The Ocean Race: Stroke of luck as Team Malizia say borrowed foils are ‘faster’ than damaged originals

Team Malizia’s thrilling victory in the In-Port Race Alicante was only possible thanks to British sailor Sam Davies lending the team foils for the start of The Ocean Race which have turned out to be ‘faster on some angles’ than the damaged originals, according to skipper Boris Herrmann.

A frenetic race was won by Malizia after four of the five IMOCAs held the lead at some point, with the team skippered by Herrmann coming from fourth place to lead, and ultimately win, a fraught encounter.

It was subsequently revealed that Davies lent her foils to Malizia, despite the fact that she will be competing against the German flagged boat when she joins Biotherm.

It came after Malizia’s foils were damaged a few days before the race.

“That was some really bad luck, a real downer before coming here. I think the whole team deserves today’s win after what they’ve been through, a little bit of a lift for the spirit,” Herrmann said.

Borrowing foils would usually be seen as a worst-case scenario, given they are designed to fit a specific boat, but Sunday’s victory left Herrmann questioning whether they are better off with the unexpected new set-up.

“It seems like the new foils are working well for us,” said Herrmann.

“We went out the day before the In-Port Race in about 25 knots of wind and the foils felt very good. On some angles they were faster than before and I haven’t found anything worse than before. So it might be a happy accident.

“If there is another strong wind day between now and the Leg 1 start, we will ask permission to go out again and see what else we can learn about these foils.”