On Tuesday 27 June, after the final leg of The Ocean Race, Daily Nautica chatted with Boris Hermann, skipper of the winning Team Malizia, and with Rosalin Kuiper, a part of the crew from the beginning when they left Alicante in January. This is what they shared with us.

BORIS HERRMANN

Firstly congratulations, what an amazing race! When did you realise that you were going to win?

I would say in the ten minutes before the finish line I was sure this was going to work out. But half an hour before we were quite tense, because you never know. The wind has shut down so they (editor’s note: the other two IMOCA in the race, Holcim-PRB and Biotherm) were stopped. We were quite separated on the sides and at a different angle, so they might have had the wind not us. The tension was incredible until 10 minutes before the finish.

And it also looks like the leg where you had the most fun.

I would not say that. We always had fun during this race. Leg three of course, was more tough. There was a lot of light wind sailing, light wind sailing is sometimes hard for the nerves, and for your patience. But as a team we work well together, we never stress each other, and never have any arguments. It’s a fantastic privilege to sail together.

ROSALIN KUIPER

I’m going to ask you the same question that I asked Boris. When did you realise you were going to win this leg?

Monday night, actually. This morning when the sun came up, we saw a land breeze and we saw we had more breeze on land than the guys offshore, they were totally stuck; and there was a moment that I thought, “OK guys, if we play this smart, we can win this leg.” There was a moment that everyone was super switched on and full gas. It was special.

It must have been so frustrating with this light wind so close to the end after a world tour.

A little bit. You know, we sailed around the globe, we sailed 31,000 nautical miles, 6 months, 105 days at sea and then to finish an Ocean Race in such a light breeze – we’re sailing an offshore machine and this is inshore drifting. But it’s so good to finish here in Genoa, and the vibe is amazing there are so many people. We are so happy to be here. Half a year ago it started, and now it is finished. I can’t believe it.

It seems like you guys had so much fun during this leg. I mean, you guys always have fun, but it seems like a bit more this time?

This leg for us was like a really “bonus” leg. We knew we could not change positions on the stage, so there was no pressure. We said, “this is the second-last sunset.” And yesterday we said, “this is the last sunset” and we celebrated as a team. It has been a good leg, very different, but very enjoyable. I had some time to reflect and really think back on the five months, and this is all experience. It has been so good.