The first strategic test of the Atlantic could be the big one for Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez. The binary choice – west or east – as Martinez described it this morning, could either prove a ladder to climb back to Jean Pierre-Dick and Loïck Peyron on Virbac-Paprec 3, or it could be the best opportunity yet for the French duo to, as Martinez said, ‘finish the job’.
Almost on cue this afternoon the leading Virbac-Paprec 3 duo, with 204 miles of margin in their pocket, gybed south and east to stay with the extra wind pressure of the low pressure system they have been riding as it tracks east. This gives the race leaders the chance to score more fast, easy miles to the east, but the gybe telegraphs their choice, loud and clear, to the Spanish Olympic medallists. Since their halyard stop, they have already regained 70 miles to Virbac-Paprec 3.
So now it is up to Martinez and Fernandez to respond. The Barcelona World Race leaders since 23rd January still hold the upper hand, but their choice is not without risks. The eastwards track of the high pressure, and indeed its general evolution is certainly not a precise science. If they go west, which seems likely, their payback comes later in the play, and – of the two options – this is the lower risk strategy.
Of course the French duo have their 200 miles to gamble with, but when the dénouement comes the worst that can happen for Spain’s most successful sailors of their generation is that they lose some of their 1408 miles margin to third.
To most intents and purposes – barring big dramas - second is secure, and to Iker and Xabi second place is second place: no matter if they are 30 seconds behind Virbac-Paprec 3 at the finish, 300 miles behind or 3 days.
As the Spanish sailing icons were moving into an easier night in the south Atlantic, one that afforded some welcome sleep to them both, a vital chance to recharge after their lonely island halt and MacGuyver-esque previous night, a glittering awards ceremony in Madrid was crowning them Spain’s Sailors of the Year in absentia, particularly recognising their third 49er World Championships title.
Anna Corbella and Dee Caffari were announced as Women’s Sailing Crew of the Year and the Fundació Navegació Oceánica Barcelona’steam was named Sailing Team of the Year, and the organisation’s Pere Sarquella was given Organiser of the Year.
The predicted compression of the fleet between third placed Renault ZE Sailing Team and Estrella Damm continues unchecked. Groupe Bel have closed to within four miles of Mirabaud this afternoon, while Ryan Breymaier on Neutrogena confirmed that they have been suffering from technical problems over the last 48 hours which have significantly compromised their attack on third placed Pachi Rivero and Toño Piris.
Breymaier remained unspecific about the exact nature of their recent travails, looking forwards to being the fleet’s first co-skipper to pass Cape Horn for the first time ever:
“We have had some technical issues which we have been working through and we has a front which passed leaving us a with a wind which was shifty and light, and we have been trying to resolve some technical problems for about two days now.”
“At this point the issues are more or less behind us, we have made some repairs which have worked and hopefully we can stay now at the good speeds we are making for the foreseeable future.”
“ We had a little bit of leaking in the hydraulic system which is now fixed. That was the primary thing and that made it hard to sail at full potential for a while. We have not been able to use the big sails for a while because of it. We have the big sails back up and
It is a really crap feeling to know that you are slow compared to the other boats, so we just worked as fast as we could to get things sorted out. We had a lot of advice from people on the shore as to what we needed to do to get it all sorted out. And now we are very happy to be back in a position where we can sail the boat to its potential again. It is just terrible, every minute that you know that you are losing time to other boats is a real shame, and that is the position we found ourselves in unfortunately.”
Seventh placed Estrella Damm’s Pepe Ribes confirmed today the extent of his knee problem which is limiting his activity and requiring them to set up well in advance their strategies, seeking to reduce the number of manoeuvres required wherever possible.
"The boat is doing 18 knots, bouncing and falling around a bit, moving from side to side, and I have a leg I can not use. We try to cut to a minimum the maneuvering so that when the wind comes we are well positioned. Our ribs? We are feeling better each day but trying not to make so many sail changes. I also have a knee problem that I will have until the end of the race.”
In Wellington the first assessment of the broken mast of Central Lechera Asturiana is being completed with Auckland’s Southern Spars having now been asked to develop repair options if possible, but it seems certain there will be no short term, easy solution to get Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio back afloat quickly.
Quotes
Pere Alcober (ESP)President of FNOB, Sports Representative Barcelona City Council): “This is the recognition of many years of work by many people, many of them anonymous and behind the scenes. For years we were dreaming of a transoceanic sailing race like the one we have now and we should be very proud of it. The Barcelona World Race has given the possibility of Catalan and Spanish sailors to race around the world and we have to say that at this moment we already have boats interested in racing in the next edition.”
Ryan Breymaier (USA) Neutrogena:“We have had some technical issues which we have been working through and we has a front which passed leaving us a with a wind which was shifty and light, and we have been trying to resolve some technical problems for about two days now.”
“At this point the issues are more or less behind us, we have made some repairs which have worked and hopefully we can stay now at the good speeds we are making for the foreseeable future.”
