Barcelona World Race / Open Season For Second?

With second placed Neutrogena still slowed in a high pressure zone of light winds since Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz restarted from their New Zealand pitstop, both GAES Centros Auditivos and Renault Captur having continued to slash their deficit behind Altadil and Munoz. Second place on the podium of the Barcelona World Race is opening up with each mile that the two chasing IMOCA 60s gain.

Credit : Neutrogena

Barcelona World Race / Cheminées Poujoulat passes the Kerguelen Islands

Cheminées Poujoulat has passed the Kerguelen Islands as Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam continue to lead the Southern Ocean charge in the Barcelona World Race. The duo were just over 300 miles north of the largest island of Kerguelen at 1400hrs this afternoon.

Credit : Cheminées Poujoulat

Despite being in the very centre of the Indian Ocean at nearly 44°S, Cheminées Poujoulat was sailing at just 6-7 knots as the lead boat entered a zone of high pressure which will see the south-westerly winds they have been reaching in head and fade, becoming more easterly and unstable.

Barcelona World Race / Hugo Boss lined up with Neutrogena off Brazil

Regularity and routine, such as they want it, has kicked in for the leaders of the Barcelona World Race as they race past the latitude of Recife, Brazil. Leaders Alex Thomson and Pepe Ribes were 260 miles east of the NE corner of Brazil and closest challengers Neutrogena, Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz are now about 80 miles further inshore.

Crédit : A Thomson / Hugo Boss

IMOCA / Sun and Sons Shine on Light Winds #Barcelona World Race Start (Video)

As if to underline their billing as pre-race favourites to win, Alex Thomson and Pepe Ribes on Hugo Boss led the eight-strong fleet of IMOCA 60s off the start line of the third edition of the Barcelona World Race, two handed race around the world. The British-Spanish duo made the best of the very light winds, setting up with speed at the gun, to eke out a small lead to the turning mark, 1.5 miles away from the line.

Credit : Martinez Studio

#IMOCA / Au revoir New York

Today at 1120, the first boats left North Cove Marina, one by one they were bid good luck by Sir Keith Mills, Chairman of OSM (Open Sports Management and Barcelona Deputy Mayor Mrs Maite Fandos, also President of FNOB (Barcelona Foundation for Ocean Sailing ), co-hosts with OSM of the IMOCA Ocean Masters New York to Barcelona race. Also bidding them a safe journey was Luc Talbourdet, Vice President of the IMOCA Class and Peter Bayer, CEO of OSM.

Credit : Th Martinez / OSM

Barcelona World Race / Blowing into the Atlantic with the Horn section

The battle continues in the light airs of the high pressure in the South Atlantic as Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron on Virbac-Paprec 3 try to escape into the oxygen of the south easterly trade winds, but still through the early part of Wednesday the gains of Spain’s MAPFRE have carried on.

 © Neutrogena

The gnawing tension on board both boats was barely hidden during this morning’s Audio and Visio-Conference, linking skippers live with Race HQ in Barcelona. Both skippers spoke of the logic and modelling predictions, but both Iker Martinez and Jean-Pierre Dick confirmed that they were struggling to track the movement of the centre of the high, and to know when they would be getting out of the honey-pot of light winds.

Barcelona World Race / Does the Pacific Highway Takes an Exit Toll?

It is hard to judge whether the Pacific is extracting a particular toll from the peloton of the Barcelona World Race fleet, a tax at the gateway to deliverance into Atlantic, whether it is simply the accumulation of hard miles since the start, or recent problems among them are all purely circumstantial.

© Renault ZE

But with the news Monday night that Kito de Pavant and Seb Audigane’s Groupe Bel have a problem with their keel which will need proper assessment, none of the fifth to seventh placed boats will climb the Atlantic for home at truly maximum capacity.

Fifth placed Groupe Bel’s De Pavant was remaining resolutely upbeat while he could on today’s Visio-Conference, admitting that he and Audigane do not really know exactly what the problem is, but that the head of their keel has been showing some movement. The duo planned to pass Cape Horn before seeking shelter to assess their problem. Groupe Bel was 30 miles from De Pavant’s first passage of the lonely rock at 1700hrs this afternoon, sailing in strict conservation mode making nine knots. They will doubtless mark the occasion, having uttered their determination to make it past the three Capes in the past, at least, but Kito seemed sure they would probably make for Ushuaia as soon as they were round the Horn.

Barcelona World Race / From Front to Back Robust Conditions Take a Toll

From the leading duo counting down their final 750 or 800 miles to Cape Horn to those nearly 5000 miles behind fighting to make it across the Tasman to the Cook Strait, the vast majority of the Barcelona World Race fleet today are either racing in strong winds, or expecting them imminently.

Virbac-Paprec 3 and MAPFRE, some 78 miles apart this afternoon, are trying to outrun the approach of a fast moving low pressure system, the regenerated, reinvigorated Atu (Atu v2.0?) and escape around Cape Horn into the Atlantic. But it is the fleet’s tailgunners on We Are Water which has struggled the most today after being temporarily knocked flat by a big wave, taking water inside the boat.

Barcelona World Race / Now we are ten

Of the fleet of fifteen IMOCA Open 60’s which are entered for the Barcelona World Race ten are now in Barcelona after three teams arrived during today (Wednesday).

Credit : BWR

In the very early hours of the morning it was Alex Thomson (GBR) and Andy Meiklejohn (NZL) on Hugo Boss who concluded and challenging sail from Gosport, England followed at just after midday by Ryan Breymaier (USA) and Boris Hermann (GER) who sailed non stop from Concarneau on Neutrogena, with Jean Le Cam (FRA) and Bruno Garcia tied up in the marina by 1500hrs this afternoon on Président, after their passage from Port-la-Forêt.