STORY: They are real high-tech boats that started the first stage of the Ocean Race in Alicante, Spain, on Sunday. 11 teams in two classes set sail for the 3700 kilometer route to Cape Verde. Numerous onlookers and family members of the sailors were present at the start. Expected arrival is January 22nd. Huge challenges await the sailors: “The fleet leaves Alicante today towards Cape Verde for the first leg of this six-month circumnavigation. When they circumnavigate the world, they are in the southern ocean, where there are huge storms and big waves. But already for the second Very, very windy conditions are forecast for day one as they leave the Mediterranean and enter the Atlantic where there will be four to five meter waves so it’s a real baptism of fire to start the race.” Hamburg’s Boris Herrmann is going to be the skipper of the Malizia Seaexplorer at the start of the Ocean Race for the first time – and counts on his chances of winning the race: “Yes, I’m really relieved to be sailing with the team now. My last race is alone I didn’t go so well, I didn’t feel so comfortable on the ocean, also a bit lonely in between. There were maybe still the memories of the toughness of the Vendee Globe. And now getting started with the team, we’ve trained a lot, we know good for us, is a good team.” In addition to Herrmann, two other Germans are at the start of the Ocean Race: Robert Stanjek from Berlin and Susann Beucke from Strande near Kiel. After further stages in Cape Town, Newport, Aarhus and The Hague, the 14th edition of the circumnavigation race will end on July 1st with the seventh and final stage in Genoa.