When Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernadez crossed the finish line of the Barcelona World Race at 0917hrs (UTC) today the Spanish Olympic champions of 2004 took second place, having completed the 25,200 miles course in an elapsed time of 94 days, 21 hours, 17 minutes and 35 seconds.

Their average pace on MAPFRE was 11.07 knots for the theoretical course distance, and over the 28,759 miles they actually covered they made an average of 12.63 knots. They finished 22 hours, 56 minutes and 59 seconds behind winners Virbac-Paprec 3 to a tremendous reception in a sun-drenched Barcelona.

This is an ideal situation for us. Until 14 months ago we had never sailed an IMOCA 60 and so we could not aspire to very much. But the race was very good, much better than we expected. We’ve made a huge step. Tomorrow the project is finished but if in the future we want to do it again we can hope to aspire to anything.

“We learned a lot, every day. Each day has been a learning process. Especially all the way through the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We were sailing well and we could fight with those at the front. We believe that we can go one step further,”said Iker Martinez, shortly after he and Xabi had made an emotional reunion with their young families on the deck of MAPFRE.

His co-skipper Xabi Fernandez added “These past 94 days have been never-ending. If you told me it was 105 days, I would believe you. But it has been a great regatta.”

Back in 2007, when the inaugural Barcelona World Race answered the start gun off the Catalan capital, two of sailing’s most likable and down to earth Olympic gold medallists were merely interested spectators. With a first experience of the crewed 2005-6 round the world Volvo Ocean Race on Movistar behind them, Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez were in the throes of intense preparation for their second Olympics and on an enjoyable day trip to see the new non-stop race set off, but the seeds of an idea were sown.

Their second Olympic medal, from a demolition derby medal race in Qingdao, China, was not of the colour they had set out for, and so the duo gave everything to ensure they won their third 49er World Championships in the Bahamas in January last year. Only with their third title bagged, did the duo let their idea of another offshore adventure grow.

Both were total IMOCA Open 60 novices when they set foot on one for the first time in late February last year. “We wanted to know if it was something we could do together, and now we have our answer,” said Xabi Fernandez, a few days ago on live Visio-Conference.

Today the Basque duo, who have sailed together in the 49er since 1999, not only confirmed to themselves that the Barcelona World Race is a challenge they can complete, but by winning second place, the IMOCA Open 60 ‘rookies’ have underlined what an outstanding sailing talent they are.

Finishing in second place, just under 23 hours behind the race winners Virbac-Paprec 3, the Spanish pair are the first team to complete the entire circumnavigation non-stop.

“We would rather be fifth and complete the circumnavigation without stopping, than finish second and stop. This is our opportunity to go round non-stop together and that is what we have always wanted to do,”said Xabi on the approach to Wellington, re-affirming that fundamental goal a few days ago.

‘Leave nothing on the race course’ is the universal maxim of coaches. Arriving today with all gauges down to ‘reserve’ – no food left and no fuel, unable to run their engine any more, it is unlikely that any team has pushed harder for longer. A batch of spoiled freeze dried meant the duo have been on reduced rations for at least three weeks, having first mentioned back in the Doldrums that they were low on nutrition.

For the duration of their 25,200-mile, three month-long course they have vividly and coherently transmitted their simple love for sailing, the relentless drive and stamina which has been at the foundation of some of the race’s most consistent high speeds, and opened up their incredible adventure to an enchanted audience.

Their ability to regain ground with long days of fast-paced, high mileage sailing had race winners Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron consider them several times as “serious customers, who sail the boat well”.

Fernandezand Martinez sailed constantly in second place for 18,900 miles since the 26th January when they took up the baton from mentor Michel Desjoyeaux and Francois Gabart (FRA) after they lost the top of Foncia’s mast.

A deficit to Virbac-Paprec 3 at the Cape of Good Hope of 730 miles on January 29th had grown five days later to 780 miles. But, after Virbac-Paprec 3 stopped in Wellington to repair their mast-track and batten cars, by the mid-Pacific the Spanish duo had got tantalisingly close, to within 8.3 miles of the leaders by February 25th.

Their baptism of fire into the rarefied world of deep ocean IMOCA Open 60 racing has been completed, where self-reliance in every area – mechanical, electrics and electronics, sailmaking and boatbuilding – is as much part of the complete circumnavigation as trimming sails, managing sleep and nutrition.

The Spanish pair rose admirably to the multiple challenges. Belying their Olympic one design and Volvo Ocean Race backgrounds, where a top specialist is, at worst, a phone call away 24/7, at best at your elbow in a second, on 11th February in the Indian Ocean they finally revealed that they had spent 48 hours completing a workmanlike, ingenious composite repair to their port daggerboard, five days after they lost 1.5 metres off the tip when they hit an object.

They had not mentioned the impact when it occurred five days previously, and ran silently while they cannibalised foam from the helm’s seat to make the repair. After trying to repair it on deck they next had to manhandle the 100 kilos, 4 metre-long blade into the cabin of their IMOCA Open 60 where they set up a tented workshop to finish the repair. Their success it fixing it ensured that they did not have to make any technical stops and were able to complete one of their main goals.

After Cape Horn they had to make a short halt, mooring briefly in the remote Isla Nueva at the entrance to the Beagle Channel. There, in the fading darkness, Martinez scaled the mast to sort out their jammed foresail halyards. Their detour and brief pause cost them 80 miles to leader Virbac-Paprec 3.

They served notice of their capacity for speed in the turbo charged racing of the north-easterly trades where they set an electric pace, sailing lower but faster than their opposition. They admitted pre-start to being less confident of their weather strategy experience, having never previously had to take sole responsibility for routing, but as the race progressed so their skill and confidence developed, and Martinez confirmed it was a component of the race they were enjoying.

On the descent of the Atlantic in the approach to the key Saint Helena anticyclone they were first to use ‘ghost mode’ as they sought to cover a move to the west and south, but when the weather files seemed suddenly to turn against them, they had to bail out back to the east, furiously beating back upwind to try and close the gap back to then leader Estrella Damm.

