Solo circumnavigator Herrmann collides shortly before the finish line - "The worst nightmare"

The German solo circumnavigator Boris Herrmann was on a podium course at the regatta Vendée Globe.

But shortly before the finish line, there was a serious accident.

• Around the world in 80 days - the German sailor

  Boris Herrmann

  took part in the

  Vendée Globe

  regatta

  .

• On Wednesday evening,

  the hamburger

  collided

  with a fishing boat

  shortly before the finish

  .

• Herrmann's boat was damaged in the accident - as a result, he missed a

  podium

  .

Les Sables-d'Olonne - German solo circumnavigator

Boris Herrmann

was right

on course

at the

Vendée Globe regatta

- and had the best chances of a

podium place

, even victory.

But on Wednesday evening at 8:50 p.m.,

after 80 days of

sailing around the world,

the man from Hamburg

collided

with a fishing boat shortly before the destination.

Vendée Globe: Herrmann collides shortly before the goal - "The worst nightmare"

“That was

the worst nightmare

”,

Herrmann

let

his frustration run free on Thursday morning.

The chances of

landing on a podium or even winning

the

Vendée Globe *

were gone due to the accident.

With his yacht “Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco”, the 39-year-old only sailed for fourth place.

“I

fought like a lion

the days before

.

Maybe I'll never get that close to a podium again? ”

Said Herrmann *

.

Because of the

damage to his boat

, the skipper had to reduce his speed significantly.

The

morning was calculated

as the arrival time at the

destination Les Sables-d'Olonne

.

"It's pretty heartbreaking, but we'll make it," said Herrmann.

Vendée Globe: collision about 90 nautical miles from the destination - no injuries

The

German

collision

with the fishing boat happened

around 90 nautical miles

from the French coastal town - after more than 99.6 percent of the distance.

"I looked up at a huge wall,"

Herrmann

described

the moments of the accident.

Among other things, a foresail got caught in the trawler's cranes and one of its foils (wings) broke.

To do this, he heard his boom hammer several times into the side of the other boat.

"It was a

real shock,

" he said.

Why Herrmann's well-functioning

alarm systems

failed

until Wednesday evening

and did not wake him up in time, the 39-year-old did not initially know how to explain.

Fortunately for him, the

racing yacht

pushed

past the other boat, the mast stopped.

Herrmann

, who brought

Greta Thunberg

on the sailing boat across the Atlantic to the climate conference in New York in

2019

, and the

crew of the fishing boat

were

uninjured

in the accident

.

+

Boris Herrmann brought Greta Thunberg with his sailboat across the Atlantic to the climate conference in New York in 2019.

© picture alliance / dpa / AP Pool |

Kirsty Wigglesworth

Vendée Globe: Herrmann missed the podium - French Yannick Bestaven wins the race

At the time of the

collision

,

Herrmann was

in third place and even had a

chance of victory

thanks to a time credit of six hours

.

On the night of November 30th to December 1st, the German was involved in the rescue mission for a shipwrecked opponent, for which he was credited with time by the competition management.

Frenchman

Yannick Bestaven

won the

Vendée Globe

.

The 48-year-old skipper of the “Maître Coq IV” did not reach the destination until 7:43 hours after his compatriot Charlie Dalin (“Apivia”).

However, a time credit of 10:15 hours on the total sailing time was enough for him to be successful.

(ph / dpa) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital editors network