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.
In the 2024/2025 Vendeé Globe Boris Herrmann scored an overall 12th place with Malizia-Seaexplorer. Having fallen back during the initial days of the race, Herrmann managed to race back into the top 10. After some technical difficulties involving the J2 and a nearby lightning strike, a collision with an unidentified object or animal damaged one of the foils on January 16. This ultimately forced Herrmann to focus on finishing the race in whatever safe fashion still possible.
Malizia-Seaexplorer was sold to 11th hour racing in 2025, for italian-american skipper Francesca Clapcich. Boris Herrmann subsequently announced the construction of a new IMOCA 60.
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 YearPosEventClassYachtNotesRefRound the world races202412Vendée GlobeIMOCA 60Malizia-Seaexplorersolo20233The Ocean RaceIMOCA 60Team MaliziaCrewed Third overall, Second in in-port-series with Will Harris, Rosalin Kuiper, Nicolas Lunven, Yann Eliès, Christopher Pratt, Antoine Auriol20205Vendée GlobeIMOCA 60Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monacosolo2015 -Jules Verne Trophy attemptUltimIDEC Sportcrewed; skipper: Francis Joyon; unsuccessful attempt for fastest circumnavigation20105Barcelona World RaceIMOCA 60Neutrogenawith Ryan Breymaier20081Portimão Global Ocean RaceClass40Beluga Racerwith Felix OehmeTransatlantic Races20242Transat New York VendéeIMOCA 60Malizia-Seaexplorersolo, 10d 20h 52m 32s20242The Transat CICIMOCA 60Malizia-Seaexplorersolo, 8d 9h 12m 31s20234Retour à la baseIMOCA 60Malizia-Seaexplorersolo; 9d 20h 02m 41s20237Transat Jaques VabreIMOCA 60Malizia-Seaexplorerwith Will Harris; 12d 09h 01m 03s202224Route du RhumIMOCA 60Malizia-Seaexplorersolo201912Transat Jacques VabreIMOCA 60Malizia IIwith Will Harris20185Route du RhumIMOCA 60Malizia IIsolo20174Transat Jacques VabreIMOCA 60Malizia IIwith Thomas Ruyant20082Artemis TransatClass40Beluga Racersolo20087Transat Quebec - Saint MaloClass40Beluga Racerwith Meike Schomeker, Matthias Beilken and Michel Kleinjans200111Mini TransatClasse MiniGlobal CrossingsoloOther Races2023724h Le Défi AzimutIMOCA 60Malizia-Seaexplorerwith Will Harris2022324h Le Défi AzimutIMOCA 60Malizia-SeaexplorerTeam trials, skipper, crewed2020724h Le Défi AzimutIMOCA 60Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco20207Vendée-Arctique – Les Sables d’OlonneIMOCA 60Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monacosolo20197Rolex Fastnet RaceIMOCA 60Malizia IIwith Will Harris20187Monaco Globe SeriesIMOCA 60Malizia IIwith Pierre Casiraghi20173Rolex Fastnet RaceIMOCA 60Malizia IIwith Pierre Casiraghi20175GC32 Racing TourGC32Malizia - Yacht Club de Monacocrewed20166GC32 Racing TourGC32Malizia - Yacht Club de Monacocrewed20137CIC Normandy Channel RaceClass40Redwith Mathias Mueller von Blumencron20118CIC Normandy Channel RaceClass40Redwith Mathias Mueller von Blumencron20103Happy Baie! La Trinite sur MerClass4040 Degreeswith Conrad Colman and Jesse Naimark-Rowse20093Rolex Fastnet RaceClass40Beluga Racerwith Didier le Vourch, Yvon Berrehar and Gérald Bibot20085Marblehead HalifaxClass40Beluga Racerwith Brian Hancock, Arno Kronenberg and Jan Sangman20086Grand prix petit navireClass40Beluga Racersolo20079World Cup505erdouble handed, with Julien Kleiner20071German Championships505erdouble handed, with Julien Kleiner20067World Cup505erdouble handed, with Julien Kleiner20062EuroCup505erdouble handed, with Julien Kleiner200517World Cup505erdouble handed, with Julien Kleiner200111Mini FastnetClasse MiniLop Lopwith Matthias Beilken
Bibliography
Nonstop: Süchtig nach Segeln / Driven by the Sea, 2021, Allein zwischen Himmel und Meer, 2021 together with Andreas Wolfers Abenteuer Ocean Race, 2023, together with Andreas Wolfers My Ocean Challenge – Kurs auf Klimaschutz, 2023, children's book, together with Birte Lorenzen-Herrmann
References
Sources Article at Seglermagazin.de Artemis Transat 2008: Boris Herrmann sensationell Zweiter 30. Mai 2008 Article at Manager Magazin "Man liegt immer auf der Lauer" 15. November 2008 Article at Spiegel Online Deutsche Segler mit historischem Erfolg 16. November 2008 Article at Spiegel Online Herrmann und Oehme gewinnen Portimão Global Race 21. Juni 2009 Official Website: The Transat - The North Atlantic Alone (English/French)
External links
Boris Herrmann at IMOCA