Press Kit The Mission Our project has three main pillars, sailing science and education. Team Malizia was founded by Monegasque Pierre Casiraghi and German skipper Boris Herrmann in 2016 with the aim for Boris to perform at the highest level in the Vendee Globe 2020 race solo around the world. Beside the sporting aim, we have a strong message around climate change and ocean protection. Our ocean educators created a kids kit in 6 languages to educate kids around the world about what is happening in our oceans. We have partnerships with leading scientific bodies in order to further research on ocean Co2 and we carry an onboard ocean laboratory to measure valuable ocean data. In 2019 we hit world news by sailing Greta Thunberg emission free across the Atlantic to the UN Climate Action Conference. www.myoceanchallenge.org BORIS HERRMANN PIERRE CASIRAGHI The Skipper 39 year old Boris Herrmann has been dreaming of this challenge his whole life and on the 8th November 2020 he will become the first German to compete in the Vendee Globe. Born in Germany but raised on the water, Boris spent much of his life sailing with his family and took every free moment to sail or compete. Boris completed his first mini transit at 18 but rather than only pursue a career in sailing, he took the time to study and he obtained a Business MBA. Boris’ passion for sailing created his passion for the ocean which led to his desire to create The Ocean Challenge - to bring the oceans to the schools and to sensitise children to protect the ocean. This and his keen interest in science and furthering ocean data collection led to him winning the 2019 Ocean Tribute Award. The campaign has required 4 years of intensive training, technical modifications to the boat and sponsorship searching. The elements needed to run a successful Vendee Campaign! Although, the sailing preparation started long before this as Boris has already completed 3 round the worlds and holds 12 world records. The new father will be setting off on his longest solo mission to date, in the hope of beating the previous 74 day record and bringing Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco safely home. Sailing CV 1st IMOCA Globe Series Ranking in September 2020 2020 - Azimuth Race - 7th 2020 - Vendee-Arctique Race - 7th 2019 - Transat Jacques Vabre - 12th 2019 - Rolex Fastnet Race - 7th 2019 - Bermudes 1000 Race - 6th 2018 - Route du Rhum - 5th 2018 - Monaco Globe Series - 7th 2017 - Transat Jacques Vabre - 4th 2017 - Rolex Fastnet Race - 3rd 2016 - Trophy Jules Verne 2010 - Barcelona World Race - 5th 2009 - Portimao Global Ocean Race - Winner The Yacht Our IMOCA 60 was built in 2015 by VPLP/Verdier and is a first IMOCA 60 with hydro foils. She competed in the 2016 Vendee Globe under the name Gitana - Edmond de Rothschild and was sailed by Seb Josse. From 2017 - 2019 she was upgraded and sailed by Boris under the name Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco and was recently upgraded again during the 2020 refit with new 3rd generation foils and was renamed Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco. She is 60ft long with a 29m mast and 4.5m draft. with top speeds up to 35+. Seaexplorer is fully fitted with solar panels and hydro generators, allowing Boris to generate only renewable energy to run all the onboard systems. The newly updated 5 meter foils give her the racing edge needed to compete against the newer boats. Monaco & the Ocean The Yacht Club de Monaco has been our main partner since 2016 and we proudly carry the Yacht Club burgee on our sails. With the support of good friend Pierre Casiraghi who is Vice President of the Yacht Club, Boris and Pierre founded Team Malizia to have Boris and a Monaco flagged yacht compete in the Vendee Globe. Pierre is a keen race sailor and has himself joined Boris on the water in numerous races on the IMOCA. With Monaco, we carry a joint message for ocean protection around the world. This legacy from Prince Albert I, who devoted much of his life to the ocean and oceanography, continues with the support of Prince Albert II and his foundation, The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. With their support, we have used our vessel and our sails to further scientific research and to carry the important message for climate action around the world. The team works closely with the Monaco Oceanographic Museum, Center Scientific De Monaco, Monaco schools, the Monaco Exploration Society and other Monegasque institutions all of whom support the work with do to further science and to create our educational kit. We also have a partnership with Monaco based bank EFG Private Bank who have supported us since 2016. Logistics Partners Our new title partner Kuehne + Nagel