Boris Herrmann starts at the Vendée Globe: The fear of the whale sails with

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Skipper Herrmann during training off Brittany in September

Photo: Jean-Marie Liot / Malizia

Hamburg, a wet and gray day in October.

Boris Herrmann is writhing in a rattan armchair on the landing stage of the Hamburg sailing club on the Outer Alster.

It is difficult for him to sit still in the creeping cold.

But before his adventure he can only give the answers outside, with a mask and a large distance.

Viruses lurk inside - that would be the end of his great dream.

The corona test two days before the start must be negative.

Herrmann, 39, blue eyes and gray stubble with a multi-day beard, is just a few more days with the family in Hamburg, on November 8th he wants to start at the Vendée Globe, probably the toughest sailing regatta in the world.

In the best case, it takes less than 80 days.

He will be traveling alone and non-stop, across the Atlantic around the Antarctic, through storms along the drift ice border.

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Sailor Herrmann on board the "Seaexplorer": "A large portion of fate"

Photo: Andreas Lindlahr

The race has been held since 1989, now every four years.

Herrmann is the first German participant with his "Seaexplorer".

Besides him, 32 other sailors want to expose themselves to the enormous stress this time.

Technical problems, inattention or simply bad luck can endanger the life of the skipper.

There have already been dead and seriously injured, 23 years ago the Canadian Gerry Roufs went overboard in a storm.

His boat was found floating up the keel in the South Pacific.

He himself was never found.

SPIEGEL:

Mr. Herrmann, you have been preparing for this race for ten years.

What happened during that time?

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