Boris Herrmann's crew have wasted no time asserting themselves in The Ocean Race Atlantic, barely two days old and already shaped by Team Malizia's early charge to the front.
The German-flagged boat grabbed the lead within the opening miles and hasn't let go since, setting the tempo for a six-boat fleet still bunched within roughly 30 nautical miles of each other. It's early days, but early days matter in a race like this.
Getting to the start line proved harder than expected. Low, dark skies hung over New York as the sailors left Brooklyn two days ago, and the run out to the offshore start, 150 nautical miles off the East Coast, came in such light winds that organisers were forced to push the start back to 10:00 a.m. local time.
"It's a bit strange to watch an offshore start," said Oliver Heer of Embrace the Challenge, smiling.
Once underway, though, conditions sharpened up quickly: a choppy sea, waves around 0.8 metres, a 17 to 18-knot north-easterly. The fleet made a flying start to the south-east with every crew fully switched on.
"We know that small gains can make a big difference over the coming days," admitted Sarah Stone of United by the Ocean.
"We're simply trying to go fast," added Francesca Clapcich of 11th Hour Racing.
Herrmann himself put it more wryly. "You have to be well positioned and quick, but that's what every sailor wants," he joked. His team, built around himself alongside Cole Brauer, Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion, has backed that up on the water so far.
Malizia also took out the first Super Sprint, a race-within-the-race format rewarding the fastest team over a 20-minute window. Team Malizia scored 6 points, ahead of fellow new-build DMG Mori Sailing Team on 5, with Embrace the Challenge third on 4. It's a new addition to this edition of the race, run daily and shown live during the Onboard Live broadcasts from 5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. CEST.
Malizia 4 only launched in July, and this is its first official race. Designed by naval architect Antoine Koch and the Finot-Conq design office, the boat is already showing plenty of promise.
Right now the whole fleet is wrestling with the same puzzle: how to connect with a low-pressure system moving eastwards that could carry the boats for much of the crossing. Positioning against that system is everything at this stage of the race.
That's pushed the fleet north, straight into a patch of very light wind.
"The challenge was to find the right angle without getting stuck," Herrmann explained yesterday.
Embrace the Challenge gybed north first, breaking away from the pack.
"Maybe we took that option too early compared with the others, which separated us from the rest of the fleet," crew member Lincoln Dews said this morning.
The fleet should escape the light patch before long and start building speed again. Whether Malizia can hold its early advantage through the transition is the question that will shape the days ahead.
