Please select your home edition
Edition
Sailingfast 2018 2 728x90

Boris Herrmann is the IMOCA Globe Series 2018-2021 champion

by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 9 Feb 2021 06:52 GMT
2018-21 IMOCA Globe Series Championship © Bernard Le Bars

With the arrival of Jérémie Beyou this weekend in Les Sables d'Olonne, the IMOCA Class can now confirm the winner and the top-10 of the 2018-21 IMOCA Globe Series Championship*.

The German skipper Boris Herrmann, who finished in fifth place in the Vendée Globe on Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco, is the new IMOCA Globe Series champion, after a remarkably consistent campaign by his Team Malizia over the last three years.

The championship is calculated by accumulating the scores of skippers and their teams in the major IMOCA Class races, among them the Vendée Globe, the Route du Rhum, the Transat Jacques Vabre, the Bermudes 1000 and the Vendée Arctique.

Herrmann, aged 39 from Hamburg but now based in Lorient, entered all of those races and completed every one. He came out at the head of the championship with Vendée Globe winner Yannick Bestaven (Maitre CoQ IV) second, and Vendée Globe runner-up and line honours winner Charlie Dalin (APIVIA) third.

The German skipper, who is among the very best ambassadors for the IMOCA Class, said the plan for his team going back to 2018 was to aim for the Vendée Globe and to try to put together a competitive entry. That meant doing all the races leading up to the round-the-world race and he said he is delighted to emerge at the end of it as the new champion.

"In order to prepare well, to be safe and to create value for our sponsors and to develop the project, we wanted to sail in all of the IMOCA programme and do as much as possible and we did," said Herrmann.

"And we finished all the races and we never abandoned a race, which is great. There is a little bit of luck involved, of course," added the skipper whose Vendée Globe almost came to an abrupt end just 90 miles from the finish when he hit a Spanish fishing boat. "But not abandoning is really important for me and is more important than the result in any specific race."

The Vendée Globe apart, Herrmann's finishes included sixth position in the Bermudes 1000 race, seventh place in the Rolex Fastnet Race and fifth in the Route du Rhum, all of them races in which the German skipper sailed in his characteristic conservative style, ensuring that his boat made it to the finish.

He says while he is proud of being the top skipper in the ranking, it is important to remember that many of his rivals were not able to complete the full programme as he was, because they may have been waiting for sponsors or preparing their boats. "Of course I am delighted but we have to be honest about it," he said. "I think Yannick's project started later than ours and not everyone has the financial means or the planning possibilities to come to all the races."

IMOCA Class president Antoine Mermod saluted Herrmann's achievement. "On behalf of all my colleagues at IMOCA we congratulate Boris and Team Malizia who have completed a very impressive IMOCA Globe series," said Mermod. "He is a modest champion, but his achievement, at the head of a very competitive ranking, underlines that Team Malizia has set a high standard when it comes to competing in the IMOCA Class and we look forward to seeing them back for the new series."

Bestaven said the IMOCA Globe Series Championship had also helped him and his team prepare for the Vendée Globe. "This second place values and rewards the work of my team over the past four years," he said. "I knew that the more I sailed in the Globe Series, the better equipped I would be for the round-the-world race".

"I also think it is great Boris winning," added the Maitre Coq IV skipper. "He was extremely deserving on this Vendée Globe and since 2018, it's very good for the internationalization of the class to have sailors like him involved and I hope this will continue." The Vendée Globe winner also said he would like to see more crewed races in the IMOCA Class. "I believe in the partnership with The Ocean Race," he said, "and I hope that more foreign teams will join us in the IMOCA class."

Dalin, meanwhile, said third place in the Globe Series underlines how well his APIVIA campaign has gone since its launch in the summer of 2019. "The championship is spread out over time and motivates the teams to sail all the events, even the less prestigious ones," he said. "All these events only help to develop better performance."

Herrmann is already planning to acquire or build a new boat for the next Vendée Globe and is looking forward to another full programme of IMOCA racing in the next few years. "Certainly we stay in the IMOCA Class, for sure," he said. "We will try to get the best boat we can get our hands on or build and, hopefully, we can race this year with the new owner of our current boat."

And he revealed that he has had a phone conversation with the captain of the Spanish fishing trawler that he collided with in the darkness in the closing stages of his Vendée Globe

"We got on very well," he said. "We are both working at sea, so we are kind of colleagues. I apologised for giving them a stressful moment and they were really deeply sorry for what happened. They follow the Vendée Globe - the captain is a Vendée Globe fan - and they were really devastated that we lost places because of it and they were worried about me. They are good people."

Herrmann is the top-ranked non-French skipper in the IMOCA standings and in the Vendée Globe finishing positions. He says he wants to improve on fifth position in the round-the-world race and says the IMOCA Class has welcomed him with open arms.