And on the return up the Atlantic, the dominant South Atlantic anticyclone again was a thorny dilemma. Dick and Peyron escaped to the east, avoiding the worst of the lightest breezes and reeled out more nearly 400 miles of additional lead in three days as the Spanish duo struggled to extricate themselves.

Through their many highs, and few lows, the duo have visibly enjoyed sharing each mile and hour of the course with their audience. They have thrived on sharing special moments, patiently taking minutes from the relentless race to speak with just some of the many hundreds of youngsters who have followed the race on the Visio-Conferences. Without doubt they are now the complete circumnavigators.

Quotes:

Iker Martinez:”I’m feeling great because everyone we want to have here is here, all the family, all the friends, everybody’s here. So we’re feeling very happy and a little bit more relaxed, now it’s time to have a rest and enjoy it a little bit!”

Did you expect to finish second? “Not at all, no no. We know about racing, so we knew anything could happen, but we knew already that it would be very difficult to be on the podium or in the top five, so our goal here was to finish the race non-stop, that was in our minds since the beginning of the project, since we started training. So after that, racing is racing, things can happen and they were happening for us. I think we were pretty lucky on how things were going within the race, and then we were learning pretty fast. We suddenly saw in the Indian Ocean that we were sailing pretty close to the leaders, and we were really sailing well and feeling good – at the beginning we weren’t feeling so good as we didn’t know how to sail the boat, but then at that moment we decided, ok, now is the moment to push!

“We have a lot of good memories, many different things. It’s not just a race, it’s an adventure so you have many feelings. Probably the best one is to be able to do a race like this with Xabi, both of us together, that’s probably the best bit. And then a lot of little moments, problems or things we enjoyed. Whenever we’re sailing together, not in the 49er but like this, we’re always trying to solve problems – ‘do you know how do to this, or this?’ that was happening every day.”

Background story:

• February 2010After doing a deal on his highly optimised, well proven Vendée Globe winning Farr-designed Foncia last year the duo first went to IMOCA Open 60 ‘school’ learning from double Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux and his technical team in Port La Foret in Brittany. After six weeks of work around the boat, learning with their shore team the keel, rig, mechanical and electricals, they went out, with ‘Le Professor’, and won their first IMOCA race, the Grand Prix Douarnenez.

• April-June 2010At the beginning of April Martinez and Fernandez sailed with their team back to their base in Sanxenxo, Northern Spain and in May sailed on to Port La Foret, before contesting the round Spain, Vuelta España a Vela in June, where they finished fifth.

Race history:

• December 31st2010 MAPFRE started their first round the world race up with the main group, but stuck close to the northern, Spanish side of the Gibraltar Straits, dropping to ninth by January 3rd.

• January 10th Back up to fifth place, MAPFRE earn their reputation as ‘speed kings’ consistently scoring 20-plus knot speeds south of the Cape Verde islands.

• January 15th With Foncia and Virbac-Paprec 3 stopping in Recife, MAPFRE move up to second, and become the first to employ ‘stealth’ mode as the French pair rejoin the race, emerging 183 miles behind new race leaders Estrella Damm. However, their middle route between the westerly leaders and easterly main group sees them lose out, briefly dropping to ninth before working hard to overtake the peleton to the east and climb to third.

• January 26th Move into second place after Foncia break their mast, 543 miles behind Virbac-Paprec 3. Rounded Cape of Good Hope three days later more than 730 miles behind the leaders.

• February 4thHave reduced the deficit to just 412 miles.

• February 11thReveal that they have had to make major repairs to their port daggerboard.

• February 16th Virbac-Paprec 3 make a 48-hour pitstop in Wellington, New Zealand. MAPFRE enter the Cook Strait just as the French leaders depart.

• February 25thHaving tailed Virbac-Paprec 3 across two Pacific ice gates, MAPFRE are within 8.3 miles of the leaders. Their pace in this stage of the race earns them the Pacific Trophy for the fastest course from the Cook Strait to Cape Horn.

• March 3rdRound Cape Horn, then stop straight afterwards to make unassisted repairs to their halyards. Rejoin racing 220 miles behind the leaders.

 • March 11thVirbac-Paprec 3 emerge from the St Helena High pressure system 544 miles ahead of second-placed MAPFRE, with the Spaniards having been becalmed on a more westerly course.

• March 19thHaving given chase once again back up the Atlantic, MAPFRE close to within 111 miles of Virbac-Paprec 3 across the Doldrums, but can gain no more.

• March 25thBoth the leading boats deploy ‘ghost mode’ as they contend with the Azores high pressure system, but Virbac-Paprec 3 emerge 240 miles ahead.

• April 4th MAPFREpass Gibraltar, Virbac-Paprec 3 win the Barcelona World Race.

• April 5thMAPFRE arrive in Barcelona in second place, after of 94 days, 21 hours, 17 minutes and 35 seconds of racing.

Share on Facebook

Breaking the finish line this Monday morning at 10hrs 20mins 36 seconds (UTC) Jean-Pierre Dick (45) and Loïck Peyron (51) have won the second edition of the Barcelona World Race on Virbac-Paprec 3, completing the 25,200 miles round the world race in 93 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes and 36 seconds at an average speed of 11.18 knots.

For Jean-Pierre Dick the victory repeats his 2007-08 triumph in the inaugural edition of the round the world race for crews of two, when he won with Irish co-skipper Damian Foxall. Today’s win also adds an elusive round the world victory to Peyron’s two previous podium finishes, each ten years apart – second in 1989-90 in the inaugural Vendée Globe solo round the world race, and second in The Race in 2000, for fully crewed giant multihulls.