who joined us in early 2020 are a global logistics provider with a strong environmental message and goal. Their aim is to be net zero carbon and they created a new technology platform called Seaexplorer which collates data on the CO2 emissions of all cargo vessels and allows customers to make informed choices for their shipping needs. After all “you cannot manage what you cannot measure”. Under the banner of sustainable shipping and a real commitment to creating transparency within the shipping sector, we have gained partnerships with CMA CGM, Hapag Lloyd and MSC who all unite under our UN Sustainable development goals branding which features on our head sail. This also lead to us renaming the boat from Malizia to Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco to clearly represent all our partners. Our vessel will be traveling around the world carrying this key message and promoting the seaexplorer platform and the positive work this can do in reducing shipping carbon footprints. The Vendee Globe The Vendee Globe race is a solo non-stop around the world race, taking competitors on a lap alone around Antartica. The race starts and ends in Les Sables d’Olonne, the race is every 4 years and the next edition begins on 8th November 2020. This race is considered one of the toughest sporting challenges on earth, with less than 100 people ever having completed the challenge. Once the competitors start you are not allowed any outside assistance and you cannot stop. The race passes each of the three capes as sailors face extreme weather, freezing conditions and severe loneliness. At certain points during the race you are further from land than the space stations orbiting Earth. The current record is 74 days. During this time Boris will be sending regular content off the boat, will be doing live video links ups to earth and will be writing blog updates of the journey. With technological advancements we can provide amazing footage and content from drones, mounted external and internal cameras, 360 views and hand held interview cameras. The public will be able to follow and be immersed like never before. Vendee Globe Trailer & Vendee Globe Website The Science Our scientific research and partnerships have become a major part of our project. Over 70& of the planet is covered by oceans and about 1/3 of man-made CO2 is taken up by the ocean. This is why our oceans play such a vital role in mitigating climate change. We aim to help scientists to better understand climate change with the installation of our onboard co2 laboratory. This machine is constantly measuring important CO2 data including ocean salinity, PH and temperature as well as surface CO2. In partnership with IOC-UNESCO, Max Planck, Geomar and Ifremer we make this data available for free worldwide via the SOCAT database. This data is hard to obtain as it can only be retrieved via a vessel, not via satellite - therefore Seaexplorer as a ship of opportunity is vital in providing this data, particularly in the hard to reach, remote Southern Ocean where almost no data exists. We don’t stop there, we have also been deploying drifter Argo floats in partnership with UNESCO and partnering with scientists to create greater outreach on these key topics. Malizia Science Mission Statement The Education The Malizia Ocean Challenge kids programme was fully established in 2018 with the aim to sensitise kids all over the world to ocean themes and the role it plays in climate change. We have a full time teacher working with us, who developed a kids kit aimed at 8-12 year olds. The kit is available in 6 languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian, Portugese and German (with 2 new languages coming soon!). In the last 2 and a half years we have engaged over 15,000 children around this topic. We work closely with institutions such as the Prince Albert Foundation 2, the Monaco Oceanographic Museum, IOC-UNESCO and leading scientists and educators to create this material and in 2019 we won the Ocean Tribute Award for this project. We not only provide this material, we also go into schools to present on these topics. With live video conferences with kids around the world and we connect children to Boris while he races. When we are in ports we have groups of children to visit the boat and sail on her too. The Kids Kit 2019 Greta to NY In 2019, the team made headlines for sailing climate activist Great Thunberg to NY for the UN Climate Conference. This was the largest media activation for the UN Sustainability Goals in history. This September I am Greta was released featuring the journey and the team. Click for more onboard images Password: Maliziapress Media Calendar 30.09.20 - 02.10.20 Sailing training session in Lorient.