After travelling around the world, the arrival in Genova of the IMOCA fleet was hard won, with the final hundred miles going at an exhaustingly slow pace. Aeolus blew a soft breeze from the afternoon of 26 June through the entire night, forcing the three IMOCAs (Team Malizia, Team Holcim-PRB and Biotherm) and the four VO65s still in the race, into a noteworthy exercise in patience.

But, at 11:17:51 UTC on Tuesday 27th, after 11 days and a little over 19 hours at sea since departing the Hague, Holland, the colourful sails of Team Malizia could be seen on the horizon of the gulf of Genova, the first team to cross the finish line of the final leg of The Ocean Race.

Welcomed by a dozen dingies and decked out boats, the German team won a very important leg, placing it in third place in the overall ranks of The Ocean Race, and adding to the two other milestones achieved during this event for the German crew. Team Malizia won the longest leg of this edition, from Cape Town (South Africa) to Itaji (Brasil), and then set the world record for monohull sailing over 24 hours (5: 641.13 miles at an average of 26.71) during the leg from Newport (USA) to Aarhus (Denmark).

The excitement was visible on all the faces of the Team Malizia members: skipper Boris Hermann, Nicolas Lunven, Will Harris, Rosalin Kuiper, and the onboard reporter, Antoine Auriol, as they finished their tour around the world that began six months ago on 15 January from Alicante, Spain. As soon as they passed the finish line, the crew, and part of the ground team, threw themselves into the water for a “good swim”.

Once on land, and after the awards ceremony on the main stage of the Ocean Live park, skipper Boris Hermann made a statement to Daily Nautica: “We only realised we had won the leg twenty minutes before we crossed the finish line. There was hardly any wind, we could have ended up at a standstill, Biotherm and team Holcim-PRB were not that far off. We are very happy.”

One hour and 36 minutes after the arrival of Team Malizia, at 12:54:23 UTC, the French team, Biotherm, crossed the finish line, while Team Holcim-PRB came in third place at 13:31:49 UTC, completing the IMOCA podium. During the day today the VO65Team Jajo arrived at 10:50:43 UTC, followed by Viva Mexico at 13:35:39 UTC.

Photos and videos are the property of Daily Nautica and can only be used through an active link.