On arrival at the dock in Barcelona Jean-Pierre Dick described his feelings on winning a second consecutive Barcelona World Race: “A lot of emotions, quite indescribable, I am so happy to be here. I had my objective and today it has been satisfied. It is magical the way we won it together. Thanks Loïck for doing this race with me and putting up with me, magical to live three months among nature around the world, living our passion, and technologically it’s quite special. Thank-you and thank-you Barcelona for this race, it is ideal. Double handed around the world is fantastic. Thank-you also to my sponsors, I am very proud to have these people with me.”

The French duo highlighted their drive and pace when they set a new 24-hour speed record for IMOCA Open 60-footers of 506.33 miles on January 22nd (average speed 21.1kts)

Without doubt the success of their proven partnership amounts to more than the sum of its parts, even given Peyron’s 30 years of ocean racing successes and Dick’s incredible durability, his appetite for short handed and solo racing, his meticulous, scientific approach and delivery, and his remarkable trajectory towards the top of this exacting and demanding sailing discipline.

Their partnership has never been beaten on the oceans, winning the Transat Jacques Vabre together in 2005 when Dick defended the title he won with Nicolas Abiven. Dick, previously a full time business director who only really turned ‘professional’ in 2002, has joined the elite ranks of Michel Desjoyeaux and Bernard Stamm as the only skippers to have won two solo or two-handed round the world races.

Their winning course displays all the polished hallmarks of a near perfect execution. Their meteo and navigation strategy in each sea and each ocean, around the classic course, which takes in the three great Capes – Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn but which, uniquely for the genre, climbs from the south Pacific through the Cook Strait before descending just as quickly back to the hostile ocean – has been almost faultless.

The raw speed of Dick’s newest generation VPLP/designed IMOCA Open 60, launched in May last year in Auckland and with which he plans to challenge for the 2012 Vendée Globe, is now proven. As is the duo’s skill to sail it at the limit for long periods when pressed, but so too is their ability to sail defensively, maintaining high averages to preserve themselves and the boat in more extreme conditions.

Such attributes are underpinned by both skippers sharing the same bitter experience of retiring from the 2008-09 Vendée Globe with damage, both leading at different stages. Peyron spent more time in the lead than anyone before his mast broke, and Dick led in the Indian Ocean before sustaining rudder damage.

Though they made two technical stops for repairs, amounting to a time-out total of 63 hours in Brazil and Wellington, New Zealand, the Virbac-Paprec 3 pair stayed the course to fulfil their ranking as one of the pre-race favourites. Of the 14 IMOCA Open 60s which started off Barcelona on 31st December, four of which were otherwise considered potential winners or podium contenders, Président, Foncia, Groupe Bel and Mirabuad all retired with mast or keel failures.

Dick and Peyron led the race out through the Straits of Gibraltar on January 3rd and after re-taking the lead on January 23rd were never passed. The thrilling duel with Michel Desjoyeaux and Francois Gabart, which forced the red line higher and higher, came to an end when Foncia broke their topmast early on the morning of 25th January.

But Spain’s double Olympic 49er medallists Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez in their first ever IMOCA Open 60 race as a duo had been second since Foncia withdrew. From Virbac-Paprec 3’s largest lead of 781 miles over MAPFRE on February 7, the Spanish pair pressed the leaders relentlessly, getting to within 8.3 miles of Dick and Peyron in the Pacific on 25th February. But, with a beautifully precise 30-mile hitch to the east to set up early in the South Atlantic high pressure system, the winners avoided the very worst of the light winds and made the better passage of the dominant anticyclone.

Though their difficult return through the Doldrums was as long, slow and challenging as either Dick or Peyron could recall over their careers, Virbac-Paprec 3 emerged with an advantage to build on over a final 16-day marathon upwind slog to lead back into Gibraltar.

Quotes from the winning skippers:

Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA): “This round the world race has been a mixture of lots of little things. We already knew each other and it was the joint experience of both of us skippers as individuals which was key to winning.

“We have a really good team, mutual understanding and great respect. We have known each other for a long time and it is for me a huge privilege to have been able to sail around the world with Loïck. A wonderful experience. We both wanted to win of course and our cohesion was focused on this victory.”

Asked if he would consider a third race: “I love Barcelona but I want to celebrate this first and then we will see. The Barcelona World Race is a magical race, it is a wonderful concept: double handed, with sunsets, whales, albatross – to be able to share this natural experience when you are passionate about the sea and can live this passion it is amazing.

Asked what made the difference for them: “A new boat, and in New Zealand the chance to make it more secure, to give us that extra reassurance. It is a very good boat, it performs really well and is latest generation. It was all very well-timed and that is an important part of our success.

“It is a great moment for me after three years of not winning; it was quite frustrating having to abandon the Vendée Globe when ahead, and then there was a year and a half wait whilst the boat was being built. To be successful and have fulfilled my objective iswonderful.

“There are a number of different images that will stay with me from the race. Cape Horn in particular, I have never been that close to it and we could really experience it directly being so close to land. Patagonia is magical – that is my most special moment.”

Loïck Peyron (FRA):

“It has been exceptional. My third round the world race. The first time was solo, the second with a team and this third time double-handed. And we have won – we led the race in spite of some tough competition. It was a fantastic experience and it is a fabulous feeling to finish and finish so well.

“Success comes from true cohesion – and we are both complementary. The savoir-faire of the solo sailing world means you really trust the other person. Success is also about having a good machine at your feet. We made a mistake last night – it was probably us relaxing a little before the arrival, but we did a good job.

“My most important memories are of the albatross – they are quite unique in the world and that part of the planet and we were lucky enough to see them.

“It has been a real example of teamwork by the ‘family’. It is a beautiful example of unity and I am delighted to have had the chance to experience it.

“It is magical to be in Barcelona again. The last time was with The Race and it is wonderful to be back again and this time with another beautiful story.”

Victory Unfolds

January 4thafter taking the southerly option and finding more wind pressure on the Moroccan coast Virbac-Paprec 3 leads out of Gibraltar Straits, 3 days, 7 hours and 55 minutes after the start on 31st December in Barcelona (6 hours faster than 2007-8 edition when Dick and Foxall also led)

January 8thFoncia lead passing Madeira, Virbac-Paprec 3 after five days in front drop to second after small tactical error, with a compact top group including Président, Groupe Bel, and Neutrogena.

