Marlow Ropes partner, Boris Herrmann sailed across the finish line off Les Sables-d’Olonne after exactly 80 days, 20 hours, 59 minutes and 45 seconds at sea, making him the first German skipper in the history of the Vendée Globe to complete this race. After a total of 28,448 miles sailed, his Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco finished as the fifth boat in the fleet, 4 hours 34 minutes behind Frenchman Thomas Ruyant.

However, time credits for three skippers as a result of their involvement in the rescue of sailor Kevin Escoffier in the South Atlantic still caused some shifts in the final ranking. Yannick Bestaven overtook Charlie Dalin in the classification after calculated time and is thus the overall winner of the 9th edition of the Vendée Globe.

Despite the unfortunate collision with a fishing trawler last night, just 90 nautical miles from the finish, Boris Herrmann has mastered his non-stop circumnavigation with flying colours, fulfilled his personal dream of a top 5 finish, has taken many thousands of fans virtually on board every day and has eventually made history in the German sailing sport.

After his arrival, Boris said:

“I have accomplished the adventure. It’s been a long time, more than 20 years, that I’ve been dreaming of this, it was a childhood dream. The Vendée Globe is something extraordinary. I came here to Les Sables d’Olonne to see several starts of the race. And now it’s done! It feels really good to fulfil this dream!
This race was a team effort, the boat preparation, everything around the race, and our mission was also about science and education. It’s nice to have all these people here now and to celebrate together. That’s the best moment of the race. What happened to me last night was heart-breaking. But in the end, we still finished and in a good position. The damage on the boat is all repairable, there is nothing structural.
The Vendee Globe has for sure changed me. I don’t know yet in what way, but it has certainly taught me a lot about trust, trusting in people and the boat, trusting in time, that good things come with time. You have to wait 80 days for the finish and for all these nice emotions.”

Marlow Ropes are extremely proud to have partnered with Boris and to have supported him throughout his journey to the Vendee Globe.