Crash after the start: dramatic start to the ocean race final

HUnderte chant her name, dozens want an interview or a selfie with her – and then she also meets the Dutch royal couple on deck: Rosalin Kuiper will probably not forget the past few days for the rest of her life. “It all means so much to me. I arrive here after sailing around the world with this amazing team. It’s just a dream come true,” said the 26-year-old Dutchwoman after finishing the sixth stage of the Ocean Race with her Malizia crew earlier this week and having a quick chat with King Willem Alexander and King Maxima in the port of The Hague .

Rosalin Kuiper has become one of the most recognizable faces in offshore sailing since the start of the Around the World regatta in January. On the one hand, this is due to the carefree and entertaining way in which the young woman reports on social networks about the hard everyday life on board the 18-meter-long Seaexplorer yacht, which often flies over the waves. And on the other hand because of her extraordinary sailing talent, which made Kuiper indispensable in the team of skipper Boris Herrmann. On Thursday she boarded again and sailed with her team to Genoa for the final leg of the race. In a few days, Kuiper will be the only woman to have competed in all stages of this year’s edition of the Ocean Race.

“It won’t be an easy transition, being alone on the boat again”

It is true that the Malizia crew with Kuiper, Herrmann and Co. is no longer in the running for overall victory after another third place in The Hague. But the 42-year-old from Hamburg and his crew will tick off the Ocean Race at the beginning of July and start preparing for the next big project. At the end of 2024, Herrmann wants to start again at the Vendée Globe and again sail around the world with the Seaexplorer yacht within three months – but then alone and without a stopover. Kuiper and the rest of the team members will then support him from shore. “It won’t be an easy change, suddenly being alone on the boat again,” Herrmann had already reported in March in an interview with the FAZ with a view to his solo plans.

The experience that the Malizia team has gained over the past few months on more than 20,000 nautical miles on the world‘s oceans is particularly valuable for the family man. In addition, the confident victory on the long and arduous stage through the Southern Ocean and the 24-hour world record on the section across the Atlantic are indications that Herrmann could definitely be competitive in the French-dominated field of participants in the Vendée Globe.

Actually, the Ocean Race was supposed to take place on its final and approximately 2200 nautical mile stretch from the Dutch North Sea coast past France, Portugal and Spain and through the Mediterranean Sea to northern Italy between the 11th Hour Racing crew around the American Charlie Enright and the Swiss Holcim -Team to be decided. But the last stage started extremely dramatically: About 20 minutes after the start there was a collision between the 1th Hour Racing yacht and the Guyot team. The hull at the rear of the American racing favorite was so badly damaged that the crew had to interrupt the race and return to port. Team Guyot, which was initially believed to have caused the crash by disregarding the right-of-way rules, also returned to port with minor damage.

According to race director Bill O’Hara, an official protest by 11th Hour Racing and a decision by the jury on how to deal with the situation were expected on Thursday evening. It was initially unclear whether the damage could be repaired. Before the start of the final stage, Charlie Enright and his crew had a two-point lead over the Swiss team Holcim-PRB on 33 points. Therefore, the collision could have significant consequences for the outcome of the 14th edition of the Ocean Race.

On board the crews involved in the collision, some sailors cried. According to initial reports, both crews were spared serious injuries, although the bowsprit of “Guyot” had drilled through the hull into the interior of the American yacht and also left damage there. The shock and disappointment was also visibly great on board “Guyot”.

It is still questionable to what extent the ocean race organizers will now certify a happy ending to the regatta in the year of its 50th anniversary, apart from this incident. The three-way battle between the crews of Malizia, Holcim and 11th Hour Racing held great tension throughout the regatta and mostly tens of thousands of spectators gathered in most of the stage locations for the start and finish of the yachts. But the gap in performance behind the three dominant boats was too big to make the competition a complete success in sporting terms.

With the Biotherm crew and the German-French Guyot team, two yachts usually sailed far behind. In addition, all of the five participating Imoca crews only crossed the finish line in half of the sections. In addition, the second boat class of the six VO65 yachts, which only sailed in Europe, only attracted a little attention from very few sailing fans. In 2025 the European edition of the Ocean Race is to take place for the second time. So far there are neither fixed stage locations nor participating teams. Rosalin Kuiper would like to be there.