January 10th   in strong downwind trade conditions speeds peak at 25kts, in a relentless driving pace and on January 11th Jean Le Cam and Bruno Garcia retire after breaking mast north of Cape Verdes.

On January 13th 2.5 m of mainsail traveller track rips away requiring technical stop in Recife, Brasil. Foncia also stop after damage to their crash box and an almost surreal F1 style pit-stop ensues. The two IMOCA Open 60s, which have been locked together since traversing the Atlantic from Martinique on the same ship after the Route du Rhum, and refitted in the same shed in Barcelona, now pit-stop in the same Brazilian dock. The rival crews even briefly end up sharing the same apartment! Virbac-Paprec 3’s total time stopped is 15 hours and they resume the course with a deficit of 277 miles.

January 18ththey are first to go into ghost mode as both the Recife twins choose long-term investment to the west, down the Brazilian coast which initially sacrifices miles to those on the more direct routing through the St Helena High, but the gains come with high speeds in strong winds. Virbac-Paprec 3 sets a new 24-hour world speed record for 60-footers at 506.33 miles, bettering the 2007-8 record set during the Barcelona World Race by Alex Thomson and Andrew Cape at 501.9 miles on Hugo Boss.

January 23rdDick and Peyron retake the lead and first round Cape of Good Hope. Early on the morning of 26th January the near-twins are finally parted when Foncia breaks their mast. Virbac-Paprec 3 lead MAPFRE by nearly 580 miles.

February 16thVirbac-Paprec 3 makes the minimum 48-hour stop in Wellington to repair batten cars, returning with their lead shrunk to 128 miles over MAPFRE.

February 25thVirbac-Paprec 3’s lead is just 8.3 miles over MAPFRE.

March 3rdVirbac-Paprec 3’s exciting passage of Cape Horn 140 miles ahead of MAPFRE.

March 4thMAPFRE stop briefly to sort out twisted halyards at entrance to Beagle Channel. Martinez and Fernandez lose about 80 miles.

March 5th-11ththe Saint Helena High strategy sees a huge accordion effect but Virbac-Paprec 3 accelerate away to lead of 545 miles over MAPFRE.

March 19thDoldrums: compression to 111 miles as the Doldrums move north with Dick and Peyron but on long beat to Gibraltar, Dick and Peyron lead at the longitude of Tarifa.

April 1stVirbac-Paprec 3 lead by about 30 hours at 0135hrs (UTC)

April 4th Virbac-Paprec 3cross the finish line at 1020hrs (UTC) winning the Barcelona World Race after 93 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes and 36 seconds of racing.

Course record 2007-08 92 days 9 hours and 49 minutes
Theoretical course is 520 miles longer in 2010-11.

Share on Facebook

The Finish. As the time ticks down closer to the first finish of this Barcelona World Race, the closing proximity to the final line, be it a few days or two weeks away, means that the release after 89 days of racing is weighing heavily on the minds of many of the skippers now nearing the home strait, be that in actual fact, or more metaphorically.

Two of the skippers who were joined by Visio-Conference today were showing the effects of their three months of endeavour, tired and drawn, and admitted to wanting as much to get their respective first IMOCA Open 60 circumnavigations safely completed as to deliver their results.

For Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron, ETA Gibraltar around midnight Thursday,  theirs has been a day of precision manouvers off the Moroccan coast, getting to within 800 meters of the beach at one point early this morning. But it still seems like it will be at least offshore of Murcia before they may have some relief from their interminable upwind passage since the Equator. The final miles from there look light and unpredictable.

For Iker Martinez on MAPFRE it was a chance to explain their slightly problematic passage through between La Gomera and La Palma. The Spanish Olympic champion confirmed that part of the reason for their routing was to take brief advantage of La Palma’s lee to effect what should have been a 20 minutes repair, but the combination of unexpected 30 and then 40 knots gusts and some unpleasant seas meant this short repair interlude turned into three hours of hard labour which cost them an extra 45 miles on leaders Jean-Pierre Dick andLoïck Peyron.

Martinez explained how that their 10 years plus of Olympic strength and conditioning training for the 49er has been a key factor in being able to drive their MAPFRE as hard and consistently as they have. And now, low on food rations, it is clear the double Olympic medallists are using some of that nutritional experience to manage their limited body refuelling, maximising sleep to just keep going to the finish line. He said, in fact, given their pre-race experience, second for them would be seen as much as a victory.

Martinez explained: “ We are pretty tired with the food situation, physically this is an ultramarathon. Some days we have it when we are really tired, but it is not one of our biggest worries. I think we are all now thinking about the finish, not too long ago we weren’t but now we are.

We try to sleep as much as we can to keep energy so that we don’t make mistakes, and if they do like yesterday then we have the energy to deal with them and keep going.

It is more than 10 years that we have been physically training. Training for the Olympics in China was pretty extreme, so I think that physically we were in good shape for this race, but I think we pushed very hard.

We are here in this second place because of our physical preparation and ability to push, not because of our experience. Fourteen months ago we did not even have an IMOCA Open 60 and had never even sailed on of these before.?

Behind them the situation is opening up as the Azores High pressure blockade of the Straits of Gibraltar opens progressively throwing open new options to Renault ZE Sailing Team and Estrella Damm to sprint north and try to breach the high pressure ridge, perhaps for some brief SW’ly breezes but to enjoy the prospect of a more dependable N’ly and NE’ly breezes which would allow them a more direct layline to Gibraltar.

The predicted temporary compression between third placed Renault ZE, slowed slightly now, and Estrella Damm, is becoming evident – Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes gaining 12 miles this afternoon – but the direct northerly option does not seem to be offered as freely to Neutrogena.  Ryan Breymaier said:

“They (Estrella Damm and Renault Z.E) are both going quite fast at the moment, but I am not sure how well that is going to work for them because that ridge goes back north and I think that it is going to be quite tricky for them. We have been waiting, hoping for some sort of tactical opportunity just to finish quicker, not even so much thinking we can get by them, just to finish with some food less. So theirs seemed like an option but the ridge seems to move back and forth a lot and so that makes it a much more difficult to take that option.?

