Having passed through the Cook Straits on Thursday morning (local time), Caffari and Corbella are now 11,199 miles from the finish line of the Barcelona World Race placing them within touching distance of the half way point into their voyage around the globe. The all female duo aboard GAES Centros Auditivos were delighted to be greeted outside of Wellington by the race organisation RIB and briefly posed for photographs before continuing their journey out into the Pacific.

 

Credit Chris Cameron

The GAES girls are breathing a sigh of relief as the anticipated cyclone Atu has now been downgraded to a strong low pressure system. It was previously thought that the cyclone would create winds of up to 80 knots and whilst that seems unlikely now, a confused sea state is still expected and they are agreed that safety and boat preservation must take precedence over a potential loss of miles against competitors.

Commenting yesterday, Caffari said:

“It is just the sea state around it which will be hard on the boat and so it is just making sure we don’t do anything silly and we get this obstacle out of the way. You might lose some miles with these kind of situations but if you and the boat remain in good form then it is easier to make those miles up again than if you have issues and are constantly battling all of the time.”

GAES Project Manager, Harry Spedding, added:

“Tropical storm Atu may have been downgraded but around the centre of this depression there will still be strong winds, just below hurricane force at around 60 knots.  Dee has been tracking the movement of the storm, initially different weather models showed different paths, but these are now all starting to align.  There is a difficult weekend ahead as GAES Centros Auditivos sails into the western side of the depression and then aims to sail over the top of the low pressure, avoiding the stronger winds closer to the centre.”

Virbac-Paprec 3 continue their lead in the Barcelona World Race with Mapfre just 14 miles behind and Renault Z.E. maintaining their position of third. At the 0900hrs ranking today, Caffari and Corbella onboard GAES Centros Auditivos were in 9th place, 39 miles behind Andy Meiklejohn & Wouter Verbraak on Hugo Boss.
 

Aviva has been a longstanding supporter of Dee Caffari and her inspirational record breaking sailing achievements, assisting her to three world records including becoming the first woman to sail solo, non stop, around the world in both directions. As Founding Partner of Caffari’s sailing campaign, Aviva is pleased to extend this support to Corbella and GAES for the Barcelona World Race.

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The all female duo’s hearts were certainly racing yesterday but it had little to do with the romance of Valentine’s Day and more to do with the speeds their IMOCA Open 60, GAES Centos Auditivos, was achieving. At one point Caffari and Corbella were polled at 17.1 knots making them one of the fastest boats on the course and allowing them to continue their chase of closest race rivals Andy Meiklejohn & Wouter Verbraak aboard Hugo Boss.

 

GAES Centros Auditivos has now exited the eastern point of the Australian gate and Caffari explains how passing this latest ice gate was not all heart and flowers:

 

“We waited for the gap in the barrier to change sails knowing that, should the wind be gusty or come forward, we could bear away. This was okay and the forecast in the grib file was for the wind to decrease and go left lifting us. This never happened until some 200 miles later making our journey along the second half of the barrier extremely tight. With only 8 miles to play with to stay clear of the barrier we were relieved when the wind did eventually free us up and take the “will we, won’t we?” element away.”

 

Today the GAES girls are enjoying a dry ride with big sails up and Project Manager, Harry Spedding, speculates on the conditions that lie ahead as they race along the south of Australia:

“The next 24 hours will see the girls overtaken by a weakening warm front, with the wind direction shifting between west and north west. Following this they will see a depression giving them a fast ride across the second Australian safety barrier to the Tasman Sea.   The greatest issue will be negotiating the exit of this depression before entering the Cook Straits further north in the Tasman Sea. The end of the week will see some difficult tactical decision making, especially as the wrong decision could give them some very tough conditions.”

