© Chris Cameron / DPPI
Jean-Pierre Dickand Loick Peyron (FRA) reported their plans for the stopover to Race Director Denis Horeau yesterday evening after breaking two mainsail battens during their approach to New Zealand. Shortly after arriving alongside the pontoons of Chaffers marina this morning, Jean-Pierre Dick explained how they arrived at the decision:
“We would have had to finish the whole half of the world tour without any spares on board. With such a weak piece that was too dangerous, because it’s dangerous to sail without these cars. So I decided to stop and get some new ones, this is the reason as it’s not acceptable to sail without any spares.
“We also went through a few other little minor damages that we will repair – such as to the bubble on the roof. We were not planning at all to stop, which is why I don’t have any of my shore crew.”
Each stopover past 140 degrees East must be for a minimum penalty period of 48 hours, hence as Virbac-Paprec 3 arrived on the dockside in Wellington at 2311hrs (NZL local time, or 1011hrs GMT) they may not leave until 2311hrs (NZL) on Friday 18th February.
Before the team arrived in Wellington, they were met by a helicopter team who took some spectacular images and video footage of the boat sailing past New Zealand’s dramatic coastline – see the Multimedia section of the Barcelona World Race website.
Decisions, decisions…
When he won the inaugural edition of the Barcelona World Race in 2008 on Paprec-Virbac 2, Jean-Pierre Dick was one of only two entries not to stop in Wellington for repairs. So far just two teams have signaled their intentions to stopover in New Zealand this time – Virbac-Paprec 3 and Groupe Bel – however the potential benefits of 48-hours of repairs on land are making the decision hard for some skippers, as Alex Pella (ESP) of Estrella Damm explained during this morning’s live link-up:
“All the boats have wear and tear, and you have to be able to assess whether it’s worthwhile stopping and lose 48 hours, or carry on and know you're a little more disadvantaged or could have more technical problems.
“The truth is that it is very interesting, and many people just cannot decide whether to stop or not. It’s going to be a bit like a pit-stop in Formula 1: who’ll get more fuel and who changes their tyres...”
New opportunities?
Meanwhile other boats have been looking to make the most of opportunities on the water. MAPFRE have been chasing Virbac-Paprec 3 hard since the French duo took the lead on January 23, an advantage which they extended as far as 781 miles on February 7, 2011. Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez (ESP) have extricated themselves from a tricky high pressure zone around New Zealand’s South Island, and are currently making steady progress up the coast, 480 miles from Wellington.
Groupe Bel has gained 30 miles on third-placed Estrella Damm, who have tacked further offshore in search of for better pressure, and are now closer to Groupe Bel’s line, with the ‘laughing cow’ just 72 miles behind.
Meanwhile, Group Bel’s own planned stopover could present chances for Renault Z.E., currently 400 miles behind. Antonio Piris explained their dilemma: “I think we have to make the decision in the next couple of days. If we don’t stop of course of course there will be gains for us at the beginning.”
Mirabaud and Neutrogena retain their close connection: just 17 miles between the pair at this afternoon’s 1500hrs update. The most rapid boat on the course is Hugo Boss, averaging 15.9 knots since this morning’s report. Both Hugo Boss and GAES Centros Auditivos gybed this morning as they crossed a frontal system, with Andy Meiklejohn (NZL) and Wouter Verbraak (NED) currently about to enter the East Australian gate. The second fastest team was Central Lechera Asturiana, with Juan Merediz (ESP) commenting today on how hard he found it to believe their speedo, now showing two digits after many days at sub-10 knots.
Quotes:
Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Virbac-Paprec 3:
“What has happened is that my mainsail track has some ‘receptacles’ [cars] which are linked to the battens, and these receptacles that move on the mast are not very reliable pieces unfortunately. We discovered this – we thought they were strong enough but in fact they are not, and we broke two of them this morning, and we’d previously broken one.
“We had two spares, and we just needed two more which meant we would have had to finish the whole half of the world tour without any spares on board. With such a weak piece that was too dangerous, because it’s dangerous to sail without these cars. So I decided to stop and get some new ones, this is the reason I decided with Loick to stop as it’s not acceptable to sail without any spares.
“So we went through a few other little minor damages that we will repair - to the bubble on the roof. We were not planning at all to stop, which is why I don’t have any of my shore crew. We just have some good relationships that I know for a long time, particularly with Luc Bartissol who was the technical manager of Paprec-Virbac 2.
“Now, we will try to relax. Have some good sleep, a shower, a shave maybe. And then of course our priorities are what is happening on the boat.”
Alex Pella (ESP) Estrella Damm:
“All the boats have wear and tear, and you have to be able to assess whether it’s worthwhile stopping and lose 48 hours, or carry on and know you're a little more disadvantaged or could have more technical problems.
“The truth is that it is very interesting, and many people just cannot decide whether to stop or not. It’s going to be a bit like a pit-stop in Formula 1: who’ll get more fuel and who changes their tyres...
“Today we have been becalmed and have been busy almost all day with maintenance: we repaired two sails, stanchions, the pulpit, a winch... all day has been dedicated to the boat, and knowing that there will be calm means you have a little opportunity to make repairs. Especially with regard to sails – we spread two sails out on deck to work on, which is a luxury because you have plenty of space, whereas to do so inside the boat is very tricky.”
Antonio Piris (ESP), Renault Z.E.:
“It’s been great for us [as fastest boat] because we were coming from a few days of probably being the slowest boat.
“I think it’s just down to meteorological considerations, so sometimes you can get pushed by the meteo, and sometimes you can get stopped. Right now the leaders are a little bit stuck in high pressure, so that’s why they’re slow. For a couple of days we’ve been a little bit more to the south of everyone and had a little bit more pressure, and that’s made us go fast. This ocean racing has some good days and some bad days and we’re happy to have had a couple of good ones.
“We are having a couple of issues here and we have to make the decision if we stop or not, I think we have to make the decision in the next couple of days. If we don’t stop of course of course there will be gains for us at the beginning, so that’s good for us. I think Bel had some problems with sails, and we’re okay with that.”
Juan Merediz (ESP), Central Lechera Asturiana:
"Finally, as I commented in my email today, the speedo is working well, and showing two figures now we have 20 knots. We are eager to get going. Now we have 24 knots of wind and we have a clear goal now, to reach the Fòrum Marítim Català.
"We have three fabadas [a Spanish cassoulet] on board, yesterday we ate one, maybe that is the reason for our speed today!
"As for the boat, we’ve realised that we don’t have enough foresail area, we particularly notice this when we have light winds - when there is plenty of wind we don’t detect it as much."
"It's tough when other boats take such a distance from you, we’re now 4,000 miles from Virbac-Paprec 3. I think people think that we will are not sailing as fast as we could be, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. We – and We Are Water and Fòrum Marítim Català – we are all doing everything we possibly can and fighting to the fullest. But we're just not having any luck with the weather."
Rankings at 1400hrs UTC Wednesday 16th February
1 VIRBAC-PAPREC at 11533 miles to finish
2 MAPFRE at 480 miles to leader
3 ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team at 702 miles
4 GROUPE BEL at 774 miles
5 RENAULT Z.E at 1167 miles
6 MIRABAUD at 1510 miles
7 NEUTROGENA at 1527 miles
8 HUGO BOSS at 1755 miles
9 GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS at 1942 miles
10 FORUM MARITIM CATALA at 3720 miles
11 CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA at 4029 miles
12 WE ARE WATER at 4469 miles
RTD FONCIA
RTD PRESIDENT
From Barcelona World Race