Under the leadership of their chief technician Stan, Jaume Mumbru and Cali Sanmarti have been making excellent progress with their boom repair in Ushuaia for their We Are Water. The boom has been successfully sleeved with initial internal lamination, but final lamination has to be completed. They can leave after 1555hrs UTC Thursday 31st but it is unclear as yet if the duo will be completely ready for that time, but it is believed they will be close.

 

Standings of Wednesday 30th March  at 1400hrs UTC

1              VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 796 miles to finish

2              MAPFRE + 311 miles to leader

3              RENAULT Z.E at + 1142miles to leader

4              ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team at + 1289 miles to leader

5              NEUTROGENA at + 1313 miles to leader

6              GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS at + 1905 miles to leader

7              HUGO BOSS at + 3327 miles to leader

8              FORUM MARITIM CATALA at + 3802 miles to leader

9              WE ARE WATER at + 6060 miles to leader

10            CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA at + 10753 miles to leader

 

RTD        FONCIA

RTD        PRESIDENT

RTD        GROUPE BEL

RTD        MIRABAUD

 

Alex Pella (ESP) Estrella Damm:“We are still sailing upwind but a little bit more eased, cracked a bit making north. The wind is very stable. In the next 24 to 48 hours there will be a change. First we have a transition zone with some lighter winds, then some SW’ly veering to the N. Let us see how Renault Z.E goes but for now they are better positioned than us. For sure the further north you are at the moment, the better. That is what we decided is best for getting to Gibraltar. We think that Renault Z.E has made the best choice and ourselves too. There was not much to hide, we talked about using ghost mode but in the end it was not left or right, there was only one way to go and we have to go there as fast as possible and let the others do what they can.

We’ll see what happens between now and the Strait and then in the Mediterranean. There should be the accordion effect in the Strait but really it is impossible to know because we are still about eight days from that. Until then it will be difficult to catch up. But otherwise everything is going well, the boat is all good, it is getting colder again, we have thicker clothes on again and we have food to spare, and Pepe seems to have enough painkillers for his knee until the finish.?

Iker Martinez (ESP) MAPFRE:“Yesterday was a bit of a complicated day.  We took the decision to go between La Palma and La Gomera which seemed like a good option. We thought we could use a bit of the lee to make a fix a problem with sail and the solent stay, but it got a bit out of hand, there were a lot of waves and we had gusts of 30 knots, we ended up having to run downwind to change to the smaller headsail, then we had 40 knots and it all got a bit messy. We managed to get it all in order, but we probably lost about three hours of sailing. It was a day with a lot going on, but in the end we did not break anything else. The stay we fixed works not bad, we were a bit unlucky and we broke a bit of the furler, so we swapped about a bit, changed the cables and it is OK, it works. We can use the Solent which is important.

We are pretty tired with the food situation, physically this is an ultramarathon. Some days we have it when we are really tired, but it is not one of our biggest worries. I think we are all now thinking about the finish, not too long ago we weren’t but now we are.

We try to sleep as much as we can to keep energy so that we don’t make mistakes, and if they do like yesterday then we have the energy to deal with them and keep going.

It is more than 10 years that we have been physically training. Training for the Olympics in China was pretty extreme, so I think that physically we were in good shape for this race, but I think we pushed very hard.

We are here in this second place because of our physical preparation and ability to push, not because of our experience. Fourteen months ago we did not even have an IMOCA Open 60 and had never even sailed on of these before.?

Ryan Breymaier (USA) Neutrogena:  “They (Estrella Damm and Renault Z.E) are both going quite fast at the moment, but I am not sure how well that is going to work for them because that ridge goes back north and I think that it is going to be quite tricky for them. We have been waiting, hoping for some sort of tactical opportunity just to finish quicker, not even so much thinking we can get by them, just to finish with some food less. So theirs seemed like an option but the ridge seems to move back and forth a lot and so that makes it a much more difficult to take that option.?

Share on Facebook

There was a sense of triumph for the all female duo aboard GAES Centros Auditivos as they crossed the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere yesterday morning. The GAES girls are now just under 3,000 miles from the finish line and toasted Neptune one last time on this race to request safe onward passage to their final destination of Barcelona. Caffari and Corbella were also celebrating the completion of the repair to the damaged ballast tank over the weekend which involved slowing the boat right down to avoid too much movement. The duo then had to take it easy for a further 48 hours before they were satisfied that the repair was strong enough to withstand normal racing conditions.

 Commenting on completion of the repair, Caffari said:

  “I am relieved that we have completed the repair and hope that we have done good enough job for it to withstand the final miles of the race. We had gained miles on the boats ahead before our slow down and then lost them all again and some which was pretty frustrating, however, we did take full advantage of the conditions with Anna climbing the mast to carry out a rig check.”                                                                                  

Project Manager, Joff Brown, added:

“The girls have done a great job on the repair, and really we just need to keep our fingers crossed. We’re pretty confident it should be ok, but when you’re doing repairs at sea with limited materials, it’s really difficult to estimate how reliable it’s going to be. However, we’ve had really good results in the past with the special Sicomin Resin we use for working in damp and wet conditions, so it should be ok. They’ve just got to try and judge the conditions onboard really, try and avoid the big repeated slams and maybe throttle back if conditions are bad. Unfortunately they’re now upwind for most of what’s left of the race.”

At the 0900hrs ranking, Caffari and Corbella maintain their 6th place position. The Barcelona Word Race continues to be led by Virbac-Paprec 3, who are now a little over 1000 miles from the finish line. Mapfre are in second place with Renault Z.E. holding third.

