Boris Herrmann struck by lightning!

To those who say, "Lightning never strikes the same place twice," you’re wrong! Or perhaps the saying doesn’t apply when the "place" is moving. After being struck by lightning in New York last May, Malizia - Seaexplorer has been unlucky once again, suffering damage from a lightning strike nearby.

This time, fortunately, the damage is far less severe than last time. However, quite a few of the electrical elements onboard are no longer functioning and will need to be repaired, swapped out for spares or Boris will have to make do without. 

"Since climbing the mast, I haven’t had much rest, and yesterday was one of the craziest days I’ve ever had at sea.

It started with a massive front and relentless thunderstorms, unlike anything I’ve ever seen in all my years of sailing. It lasted all night and into the day, with pounding rain that I’ve never experienced before. The thunderstorms were intense, with lightning coming from all directions, waves crashing, and the boat struggling to stay upright. A few times, we were lying flat on the sea, and I got thrown around. Thankfully, nothing broke, until lightning struck close by.

Immediately, my screen started flashing, went black, and the autopilot shut off along with the instruments. Alarms were blaring, and the boat lost control, lying flat in the water. The wind picked up again, more thunder, more lightning, it was relentless. I think the sea really showed me its teeth yesterday. Whether it was the Vendée Globe or just the weather, it’s a day I won’t forget.

Since then, I’ve been battling to recover. We’ve just come out of the front, and for the last half hour, I’ve finally had some north wind again. Earlier, the south wind made things nearly impossible. The boat could easily hit 30 knots if I wasn’t paying attention, and with the swell coming from the front, it was chaos.

I realised I haven’t eaten properly since the mast climb, just a gel from my friend Thomas Theriult and some power snacks. Thankfully, I just managed to have dinner, which is the first proper meal in a while. From the most beautiful evening to the most horrendous weather, it all changed so quickly.

Thanks to the shore team, we’ve been able to recover one autopilot with a working set of wind instruments, which is essential. However, a lot of systems are still down. The radar is broken, the main screen doesn’t work, I have no load sensors, no foil rake readings, and the keel system is partially manual now. But I can charge the batteries, use the water maker, and still have Oscar and one functional pilot.

Six months ago, we were hit by lightning in New York, which was catastrophic, everything was destroyed. This time, it’s not as bad as that, but it was still terrifying. I hope this is the last thunderstorm of the race!

We’ll soon be tacking and heading northeast. After that, I’ll eat properly again and try to calm down enough to get some sleep. I still can’t believe what a crazy, crazy day it was.
Wow. Just wow.”