The Barcelona World Race continues to be led by Virbac-Paprec 3 with Mapfre second and Estrella Damm third. At the 0900hrs ranking today, Caffari and Corbella onboard GAES Centros Auditivos were in 9th place, 145 miles behind Andy Meiklejohn & Wouter Verbraak on Hugo Boss

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Dee and Anna are spending what is considered to be the most romantic day of the year in one of the most remote and hostile places on the planet, the Southern Ocean. However, the all female duo onboard GAES Centros Auditivos are keen to hold true to the Valentines tradition of chasing boys as their pursuit of Andy Meiklejohn & Wouter Verbraak aboard Hugo Boss continues. Having relinquished eighth position to Hugo Boss late last week, the GAES girls have been battling hard to keep the gap between them to a minimum as they seek an opportunity to regain a position in the rankings.

As the fleet have dipped further into the Southern Hemisphere the perils of round the world racing became more apparent when two additional ice gates were introduced to the Barcelona World Race at the end of last month. The ice gate that marked the bottom of the South Atlantic was moved further north to keep the IMOCA Open 60’s away from the worst of the area of ice and another gate was added just to the east of South Africa. The boats are required to pass at least one point to the north of each gate and with the race taking place so late in the southern hemisphere summer it is likely that ice presence will continue to affect the course resulting in more of the gates moving further north. This in turn will increase the distance the boats have to travel making this a longer race than originally anticipated.

Dee and Anna are currently heading towards the south of Cape Leeuwin on the west coast of Australia. The duo’s latest video reveals the topsy turvy life they are experiencing ‘down under’.

Elsewhere in the race Virbac-Paprec 3 continues to lead the fleet with Mapfre second and Estrella Damm third in the Barcelona World Race. At the 0900hrs ranking today, Caffari and Corbella onboard GAES Centros Auditivos were in 9th place, 120 miles behind Andy Meiklejohn & Wouter Verbraak on Hugo Boss.

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The leading group of the Barcelona World Race may be ready to reflect on their passage across an unusually lenient south Indian Ocean but the tail enders of the fleet have been dealing with a punishment which is more perhaps more typical.

The top five boats will already be considering their passage to the Cook Straits which looks set to be influenced by the timing of a high pressure system which may give favour to the second and third placed MAPFRE and Estrella Damm, cost some miles to the leaders Virbac-Paprec 3, and possibly more to Groupe Bel and Renault ZE Sailing Team.

But while their problems, with one known exception, are largely mathematical – evaluating gains and losses, reducing risk and exposure, the three teams at the back of the fleet were well into a strong low pressure system. For most of the Spanish crews this will be their first real experience of stormy conditions since passing into the Indian Ocean.

“The windspeed indicator does not drop below 45 knots and at the moment it is topping 53. In these conditions it is a real battle to get the mainsail down.? Reported Gerard Marín from Fòrum Marítim Català this afternoon .

The laughing cow, on the horns of a dilemma?

Kito De Pavant and Seb Audigane on Groupe Bel, the laughing cow, are caught on the horns of a dilemma. To pit-stop or not to pit-stop?

That is their question which they and their team need to evaluate having today revealed that they have been sailing without two key sails – their big gennaker and heavy kite – since before the Cape Verde islands.  De Pavant’s team reported that the first incident happened 29 days ago, when the fleet leaders were sailing fast in strong NE’ly trade winds.

The boat is reported to have luffed violently damaging the big gennaker which was rendered unusable. They continued under heavy spinnaker which they damaged the next day. De Pavant explains subsequently that they no longer have the ideal downwind and reaching sails for the wind range 15-25 knots. They are understood to be considering a technical stop, possibly in New Zealand. Any stop after leaving the Indian Ocean must be of a mandatory minimum of 48 hours. Teams can carry up to 10 officially measured sails which. Up to 60 percent of a damaged sail can be replaced.

From having been in sight of Estrella Damm over recent days Groupe Bel has steadily dropped back to be nearly 200 miles behind the third placed Spanish boat this evening, De Pavant considering that Groupe Bel has been up to 20% below her usual polar speeds compared with Estrella Damm.