Share on Facebook

 

 Virbac-Paprec 3 in ‘ghost’ mode

 We Are Water prepare for the worst case scenario

 Renault Z.E. third into northern hemisphere
‘Let’s play!’ commented Loick Peyron and Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) from Virbac-Paprec 3 this morning as they entered ‘stealth’ mode at 1000hrs (UTC). Their position or rankings will not be visible for 36 hours, ensuring that their movements will remain hidden from view by the fleet and nearest rivals MAPFRE.

Tactically the forthcoming upwind section of Atlantic raises an interesting dilemma for the front-runners, and particularly for MAPFRE, 244 miles behind in this morning’s 0500hrs position report. The Azores High is expanding east-west across the north Atlantic, creating a large obstacle on the way to the Mediterranean. Whilst taking a westerly route looks like an unworkable tactic given the considerable extra mileage involved, the issue of when to tack east to avoid the centre of the anticyclone remains uncertain.

The GRIB files show stronger winds near the coast so by tacking early towards North Africa they will reach better pressure soonest, but will be sailing an unfavorable angle for longer. Carry on heading north as long as they dare and they will benefit from lifting pressure, but are at risk of getting trapped by the light winds at the centre of the high, while taking a ‘middle road’ between the two means avoiding the light winds in the lee of the Canary Islands. When to tack in, and when to tack back out? Timing will be everything, and by selecting stealth mode Virbac-Paprec 3 are hiding the clues for MAPFRE.

Battening the hatches

The situation is more serious on We Are Water. “The barometer has gone down to 956mb, we are preparing for the worst possible scenario,? emailed Jaume Mumbru (ESP) this morning, as he and Cali Sanmarti prepared to ride out what Barcelona World Race meteorologist Marcel van Triest predicted could be the worst Southern Ocean storm of the race due to a deep low pressure system.

The weather forecast for the area they are sailing in for the next 18 hours is severe: a south-westerly gale of 45-60 knots, gusting 75: a Force 12. In conjunction with the strong winds, huge seas are also predicted with a 9-12 metre swell. Heavy rain, squalls, and even snow are all likely as the winds are blowing directly from Antarctica, bringing bitingly cold dense air which makes the conditions all the more intense.

Jaume Mumbru reported from the boat around 1500hrs this afternoon that they were running away from the gale under storm jib only with zero mainsail, in around 55 knot (63mph or 101 km/h) winds. The pair were safely inside the boat, which was making around 11 knots in a north-easterly direction, and reported that although conditions were intensely cold, the wave pattern was better than anticipated with no confused cross-seas.

Battle for bronze

Just 118 miles divide the third to fifth-placed boats this afternoon as Renault Z.E., Estrella Damm and Neutrogena sweat it out in the Doldrums, where temperatures are soaring to over 30 degrees inside, making sleep during daytime almost impossible for some.

Renault Z.E. became the third boat to re-enter the northern hemisphere at 1445 (UTC) this afternoon, in what so far appears to be a relatively benign Doldrums crossing. Just 76 miles behind, Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes (ESP) remain solid in fourth, ahead of Ryan Breymaier (USA) and Boris Herrmann (GER) on Neutrogena. Ryan Breymaier explained today:

“There are position reports every six hours and I’m always looking on the map to see how many more miles we still have to cover, how fast, and when we’ll arrive. There are lots of things that can affect the rankings, the weather can change things quickly and as we saw from the start of the race the Mediterranean is not very easy for anyone to manage so we hope to be close to each other and still able to earn miles on them. But we don’t think too much about third place as I think with our damaged keel it’s going to be too difficult to get near enough.?

At 535 miles behind, Dee Caffari (GBR) and Anna Corbella (ESP) on GAES Centros Auditivos are also anticipating the light winds, as they require flat water to make laminating repairs to their leaking ballast tank. Instead they have experienced fluctuating and unpredictable breezes that Dee Caffari this morning described as a ‘practice Doldrums’, but are this afternoon once again making 10 knots.

Having exited yesterday’s brief but fierce low pressure system, Forum Maritim Catala and Hugo Boss are the fastest of the fleet over the past 24 hours, with just under 200 miles dividing the pair. With the depression having rapidly moved south-east, the race is now on for both to make sufficient ground north to avoid the chasing high and accompanying light winds. Forum Maritim Catala having gained over 80 miles on Hugo Boss over the past 24 hours, and the competition between the two is yet to be settled.

 

Standings at 1400hrs Wednesday 23rd March, 2011

1              VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 in ‘ghost’ mode

2              MAPFRE at 3066,6 miles from the finish

3              RENAULT Z.E at 887,5 from the MAPFRE

4              ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team at 963,5 miles

5              NEUTROGENA at 1005 miles

6              GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS at 1540,8 miles

7              HUGO BOSS at 3558,1 miles

8              FORUM MARITIM CATALA at 3749,4 miles

9              WE ARE WATER at 5462,2 miles

10            CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA at 9371,2 miles

RTD         FONCIA

RTD         PRESIDENT

RTD         GROUPE BEL                                                                        

RTD         MIRABAUD

 

Quotes from today’s skippers:

Dee Caffari (GBR), GAES Centros Auditivos:
“It’s like a practice for the Doldrums that we’ve had. It’s a bit frustrating because we still can’t sail the boat at 100 per cent because we’re waiting to do the big repair, and yet we’re still really struggling with the conditions. But today’s been much better.

“I need to laminate some carbon over some damage in our ballast tanks that are structural to the boat. So we can’t sail the boat at 100 per cent because we’re upwind and we can’t afford the cracks to open up. But we can’t do the repair unless we’re in flat water to allow it to stick, so it’s a case of really looking after the boat.?

Ryan Breymaier (USA), Neutrogena:

“The Doldrums are going very well thus far, knock on wood. We have between 5 and 10 knots out of the breeze and it’s not stopped yet, so hopefully that continues.

