Four years ago here in Saint Malo Japanese skipper Kojiro Shiraishi announced his new build IMOCA project with sponsors DMG MORI. On the eve of his first Route du Rhum-Destination Koji is ready to go, setting out on the last big race before his DMG MORI Global One goes in for a winter refit during which the bow of the VPLP design will be modified and new foils are to be fitted.
Speaking at the weather briefing today he said“The boat is ready, I would like to thank my team because everyone has worked well. I'm happy to be going soon, I will try not to do things that are too extreme, I will race as “safely” as possible to be sure of finishing in Guadeloupe. Wehave set a race plan with the team, we said to ourselves that we wanted to go fast while preserving the boat. »
Shiraishi reflects on those first four years and is looking to complete the first quadrennial with a solid result. From small beginnings in 2018, their team has grown to become a truly international operation, “We announced the new boat exactly four years ago, we had our first meetings with VPLP here having just flown in from Japan. So it is amazing to think how far we have come in four years. We had a small team then now we are 15 people here working.
It is a very international team we have lots of different countries, from older guys to young people and part of that is to reflect the fact that DMG MORI is a global company. It is a melting pot of cultures, we like that.”
Eleventh on the Vendée Arctique early summer, he took time to get into the race but was making good progress when it had to be annulled, “The season has been long with some long races early on. I am happy now because the boat is fully debugged and we have no problems with it, so I feel very happy with it. I have a new mainsail this season, a new J2, new Fractional Zero and we changed the nav station with a new seat which is specially moulded to fit me exactly, so it is much more comfortable. And this year we have an performance engineering team working with us now so we are gathering much more data and analysing it so that we know what our fast settings and configurations are and so I am much more confident in that. We know how to make the boat go fast.”
And for all that the weather has improved because of the delayed start, Koji’s races usually start with the same problem, seasickness.
“Whatever the conditions are at the start I always still get seasick for the first three days and don’t eat well and so am usually a slow starter, but once I can really focus and sail the boat fast. I will be fine and have no problems with the conditions whatever they are.”
In the 38 boat fleet Koji has the capacity and experience to finish in the top third of the field on a boat he now knows well. Commercially he has no big pressure from their main sponsor, “I don’t think too much about the result. But the CEO of DMG MORI is coming to Gaudeloupe and I want to make sure I am there before him. The result will be what it is. DMG MORI are very, very happy with what we are doing. All of the races we have done we have finished and had a lot of media talking about us. Now we need to keep everything rolling, to keep the boat in good shape, the keep the team working well and to keep the skipper well all the way through to the next Vendée Globe. We go step by step.”
DMG MORI are a global leader in machine tools and cutting machines and they derive a lot of their value from BtoB activities surrounding the races and their boat, Koji explains, “The media return is important but DMG MORI mostly get their value is very BtoB. We invite many clients to race starts and off season and involve them and all the way through the company, DMG MORI in France and Germany, for example, they are fully engaged and happy with what we are doing. We have got a lot of attention from the industry since the Vendée Globe. All the clients who come to the starts are big clients who spend hundreds of thousands of euros. Last week we had one big client who was undecided whether he would buy a new machine, he came and has decided to buy so we are very proud to help and make a difference.”
He is delighted to have Chinese skipper Jingkun Xu in the race, “It is unbelievable. I really hope Jacky will do well and continue what he has started. I want him to feel at home here. For an Asian person to be here is just incredible. It is different on a full crewed event but to be alone here on a singlehanded race it is so much more difficult. I do all I can to help him but the advice I gave him is to continue doing what he is doing and he will learn. By being here it I will make him grow.”
And he explains the mods which will take place after the race, “We will have a new bow after the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe and new foils, big changes. The foils will be a bit like Malizia’s but less extreme. We hope to relaunch in May and will be done at CDK in Lorient. So I get a winter off but will train hard to be stronger.”