Swiss Timing

Swiss skipper Dominique Wavre was given to comment on the unfortunate timing which has been certainly been precise, but very unfortunate. Each time he and Michèle Paret  have come north to satisfy a gate of the course they have been unlucky enough to be slowed by high pressure, whilst others have been much more blessed. Neutrogena have been dealt the same cards. Mirabaud was slowed to under 8 knots at times today but the sixth and seventh placed boats were joining a fast moving low pressure this afternoon.

And the catch up continues for Estrella Damm, this afternoon just 13 miles from passing MAPFRE for second who have been consistently slower than their usual selves, while Hugo Boss had cut the lead of GAES Centros Auditivos to 17 miles and remain around one knot quicker. Virbac-Paprec 3 leads MAPFRE by 526 miles.

 

Standings at 1400hrs UTC Wednesday 9th February 2011

1              VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 at13721,4 miles to the finish

2              MAPFRE at526,6 miles to the leader

3              ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team at539,4 miles

4              GROUPE BEL at731,7 miles

5              RENAULT Z.E at1042,4 miles

6              MIRABAUD at1578,3 miles

7              NEUTROGENA at1676,4 miles

8              GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS at2210,3 miles

9              HUGO BOSS at2227 miles

10            FORUM MARITIM CATALA at3279,9 miles

12            CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA at3548,8 miles

RTD        FONCIA

RTD        PRESIDENT

 

Andy Meiklejohn (NZL) and Wouter Verbraak (NED), HUGO BOSS: “ We are fast reaching, surfing safari Southern Ocean style. It is fast reaching, very wet, the boat accelerates quickly to 25-26 knots. The cloud cover is cleared and we have blue skies and sunshine, water is 17 degrees. It is really enjoyable hand steering in the waves trying to maximise every mile we have. We have the guys from Hugo Boss Germany on line as well.

It is hard to stay on top of time of day when you are moving so far east, but we try to make it work by always having breakfast when the sun rises and then go from there.

We have had an amazing couple of days, really fun to properly race the boat always looking for the protection and finding a nice balance. One thing we have learned is that there are more gears on this boat, some daggerboard, sails, and we have been really creative in finding new gears, and being fast. The weather has helped and that has helped us catch, but even now we are getting closer and we are still catching. It is looking good. Rumour has it the girls have some nice red wine and toast so we can really close and get a nice platter from them.!?

Alex Pella (ESP), Estrella Damm:”We have gybed before them (MAPFRE). We caught up a lot. The truth is that we are going super fast in the Indian Ocean. We have had almost four days with good winds,  reaching and downwind in the right direction for eating miles. We spent nearly three days fighting with Groupe Bel and now we see stretching. We do our stuff and by now it is perfect. Pepe drives the boat very well and I really enjoy my watches as well. I hope it keeps like that for a long time!

I think we will pass quite quickly the Australian barrier. After that, a front comes with a low, probably the strongest wind so far, but that will be in two or three days. At the moment I think the crossing of the barrier will be very clean.
We are very excited. We are third and the boat is performing very well. We would have signed being across Cape Leeuwin in this situation. We will soon have a new opportunity to toast with beer, which will now be chillier. The waves are large and crossed. We used to have the wind on the side and the wave n the back and now downwind and wave at the side. Recently the sky was gray and it rained a little, but now it’s been cleared and it’s a beautiful day in the Indian.

It would be nice to get second, but we have not done even half the race and we must keep our feet on the ground. What is important is that we are good and the boat as well and we are eating and resting well in order to keep moving forward. ”

Dominique Wavre (SUI) Mirabaud:“Every time when we have gone towards an ice gate we have been met with an anticyclone. We have managed to get away from Neutrogena and this time they are behind. Since the start we have arrived at the worse times, bad luck I suppose and the saving grace I suppose is that we have shared our bad luck cards with Neutrogena.

But we had some brilliant times before we got planted into another anticyclone. The conditions are not too tough. With the position of the ice gates we flirt with the anticyclones rather than the depressions. And so it goes quite tamely compared with my past  memories. But physically we are tired all the same. We have so many maneuvers and changes to make because of the anticyclones and they are more stressful than good depressions with stable winds.