“In these lighter conditions we’re not as compromised as we will be later on when there’s more wind and waves, so we’re pretty happy to be keeping up now and are differently worried about what’s going to happen when we get into the stronger upwind trade wind conditions a little later on. There is no real plan for it, the boat is the condition that it’s in and we do the best we can with what we have. At the moment that’s what we’re doing and that’s what we’re going to continue to do – you know you can’t change reality, and the reality is we are not capable to cant the keel to the maximum and that compromises our speed all the time, Boris and I have accepted that and we just get on with our day to day work.

“The sun is an issue every day. Right now in the cabin it’s 32 degrees and outside it’s probably 36, I don’t know – a lot! For me more than Boris I get burned very easily and I have factor 50 suncream at least every day and wear hats and that kind of stuff, so it’s a real problem for sure, especially in this area. I would’ve told you six weeks ago that the heat really bothered me a lot, but it was awfully cold down in the south for a long period of time! But all things considered though I would say the heat is worse than the cold though, and I think Boris agrees with me.?

Share on Facebook

One of the few crews to have escaped any major technical problems onboard during the Barcelona World Race so far, the all female duo aboard GAES Centros Auditivos were dealt a cruel blow over the weekend. After tacking in bad conditions on Friday, a tonne and a half of water gushed into the boat through a crack in one of the ballast tanks. Having identified the problem area, Caffari and Corbella laboured hard to repair the damage over the weekend, with further work being conducted today in the hope that GAES Centros Auditivos will reach the finish line in Barcelona without the need for a technical pit stop.

 

Boat Project Manager, Joff Brown, explains the situation:

 

“Part of the structure which acts as both the front wall of the forward ballast tank and as part of the hull strengthening network in the mid bow area was compromised. Despite daily checks on the yacht’s structure, the girls only noticed the damage when they tacked and filled the forward ballast tank. They realised it was emptying out of the tank into the front of the boat. The damage had probably been done in the previous 24hrs of upwind sailing on the other tack and was caused by the slamming of the boat into the waves.”

“We had an indication that we were vulnerable in this area during the 2009 TJV but had taken action to reinforce this area. The boat has sailed 35,000 miles since then, so we were a bit surprised to see the damage. “

“However, following the damage in 2009, the amount of materials onboard that can be used to repair such problems was doubled and so Dee and Anna have enough materials to carry out repairs at the moment. On Saturday, Dee and Anna managed to prepare the area and laminate some new patches to cover the damaged part and as soon as the wind goes light and the motion of the boat is reduced the girls are going to make a hole in the ballast tank top so that they can make a repair to the other side of the damaged structure, that is hidden from them at the moment.”

Caffari added:
“When you see structural damage in the boat it makes you very nervous, particularly when you discover it in bad conditions as we did over the weekend. I am confident and experienced in most boat maintenance and repairs but when it comes to boat building I have limited knowledge. Thankfully I am given detailed instructions and I trust my team entirely so I feel I am well supported in this venture. We are going to drop all the sails and stop the boat in order to carry out the repair on the inside of the ballast tank. We have a long way to go yet and our success is dependent on these repairs.”

 

Despite this setback, Caffari and Corbella continue to make gains on the boats ahead and at the 0900 hrs ranking were in 6th place, 636 miles behind Boris Herrmann and Ryan Breymaier on Neutrogena. There are more than 4000 miles to the finish in Barcelona.

Share on Facebook

 

After eighth placed Hugo Boss and ninth placed GAES Centros Auditivos round Cape Horn this Friday evening there will be just three of the Barcelona World Race fleet left in the Pacific, including Central Lechera Asturiana in Wellington where Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio await the repair of their broken mast.

Andy Meiklejohn and Wouter Verbraak were expected to pass Cape Horn at around 2000hrs UTC this evening with the girls duo on GAES Centros Auditivos only around three hours behind them. Dutch co-skipper Verbraak, reporting to the Global Sports Forum’s live Barcelona World Race Visio-Conference today, confirmed that the duo have had a tough Pacific and were looking forward to the release of the ‘big left hand corner’ and the challenges and opportunities the Atlantic should bring them:

“It feels great for us to be getting there….I was only supposed to be going to the Cape Verdes, here I am at Cape Horn!? quipped Verbraak.

For both of them it will their third passage of the Cape of Storms. The complex pattern of multiple low pressure centres was giving them variable breezes, anything from 10 to 35 knots within minutes of each which was making it hard for the duo to find an ideal sail-plan.

Today’s prelude to their passage was the first time that either of the co-skippers have been contacted live on air since their exit from the Cook Strait because they have been very strictly rationing their energy use.

“The fuel situation is not that great.  We’ve had generator problems where a coolant part of the generator has stopped working. This happened well before New Zealand, and thanks to the support and creativity of our shore crew we have managed to find a solution using another part on the boat and plumbing that in, which wasn’t straightforward but we managed to do it. But that was a big bonus, and means we don’t have to stop for fuel, but we do have strict strict rations so unfortunately we haven’t been able to go into the videoconference, which is big shame but it’s good to be talking now.?

Caffari and Corbella look like they might be able to reap a reward for their prudent strategy across the Pacific, but like Hugo Boss they are expected to have little time for souvenirs and tourism. Indeed it was shaping up to be unfortunate timing for Caffari’s Spanish co-skipper Anna Corbella. She may be set to become the first Spanish woman ever to race round Cape Horn and add to her honours as the first Spanish female sailor to race the Atlantic solo – finishing 13th in the 2009 MiniTransat – but with 104 miles to the rock at 1600hrs UTC it was shaping up very much like the girls would pass into the Atlantic during the hours of darkness.

It will be a considerable triumph for Corbella who disliked sailing when she started at four on her parents’ small yacht. It was only when she started racing in the 420 that the bug bit and since then she moved through into an Olympic 470 programme which she progressed She helped prepare Jaume Mumbrú’s MiniTransat and then was leant his boat to compete on her own. Considering she only stepped on an IMOCA Open 60 for the first time just over one year ago, hers is an achievement to be proud of.