"The French welcome us - we use the same infrastructure in Lorient as they do, and train with them at the Pôle Finistère Course au Large, so it's great sportsmanship by everyone," he said.

"We speak to everyone and chat on the dock - it's such good camaraderie and we are colleagues within the class. I feel that part of my soul is almost French. I speak French, I live there and really enjoy being there too," he added.

The remaining sailors in the top-10 are Thomas Ruyant in fourth place, Jérémie Beyou fifth, Damien Seguin sixth, Louis Burton seventh, Giancarlo Pedote eighth, Clarisse Crémer ninth and Jean Le Cam in tenth.

IMOCA Globe Series 2018-21 Top Ten: (more about the ranking to come according to the next arrivals of the Vendée Globe)

1 - Boris Herrmann (GER) - Seaexplorer-YC of Monaco - 526 points
2 - Yannick Bestaven (FRA) - Maître CoQ IV - 517 points
3 - Charlie Dalin (FRA) - APIVIA - 512 points
4 - Thomas Ruyant (FRA) - LinkedOut - 460 points
5 - Jérémie Beyou (FRA) - Charal - 422 points
6 - Damien Seguin (FRA) - Groupe APICIL - 417 points
7 - Louis Burton (FRA) - Bureau Vallée 2 - 415 points
8 - Giancarlo Pedote (ITA) - Prysmian group - 404 points
9 - Clarisse Crémer (FRA) - Banque Populaire X - 370 points
10 - Jean Le Cam (FRA) - Yes We Cam! - 368 points

See the rest of the rankings at www.imoca.org/en/standings

Related Articles

A+T's wind sensors in the Vendee Globe
Huge congratulations to Charlie Dalin on MACIF for his flawless performance Huge congratulations to Charlie Dalin on MACIF for his flawless performance in winning the 24/25 edition of the Vendee Globe. MACIF was fitted with A+T's 510 digital wind sensor which gave unflinching performance in often challenging conditions. Posted on 28 Mar
Vendée Globe: A record-breaking 10th edition
An unprecedented level of competition The 10th edition of the Vendée Globe ends on an exceptional note, from a sporting, popular and media point of view. The level of competition has never been so high. Posted on 26 Mar
San Francisco SailGP news, Vendee Globe, GL52s
A rotating cast of characters who have been reaching the podium's top step One of the coolest aspects of SailGP's fifth season of racing has been the rotating cast of characters who have been reaching the podium's top step. This past weekend, in San Francisco, it was the Spain SailGP Team's time to shine. Posted on 25 Mar
Malizia-Seaexplorer yacht handed over
From Boris Herrmann to Francesca Clapcich Boris Herrmann's Malizia - Seaexplorer race yacht will be handed over to Team Francesca Clapcich Powered By 11th Hour Racing. Francesca's team will take over the race yacht after The Ocean Race Europe 2025. Posted on 22 Mar
11th Hour Racing's Francesca Clapcich partnership
Strengthening its title sponsorship as she embarks on a groundbreaking campaign 11th Hour Racing has expanded its partnership with professional sailor Francesca Clapcich (ITA/USA), strengthening its title sponsorship as she embarks on a groundbreaking campaign. Posted on 20 Mar
Francesca Clapcich launches 2028 Vendée Globe bid
Team Francesca Clapcich Powered By 11th Hour Racing will purchase Malizia-Seaexplorer Double Olympian and round-the-world sailor, Francesca Clapcich, along with her Title Sponsor 11th Hour Racing, have announced their ambition to see the Italian American on the startline of the 2028 Vendée Globe. Posted on 20 Mar
The Ocean Race will return to Auckland in 2027
New Zealand will host the Southern Ocean stopover for the 12th time The Ocean Race, the world's toughest test of a team in sport, will return to Auckland, New Zealand in the 2027 edition of the iconic around the world offshore race. Posted on 19 Mar
Francesca Clapcich announces research partnership
With Leeds Beckett University along with sponsor 11th Hour Racing Double Olympian and round-the-world sailor, Francesca Clapcich (ITA/USA), has announced a groundbreaking research partnership with the Carnegie School of Sport at Leeds Beckett University in the UK. Posted on 14 Mar
The Ocean Race Europe to make stop in Nice, France
Visiting the Mediterranean coast of France for the first time this summer The Ocean Race Europe, the premiere fully-crewed, offshore sailing race for the foiling IMOCA Class, will visit the Mediterranean coast of France for the first time this summer. Posted on 13 Mar
Antoine Mermod hails a fantastic race
As the epic 10th edition of the Vendée Globe comes to an end The 10th edition of the Vendée Globe will go down as one of the greatest in the race's history, featuring more boats on the startline than ever before, more finishers than ever before, and an emphatic and record-breaking winner. Posted on 11 Mar