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The collision with a cutter cost Boris Hermann the victory in the Vendée Globe. The fisherman had accused the sailor of causing the accident. Now Hermann fights back.
Circunnavigator Boris Herrmann has contradicted the portrait of the captain of the Spanish fishing trawler that he collided with in the Vendée Globe regatta. In an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Captain Josu Zaldumbide said that he and his crew had not seen Herrmann’s yacht coming.
“Our AIS (Automatic Identification System) did not show the sailboat either, at any time,” he said, emphasizing that the AIS, through which ships exchange navigation and ship data, was turned on.
“I shouldn’t be saying that, damn it!”
Herrmann contradicted this on Friday in the ARD and ZDF “Morgenmagazin”: “It was clearly not like that. We can see that in the data log.” The fishermen turned off the AIS quite often. “No reproach to anyone. That is probably quite normal. They also compete with each other and you don’t always want to reveal your position,” said the Hamburg man. “That was really bad luck.” The 39-year-old had previously made a similar statement. “I shouldn’t say that, damn it!” Zaldumbide said in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
The momentous collision of Herrmann’s yacht “Seaexplorer – Yacht Club de Monaco” with the ship occurred some 90 nautical miles from the Vendée Globe destination at Les Sables-d’Olonne on Wednesday night. No one was injured in the process. However, Herrmann’s ship suffered severe damage. He could only continue to navigate at reduced speed. As a result, he missed the podium he had hoped for and was fifth on Thursday after more than 80 days and 28,000 nautical miles.