But time will not be waiting for either Hugo Boss nor GAES Centros Auditivos as a high pressure system is set to develop off the Argentine/Uruguay coast which would effectively force them out on to an easterly routing up the Atlantic. Their most recent routing suggests they need to get north and west as possible, perhaps set to be the first boats to route west of the Falklands and maybe even through the notorious Le Maire Straits which separate Cape Horn from Staten Island.

 

Standings at 1400hrs UTC Friday 11th March

1              VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 at 4462,5 miles  de l’arrivée

2              MAPFRE at 544,8 miles to the leader

3              RENAULT Z.E at 1308,2 miles

4              NEUTROGENA at 1706,6 miles

5              ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team at 1790,5 miles

6              MIRABAUD at 1796,4 miles

7              GROUPE BEL at 2394,7 miles

8              HUGO BOSS at 2500 miles

9              GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS at 2544,2 miles

10            FORUM MARITIM CATALA at 4588,3 miles

11            WE ARE WATER at 6732,5miles

12            CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA at 7087,8 miles

ABN       FONCIA

ABN       PRESIDENT

 

Quotes

Iker Martinez (ESP) MAPFRE:“The big picture for last few days was very hard for us, we’ve been floating not sailing. We have gone too much west in the high pressure, and we couldn’t do anything else. We have had  to wait to hoist the spinnaker because we didn’t have this halyard and then we were too late. So we just try to manage the situation and now we’re happy because we’re sailing fast again. The leader is a little bit more far away, 500 miles, which is a lot but we’re moving so that’s good, and we’ll keep going.

On the video conferences: “It’s nice because you have a little contact with the world, and when we’re here sailing we almost don’t remember what’s going on outside. So we try to show a little to our family, and to know a little about what’s going on outside. It’s completely different compared to what happened for example in the Olympics where the press is pushing you were too much, and you just don’t want to deal with the press because you’re concentrating on your things, they’re pushing too much. Here it’s much nicer, it’s just a couple of minutes of enjoyment and I enjoy it quite a lot! I try to push Xabi to the videoconference but he doesn’t like it so much!?

Wouter Verbraak (NED) Hugo Boss:

“We’re pretty excited to have Cape Horn not so far away, but it’s not making things easier – we’ve had a lot of snow and hail storms through the night, and the wind really up and down. At the moment we only have 10 knots but some times in the squalls we have 35-40, so it’s pretty challenging times. It’s as if the Southern Ocean is desperate to show us it’s not over until we’ve really rounded Cape Horn.

“Cape Horn is a big milestone for this race, and obviously for Andy and myself it’s the third time so we know what it means to go around it. It influences a lot of more light airs and a warmer climate, so we’re excited to go into the Atlantic and make our way home.

“This next part, especially for the group ahead of us, there are some difficult weather situations for them to negotiate, whereas for us it looks pretty much downwind so we’re pretty happy with that. We’ve said all along, from the moment when we were in last place, this race isn’t over until we’re back in the Med and we’re still in contention, so we’re looking for any opportunity we can have and see who we can overtake.

“Andy and I myself are in good shape. One thing that has been really strong on our boat is that we’re a great team, we’re very balanced between ourselves and we have complementary skills that we learn from each other. And so we’re good in that sense, and I think that’s going to be a player in the way up the Atlantic.

[Fuel] “The fuel situation is not that great, so we’ve had generator problems where a coolant part of the generator has stopped working. This happened well before New Zealand, and thanks to the support and creativity of our shore crew we have managed to find a solution using another part on the boat and plumbing that in, which wasn’t straightforward but we managed to do it. But that was a big up, and means we don’t have to stop for fuel, but we do have strict strict rations so unfortunately we haven’t been able to go into the videoconference, which is big shame but it’s good to be talking now.

[Rounding Horn] “I was never meant to go past the Cape Verde islands! Normally there would be a bottle of strong liquor on the boat, but I think on this occasion there will be a lot of candy, maybe an extra delve into the supplies of chocolate!

“For us ever since New Zealand we’ve been bouncing into this low pressure system ahead of them, and as we all know the conditions just behind the low pressure system are not very ideal for sailing, so we’ll see what happens. We just crossed a line so we’re happy with that, and ahead there’s still some challenging times. It’s actually fun to have somebody to race against, and we’ll see when Groupe Bel comes out she’ll be another potential competitor that we’ll keep our eye on.?

Alex Pella (ESP) Estrella Damm:  “Yesterday we spent more of our time clearing kelp and seaweed from under the boat, it was stuck everywhere. We were unlucky because we had to go backwards. We are pretty happy now because we are going north and the waves are smaller and the weather is pretty good. We are going upwind in 15 knots, with small waves and pointing home. It is a tricky part of the course, because there is no clearly defined route, it is a bit unstable. We have a big front in two days and we need to see how we do with that, how we can work with that and what the others do. It is quite uncertain how it will go and there are many options, but for sure the race for us is wide open.”

Share on Facebook

Ryan Breymaier, with co-skipper Boris Herrmann (Germany) aboard Team Neutrogena, rounded Cape Horn yesterday but encountered major problems during their approach to the Cape when the keel hydraulic system sustained almost complete failure earlier this week. It was the middle of the night and the auto-pilot was steering when the boat jumped a wave, which caused damage to the keel’s water valves.

 

“We tried to diagnose and repair the damage ourselves, but called our shore team and the manufacturer of the system when several hours of our efforts met with no success,” said Breymaier. “We ended up succeeding in fixing the problem, but are now reduced to nursing the boat home.”

 

Team Neutrogena still holds a solid fourth place in the rankings out of the 12 doublehanded teams remaining in the 25,000 nautical mile (46,300 km) race, which includes 2,000 hours of non-stop competition across three vast oceans, two hemispheres and around three famous Capes.

 

“Our stated objective has been to complete a non-stop circumnavigation, and with careful sailing we still believe this to be possible. We will continue on our way and unless the damage grows worse, we will see everyone in Barcelona at the finish line in a month,” said Breymaier.

Share on Facebook