“ We had a little bit of leaking in the hydraulic system which is now fixed. That was the primary thing and that made it hard to sail at full potential for a while. We have not been able to use the big sails for a while because of it. We have the big sails back up and
It is a really crap feeling to know that you are slow compared to the other boats, so we just worked as fast as we could to get things sorted out. We had a lot of advice from people on the shore as to what we needed to do to get it all sorted out. And now we are very happy to be back in a position where we can sail the boat to its potential again. It is just terrible, every minute that you know that you are losing time to other boats is a real shame, and that is the position we found ourselves in unfortunately.”
We are back at full potential now. We got through all the very strong winds with no worries, unfortunately we had this little problem once the winds got light and that made it all the worse.”
I guess it will be a battle with all these boats getting to the Horn together. We have a little over 1000 miles to go and not that much space between the boats at the moment. It definitely should be very interesting. Hopefully we can keep the boat going in the lighter air after the Horn and stay in the position we are in, it is going to be hard. As everybody knows Estrella Damm and Groupe Bel have been very quick in this whole race and especially the VPLP/Verdier design on lighter air and flatter water could be difficult to stay in front of. “
Iker Martinez (ESP) MAPFRE:“We are fine onboard MAPFRE, this night was quieter and we could get some sleep. We needed it because since we left our stop we had to work hard to catch decent breezes again. The problem we had was with a halyard that interfered with all the others and we couldn’t get it to work. We tried to repair it while sailing but it was very complicated. The first option was to go free climbing with a security halyard but it wasn’t very safe and I got a bit afraid and started to hurt myself. For this reason we decided to stop to fix it in proper shelter away from the waves on an island.
By the rules of the class we have to carry two separate anchors on board with a minimum weight, and in fact we had them prepared. We looked in the charts for a depth of 15 meters because a greater depth would be too much for the length of the ropes and a shorter distance would be dangerous for the boat. Luckily saw fishing buoys we decided to tie up to them without having to pull the anchor. It was a shame to have to stop, but it is what it is.
Yesterday we received the award from the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation, the best sailors in the year. The truth is that for us 2010 was a great year in the 49er class, winning the 49er worlds in January. And we are very grateful and very happy to win the award.
A few hours ago I had a little chat with Xabi, with the latest weather files, assessing the weather and seeing what will happen with the high pressure. Perhaps this is the opportunity to cut down miles to Virbac-Paprec 3 or that they move away and finish the job.
We are further west because we left the cape more close to the land due to the stop, and they look like they are taking no risks and are also heading west up to our bow.
To use the stealth mode would be a choice in the next few hours, but this mode should be used for a radical option and that is not clear which option you take, otherwise it makes no sense.
We have noticed a big difference between the Pacific and the Atlantic, the temperature has now risen and humidity is much less, seems like a lifetime ago since we saw conditions like this. Now inside the boat we have 11 degrees, a temperature we haven’t seen since we left New Zealand. We are sailing at open angles of 100º to 130º, but 130º is what we have been sailing since leaving Cape Horn, but now we have less wind. We had just over 20 knots and now we're at 16, but also these are perfect conditions to go eating miles.”
Pepe Ribes (ESP) Estrella Damm:"The boat is doing 18 knots, bouncing and falling around a bit, moving from side to side, and I have a leg I can not use. We try to cut to a minimum the maneuvering so that when the wind comes we are well positioned. Our ribs? We are feeling better each day but trying not to make so many sail changes. I also have a knee problem that I will have until the end of the race. I have consulted doctors who think it's a damaged meniscus and maybe some ligaments. It hurts a lot. I can not stretch or bend the leg. I find it hard enough to navigate and move around the boat, which is now going at 18 knots... and I have a leg I can not use. In these circumstances it is all very hard, dressing, undressing, leaving the bunk ... and when you go on deck it is very hard, "
"We are many boats close again and I suppose the one that makes the fewer mistakes make will be the best to finish in the final standings, "
"We just passed a front with 45 knots of wind. Now we're heading around 80, and when the shift to 270 comes we’ll jibe back south to find another front that will come within a day or so. These 1,300 miles to Horn are quite complicated and we are trying to sail a little cleaner, which means not to do too many maneuvers. The approach will be windy and very wavy and we’ll have to be careful, since by experience we know that the waves there are much bigger"
Rankings at 1400hrs Saturday 5th March 2011
1 VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 at 6454 miles to finish
2 MAPFRE 205 miles from the leader
3 RENAULT Z.E at 1613 miles
4 NEUTROGENA at 1776 miles
5 MIRABAUD at 1881 miles
6 GROUPE BEL at 1886 miles
7 ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team at 2010 miles
8 HUGO BOSS at 2423 miles
9 GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS at 2719 miles
10 FORUM MARITIM CATALA at 4699 miles
11 CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA at 5483 miles
12 WE ARE WATER at 5363 miles
RTD FONCIA
RTD PRESIDENT
From Barcelona World Race
