next five years.
Team Malizia is looking to expand and part of that expansion will be the commissioning of a new 60-foot boat built to better handle waves and maintain faster average speeds, whilst being highly sustainable, reliable and sturdy.
Already in the design phase, the team will be working with French design team VPLP and the Multiplast shipyard to realise the new boat. The project will be supported by the recruitment of French offshore specialists as well as the German companies Greenboats, which specialises in building lightweight vessels made of natural and recycled materials, and Schütz Composites, makers of sustainable lightweight honeycomb structures and fibre composite components.
The team has 18 races in 15 countries on the books over the next five years, including the Ocean Race 2022/23, as well as taking another shot at the 2024/25 Vendee Globe, the solo around-the-world competition which captain Boris Herrmann completed in March of this year with a fifth-place finish.
“I remember in 2001 witnessing Illbruck winning the Volvo Ocean Race and imaging myself competing in this prestigious event,” said Herrmann. “Now we have that chance to sail around the world as a team. We will use it as a test, development and training ground for the Vendee Globe 2024 and to further inspire children, collect valuable ocean-data and promote ambitious climate action.”
Team Malizia is extremely dedicated to ocean protection, having raced in the Vendee Globe under the motto ‘A race we must win’, which urged promoting climate change action and spreading the word about the pivotal role oceans play in the planet’s well-being. Additionally, Herrmann took time to collect scientific ocean data on his race, which is being used to monitor parts of the world’s seas that are not usually accessible.
“We are all together in one boat in a race against time to find solutions for the climate crisis,” Herrmann added. “Therefore, we want to highlight some of the industry-solutions our partners work on, to help inspire a common vision and advocate for ever more ambitious action. One of the key solutions in our eyes is the advancement of new fuels on the basis of renewable energies. This topic concerns our partners from the logistics, yachting, shipping, finance and the insurance industry alike. We think that those large corporations we partner with are key players in this urgently needed transformation.”
Team Manager Holly Cova explained further that the “aim is to become a global sustainability platform which creates touch-points and events along our race stopovers around the world for businesses to exchange on sustainability whilst creating opportunities to interact with local schools, scientists and the general public. We will share this story, the emotions and the unfiltered raw content as we did during the past Vendee Globe with a focus on positive impact.”
The Yacht Club Monaco’s General Secretary Bernard d’Alessandri expressed the club’s continuing support for Team Malizia, saying, “We are delighted to continue the adventure with Boris who has shown unwavering commitment and determination. He is a wonderful ambassador to promote our values, especially to our members and young sailors who follow his progress with enthusiasm.”
 
 
Monaco Life with YCM press release