We stick to French time on the boat so that we don’t wake people on land when we need to communicate. We adapt our sleep pattern because effective, deep sleep is most effective at night and so we try to adapt to that.

Our personal hygiene is not ideal. I have not shaved for a week and I’ve not had time to. With everything going on then that slides down the agenda.

When we were north of Kerguelen I recalled being there after my keel problem in the last Vendée Globe, to bring the boat 2500 miles was really stressful and one of the worst memories of my life. But now the keel system is much more reliable and it feels so much safer to be racing with Michèle.?

Kito De Pavant (FRA) Groupe Bel:“We have been sailing close hauled a lot, and we’ve been running downwind in either a very strong or weak wind, which enabled us to continue at a good pace

On the other hand, in the last few days, everything got back to normal with a fair wind of about twenty knots, and this is when the gennaker has been lacking. We are 20% below Groupe Bel’s performance. Conclusion, Estrella Damm which we were sailing in view of less than a week ago, has flown away 100 miles ahead of us.?
“Today, there is nothing vital that requires us to stop? Kito analyses. “We will make our decision as soon as we have a precise idea of the weather conditions around New Zealand, which may or may not favor a pitstop, and which might penalize us in relation to our contenders. It is also possible that other crews are currently considering the same question. The race is far from over…?

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Having battled upwind for the last few days, it is a case of ‘TGI Friday’ for the only all female crew of the Barcelona World Race having finally been given some respite as they make progress in a south easterly direction. For Caffari and Corbella, this calmer period will allow them to check over GAES Centros Auditivos for any damage caused by the potentially boat breaking conditions they have been experiencing.

 

Early this morning, Caffari reported:

“What a difference a day makes! Life onboard is happier and easier. The sea state and weather makes us feel as if we are sailing somewhere completely different and the horrible upwind boat breaking conditions were just a figment of our imagination.”

The duo have also noticed a distinct drop in both sea and air temperature above and below deck as they make progress with the clean-up operation required as a result of the intense last few days.

Talking about what can be expected over the coming few days GAES Project Manager, Harry Spedding, said:

“The current weather forecast for the middle of the Barcelona World Race fleet continues to look complicated.  GAES Centros Auditivos will be looking for a transition from upwind conditions to faster downwind.  However to find these conditions they will probably need to stay further north than they would have preferred, and navigate through a complex trough formed between two high pressures and a low pressure system to the north.  The high pressure systems are to the west and east of the girls’ current position, and the tactical decision will be based upon how quickly these systems move easterly around the Southern Ocean.  No doubt the next 24 hours are going to be hard work for Dee and Anna.”

Virbac-Paprec 3 continues to lead the Barcelona World Race fleet with Mapfre and Estrella Damn sitting in second and third places respectively. At the 0900hrs ranking today, Caffari and Corbella onboard GAES Centros Auditivos were in 8th place, 222 miles ahead of Andy Meiklejohn & Wouter Verbraak on Hugo Boss

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At just over four weeks into the Barcelona World Race, Dee Caffari and her Spanish co skipper Anna Corbella are not having an easy time of it on the Barcelona World Race. Due to the combination of a high pressure system unusually far south and the presence of additional ice gates imposed for safety reasons, the all-female duo have been forced north which has resulted in them battling upwind conditions to make any progress along the race course. The upwind slog looks set to continue for the next couple of days with the only silver lining being reaching the next milestone on their race as they passed the Cape of Good Hope today.

Caffari commented on their circumstances:

“We can’t stay miserable and have to remain positive as we have these conditions for a while. Reaching another milestone is always good and it is fantastic for Anna to have passed the Cape of Good Hope today, something she has never done before on a race.”

