Roaring Forties Trophy to Team Malizia

(March 28, 2023) – The list of boats and skippers who have won the Roaring Forties Trophy is as good as it gets. When Team Malizia rounded Cape Horn with the lead in leg 3 of The Ocean Race, not only did they pass the iconic landmark with an important lead, but also they added their names to a list of legends in winning the Roaring Forties Trophy.

The trophy is perhaps the most interesting in the race, forged from a series of ever larger oval silver shapes, it looks like it could be a broken spar from the early days of the Whitbread Round the World Race, and with an Albatross, the symbol of the Southern Ocean, flying above a tormented ocean.

According to author, photographer and sailing historian Barry Pickthall, the Royal Naval Sailing Association commissioned the trophy in 1973 for the boat setting the best time on handicap across the Southern Ocean from Cape Town to Cape Horn. in 1974 it was presented to Ramon Carlin, the skipper of the winning boat in the 1973-74 Whitbread Round the World Race, Sayula II.

Since the end of corrected time racing, the trophy is now awarded to the team with the fastest time between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. Up until now, that has meant combining partial times on at least two race legs to get a result.

But in the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race, leg 3 is the longest in the history of the event, and for the first time the teams passed all three great Capes – Good Hope, Leeuwin, Horn – in one go. In winning the Roaring Forties trophy, skipper Boris Herrmann adds his name and that of Team Malizia, to the impressive list of legends and icons who have previously won the trophy.

Malizia is the second German team, joining 2001-02 race winner illbruck, and Herrmann becomes the first German skipper, to claim the Roaring Forties Trophy. Herrmann reflected on his fifth passage of the iconic Cape, “A short moment in the grey south but a big step for Team Malizia. It passes so quickly – we almost feel disturbed at first from our cocooned world that has settled upon us over the past weeks.

“The moment of cheering together to the camera arm in arm with this iconic rock behind releases a string of emotions for me and for all of us. The Horn looked beautiful today and after a few minutes it disappeared in the grey fog again! Back to our cocoon but elevated onto a new level.”

Previous winners of The Roaring Forties Trophy:
1973-74 — Sayula II – skipper, Ramón Carlin
1977-78 — Flyer – skipper, Cornelis van Rietschoten
1981-82 — Ceramco New Zealand – skipper, Peter Blake
1985-86 — Philips Innovator – skipper, Dirk Nauta
1989-90 — Steinlager 2 – skipper, Peter Blake
1993-94 — Intrum Justitia – skipper, Lawrie Smith
1997-98 — EF Language – skipper, Paul Cayard
2001-02 — illbruck – skipper, John Kostecki
2005-06 — ABN Amro One – skipper, Mike Sanderson
2008-09 — Ericsson 4 – skipper, Torben Grael
2011-12 — Groupama Sailing Team – skipper, Franck Cammas
2014-15 — Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing – skipper, Ian Walker
2017-18 — Dongfeng Racing Team – skipper, Charles Caudrelier

Race details – Route – Tracker – Teams – Content from the boats – YouTube

IMOCA: Boat, Design, Skipper, Launch date
• Guyot Environnement – Team Europe (VPLP Verdier); Benjamin Dutreux (FRA)/Robert Stanjek (GER); September 1, 2015
• 11th Hour Racing Team (Guillaume Verdier); Charlie Enright (USA); August 24, 2021
• Holcim-PRB (Guillaume Verdier); Kevin Escoffier (FRA); May 8, 2022
• Team Malizia (VPLP); Boris Herrmann (GER); July 19, 2022
• Biotherm (Guillaume Verdier); Paul Meilhat (FRA); August 31 2022

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Race Schedule:
Alicante, Spain – Leg 1 (1900 nm) start: January 15, 2023
Cabo Verde – ETA: January 22; Leg 2 (4600 nm) start: January 25
Cape Town, South Africa – ETA: February 9; Leg 3 (12750 nm) start: February 26
Itajaí, Brazil – ETA: April 1; Leg 4 (5500 nm) start: April 23
Newport, RI, USA – ETA: May 10; Leg 5 (3500 nm) start: May 21
Aarhus, Denmark – ETA: May 30; Leg 6 (800 nm) start: June 8
Kiel, Germany (Fly-By) – June 9
The Hague, The Netherlands – ETA: June 11; Leg 7 (2200 nm) start: June 15
Genova, Italy – The Grand Finale – ETA: June 25, 2023; Final In-Port Race: July 1, 2023

The Ocean Race (formerly Volvo Ocean Race and Whitbread Round the World Race) was initially to be raced in two classes of boats: the high-performance, foiling, IMOCA 60 class and the one-design VO65 class which has been used for the last two editions of the race.

However, only the IMOCAs will be racing round the world while the VO65s will race in The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint which competes in Legs 1, 6, and 7 of The Ocean Race course.

Additionally, The Ocean Race also features the In-Port Series with races at seven of the course’s stopover cities around the world which allow local fans to get up close and personal to the teams as they battle it out around a short inshore course.

Although in-port races do not count towards a team’s overall points score, they do play an important part in the overall rankings as the In-Port Race Series standings are used to break any points ties that occur during the race around the world.

The 14th edition of The Ocean Race was originally planned for 2021-22 but was postponed one year due to the pandemic, with the first leg starting on January 15, 2023.

Source: The Ocean Race