Setback for Boris Herrmann and the crew of the “Malizia – Seaexplorer”: On the Imoca yacht, problems occurred again with the new foil during the Ocean Race.
The Malizia team, struggling to catch up during the second leg to Cape Town, noticed the “minor damage to the starboard foil” on Wednesday. “It’s not ideal, so we have to be a lot more careful with it and hope it doesn’t get any worse,” said Will Harris.
The skipper, who took the place of the injured Boris Herrmann on the second leg, reported on Yacht.de that he had noticed a thin crack in the starboard foil and, on closer inspection, other minor damage. “The aft edge of the foil is starting to come loose. That’s where it sits in the bearing.”
“fingers crossed it doesn’t get any worse”
The crew have been worried about the foils before and check the cracks every two hours. So far they haven’t gotten any bigger. “I think it’s because we don’t adjust the foils anymore. If we adjust the foil, it can damage it further,” Harris said.
The team can still sail the boat fast, “but not push as hard as we would like. We have to make sure the foils stay unstressed. We really have to keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t get any worse.” Should that happen, Harris announced a retraction of the foil, which “would make our race very difficult”.
A repair at sea seems impossible, but still: “If it stays like this, we can continue,” explained the Brit.
Harris and Co. continue to believe in their chance
Harris even believes that the Malizia can still catch up to Cape Town, which is currently around 170 nautical miles behind the frontrunners: “In two days we will have stronger winds. A strong cold front, which suits our boat very well.”
However, should the damage to the foils become so severe that it cannot be repaired after arrival in South Africa, the Malizia has no more set of foils. It would be the premature end of the Ocean Race adventure.
Light provisions rationing
However, the crew is currently a long way from such a mishap. Harris: “Right now the damage to our foil doesn’t pose a risk to the overall structure. It’s just a risk when using the foils. Even if the problem gets worse and we have to pull in the foil, we can fix it in Cape Town. The structure of the foils should be okay.”
Because the second leg from Cape Verde to Cape Town is taking longer than planned, Team Malizia has started with a light rationing of provisions.
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sports club | 05.02.2023 | 11:35 p.m
