Team Malizia's Boris Herrmann passes Cape Leeuwin in the Vendée Globe

Southern Ocean impressions from onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer during the Vendée Globe 2024-2025 © Boris Herrmann / Team Malizia

This Thursday afternoon, Boris Herrmann crossed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin at 16:22 UTC after 32 days, 4 hours, 20 minutes, and 54 seconds of racing in his second Vendée Globe. Having passed the second of the race's three major capes in 10th place, the Team Malizia skipper celebrates this milestone while keeping his sights set on reaching his favorite cape, Cape Horn, by January 1st.

12 December 2024, Cape Leeuwin longitude, Southern Ocean - "Hello everyone! Another memorable moment onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer!", says Boris Herrmann in a video sent minutes ago from the Southern Ocean as he is racing on Day 32 of the Vendée Globe. As he holds up a bottle of rhum, the Team Malizia skipper adds: "You know what this means. If the rhum bottle comes out, it means that we have passed a major cape."

Pointing at a vertical line on his computer screen, he explains: "This line goes all the way north to the southwesternmost tip of Australia, to Cape Leeuwin. And we passed it exactly on December 12th, at 16:22 UTC. This is second out of the three big capes to round in the Vendée Globe: Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin, and Cape Horn which is next. We are just passing the corner of the ice gate's "Australian bump", as I call it."

Boris Herrmann rounded Cape of Good Hope ten days ago but he feels differently about reaching this new milestone today, after 32 days, 4 hours, 20 minutes, and 54 seconds at sea and in 10th place out of 38 competitors still in the race. "Cape Leeuwin feels more significant than Cape of Good Hope", he explains. "That is because it feels like we are almost halfway through the Southern Ocean, and now the Vendée Globe appears gradually in a different perspective: a bit over two weeks and we might be rounding Cape Horn and out of the thick of this Vendée Globe. Things appear more manageable in terms of being almost halfway through."

"My goal is to reach Cape Horn by 1st of January, and I just did a routing for fun and it seems possible that I will reach it on time, maybe even a bit earlier, let's see." He adds: "Thank you all for your support, it's a great success for Team Malizia to be here. Massive thanks to the team, to our partners, and to everyone that makes this possible. We have a reliable boat, we are in mostly full capacity with the boat. I'm feeling great, and more than ready to tackle the next cape!"

The German solo sailor has been enjoying the past days at sea, describing them as grey but beautiful Southern Ocean days with flat seas, and being able to do some fast reaching with the J2 and one reef along the Australian "buckle" of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone earlier today. However, the Southern Ocean is notorious for its powerful low pressure systems and Boris Herrmann is keeping his eye on one coming next week: "We have a major storm coming up on Monday south of New Zealand, potentially with strong winds up to 45-50 knots! So wish us luck next Monday when you go to the office! And keep following. We are almost halfway around the globe, and here's a cheer to Cape Leeuwin!"

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: Zurich Group Germany, Kuehne+Nagel, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, Hapag-Lloyd, Schütz, the Yacht Club de Monaco, and EFG International. 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.