What followed caused quite a stir in the IMOCA scene: the Team Malizia sailor turned north, ultimately coming within 300 nautical miles of Greenland, while Dalin sailed further east. None of the other 29 participants followed Herrmann's decision – but it was a well-considered one. He meticulously analysed the weather data and opted for the longer northern route, which was faster to sail thanks to the favourable winds. “It wasn't a gamble for me. I made the best possible decision with the available data,“ explained the skipper.

However, the decision did not pay off at first. Herrmann was stuck on the western side of an unexpectedly large area of high pressure and had to contend with light winds. As a result, he temporarily dropped back to eleventh place. However, the sporting difficulties did not stop him from enjoying his time in the North Atlantic: “The atmosphere in the high latitudes is very special. It's so calm, so quiet, you see nothing and nobody – no boat, no ship, but unfortunately very little marine life, hardly any birds.“

The sailor's courage and patience ultimately bore fruit when he finally reached the eastern side of the high pressure area. From then on, he benefited from the hoped-for very favourable north-westerly winds, which finally carried him to his destination. With an average speed of 15.76 knots, the Hamburg boat was the fastest in the fleet, reaching top speeds of 25 knots and was therefore twice as fast as its competitors at times. In the meantime, they had to contend with changeable, often rather light, sometimes too strong winds and complicated weather conditions. “I really wanted to sail before the wind and experience the north with its transitions. That worked very well,“ summarised Herrmann.

This allowed him to make up massive ground and leave all the other participants behind with the exception of Charlie Dalin. The skipper of Team Malizia thus finished another transatlantic race in second place after the Transat CIC. In this respect, he mastered the dress rehearsal for the upcoming Vendée Globe with flying colours. The solo circumnavigation starts in November. Anyone interested can follow this adventure again via Team Malizia's race tracker:

https://www.team-malizia.com/live