Caffari and Corbella have certainly not lost their sense of humour as is evident from the latest spoof video the girls sent back from onboard GAES Centros Auditivos. Dressed as a pirate, Caffari had taken Corbella hostage as was demanding downwind sailing conditions as a ransom for her release. To view the latest video go to http://www.youtube.com/user/DeeCaffari

Virbac-Paprec 3 still leads the Barcelona World Race fleet with a comfortable lead of over 500 miles. At the 0900hrs ranking today, Caffari and Corbella onboard GAES Centros Auditivos were in 8th place, 281 miles behind closest rivals Boris Herrmann & Ryan Breymaier on Neutrogena.

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On Sunday 23rd January Caffari will be celebrating her birthday in the South Atlantic aboard GAES Centros Auditivos, making this the third occasion she will have notched up another year on a round the world voyage. However, the difference this time is that Caffari will not be alone as she has the company of her Spanish co skipper, Anna Corbella onboard to help her get in the party mood. Having climbed several places during the week, GAES Centros Auditivos has now entered some volatile weather conditions and dropped back down to 9th place in the 0900hrs rankings this morning.

Speaking about the weekend ahead Caffari said:

“Any celebrations onboard will be short and sweet as we have some really tricky conditions to get through and our focus will be making sure we are pushing GAES Centros Auditivos as hard as possible. I think I might have a few presents onboard to open and, who knows, maybe I will even find a birthday cake stashed away somewhere.”

Commenting on the next few days, GAES Project Manager Harry Spedding added:

“A high pressure off the east coast of Brazil is going to become more stable and move east into the South Atlantic.  This will squeeze next to the St Helena high that is already formed in the centre of the ocean.  For the majority of the fleet this will mean a few days of complex weather, with squally conditions and potentially light winds.  Those that get south fast enough will have a good run to get towards the light area situated near Gough Island.  The followers, a group to which the girls will probably belong, are going to have a tough weekend and lose a few more miles on the leaders.  They will hope that these miles might be made up as there may be a compression as the fleet approach Gough Island”

Foncia and Virbac Paprec 3 have returned to their number one and two spots respectively and are currently speeding along at 20 knots plus. Estrella Damn has been relegated to third place as the pack to the north east experience lighter conditions than the front runners. At the 0900hrs ranking today, Caffari and Corbella onboard GAES Centros Auditivos were in 9th place, thirty miles behind closest rivals Boris Herrmann & Ryan Breymaier on Neutrogena.

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The all female duo aboard GAES Centros Auditivos have climbed four places in the rankings in four days with just 108 miles separating them from the current leaders, Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella on Estrella Damn. At the 1500hrs polling today Caffari and Corbella sat in fifth place, three miles ahead of closest race rivals Pachi Rivero & Antonio Piris on Renault Z.E.

Speaking earlier today, Caffari, said:

“It’s a little hot, a little sweaty, but very happy here! We’ve always kept an eye on Neutrogena after we let them get away in the North Atlantic and it’s been really good for us to see that we’re just doing the same speed if not a little bit faster.”

Caffari and Corbella are anticipating tricky conditions ahead in the South Atlantic and although they have blue skies and high temperatures now, they know life in t-shirts will be brief. As they head towards the Southern Ocean they are keen to make sure the boat has been thoroughly checked over.

Caffari added:

“We’re enjoying the glorious sunshine while we’ve got it, because it will be short-lived. But the weather’s really complex in the South Atlantic so it’s going to be a really difficult week. This morning is lovely, the wind is decreasing – we’ve only got 8 knots and it’s a little up and down, but we’ve got really flat water which means we can open the hatches and actually get some air flow in the boat which is really nice. It’s blue sky and scorchio! We know the cold weather is coming but we can’t even think about it at the moment.”

“This time in the South Atlantic, although it’s complex it will actually go quite quickly and we’ll be on that train going round the bottom pretty quick so it’s important we do as many checks as we can while conditions allow and make life easy. But we’re in pretty good shape on GAES so nothing’s too stressful.”

The Barcelona World Race is led by Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella on Estrella Damn by 37 miles.  At the 1500hrs ranking today, Caffari and Corbella on GAES Centros Auditivos were in 5th place, three miles ahead of Pachi Ribero and Antonio Piris on Renault Z.E.

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