MOD70 / Virbac Paprec out of her shed

Virbac Paprec, loyal sponsors in the sailing world launch the 7th MOD70 and move from the CDK Technologies yard in Lorient today to another yard for the winter. Skipper, Jean Pierre Dick will leave the boat to winter whilst he continues his IMOCA 60 commitments that conclude in the upcoming 2012 Vendee Globe race. Jean Pierre Dick, originally from Nice, will join the MOD70 sailors next season for the MOD70 European and Ocean World Tour.

Credit : L.Simon

From : MultiOneDesign

Europa Warm'Up / Leading, JP Dick :"You have to be on deck a lot"

Easy, fast miles proved a gentle return to solo ocean racing for the seven Europa Warm'Up skippers after they left Cascais Sunday, but a high pressure ridge is slowing the leaders and setting the first strategy puzzle.

Credit : A.Le Cleach/Banque Populaire

Imoca / Europa Warm’Up Leg 2, now in Solo, the seven skippers left Cascais today

The seven Europa Warm’Up skippers left Cascais, Lisbon today at 1600h local time, setting course on their IMOCA Open 60’s for the open Atlantic ocean, ready to tackle the second of the two stage race, a 2.300 miles long passage which they know will be their the final racing test before November’s Vendée Globe.

Credit : J.Vapillon

Imoca / Virbac Paprec 3 wins Leg 1, first reactions

It was as close a finish as many would have wished for, just over seven minutes separating first placed Virbac-Paprec 3 and third placed PRB. Jean Pierre Dick’s crew, with back to back Route du Rhum winner Roland Jourdain among them, lead all the way down the Mediterranean only to surrender their lead to PRB at the gateway to the Atlantic, the Strait of Gibraltar. But through the last 24 hours of the 800 miles first stage which started on Saturday in Barcelona, Virbac-Paprec 3 fought back to hold a tiny lead over Francois Gabart and crew on MACIF, with Vincent Riou’s PRB taking third.

Credit : R.Pinto/Europa Warm Up

Imoca / Virbac Paprec 3 leads the Europa Warm'Up towards the Atlantic

On the beat into the Alboran Sea where the IMOCA Open 60 fleet are progressively funnelled into the narrows of the Straits of Gibraltar Jean-Pierre Dick and his crew on Virbac-Paprec 3 are closely monitoring their rivals but so far only the wily Armel Le Cléac’h on Banque Populaire has broken ranks and tacked towards the Spanish coast.

Credit : Virbac Paprec

Barcelona World Race / For One Night Only

Just as tomorrow morning should be just part of the reward for a job well done, so their last night at sea together will be one to savour and reflect for Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron.

In terms of the total course distance, 25,200 miles and their 93 days since leaving Barcelona, the final 89 miles which the French duo had to still complete at 1400hrs UTC is but the blink of an eye, but Dick and Peyron will enjoy a serene final night at sea anticipating the huge release the finish line will bring and the frenzy which inevitably follows.

© Virbac-Paprec 3

Barcelona World Race / Scotched and Scorched

Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron may be on track to win the second edition of the Barcelona World Race but the French duo this afternoon were experiencing the other extreme of the Mediterranean in Spring.

© Virbac-Paprec 3

Only hours after slamming upwind through the Straits of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea in a combination of sea and wind conditions which were considered by the skippers, and – from a distance – the co-designer of the successful IMOCA Open 60 – as potentially boat damaging.

Barcelona World Race / Virbac-Paprec 3 less than 1400 miles to finish

As anticipated by many, Virbac-Paprec 3 has tacked north again this afternoon, taking a short hitch to avoid passing directly through the Canary Islands archipelago and the likely long wind shadows cast bay the high mountains, especially Tenerife. With some 90 miles left to reach the westernmost extremity of the islands, Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron will take a short hitch back to the north before extending east all the way to the Moroccan coast.

© GAES Centros Auditivos

Iker Martinez retains his fierce optimism, believing that there will be chances to pull back some miles on the leading pair after MAPFRE passes the Canary Islands.

Barcelona World Race / A long beat to Barcelona

Second placed MAPFRE emerged from ghost mode this afternoon having made a net gain of some 33 miles on Barcelona World Race leaders Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron.

Credit : Virbac Paprec

The French duo are still very much in a controlling position on what promises to be a long windward leg to the Straits of Gibraltar, but it is the Azores high pressure which is still dictating terms to the leaders, forcing them east and on the wind.

As they approach the Canary Islands from the west, even Virbac-Paprec 3’s Loïck Peyron sounded slightly wearied today, hardly inspired by the prospect of six more days at least of windward sailing in moderate breezes, but the duo will be content to have their Spanish adversaries back ‘in vision’ this afternoon.

Barcelona World Race / Stealth mode and survival mode

‘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.

 © Virbac-Paprec 3

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.

Barcelona World Race / Cape Horn Match Race

Theirs was a Cape Horn rounding rich with emotion and satisfaction but peppered with non stop action. The timing could not have been better.

For the GAES girls there was the bonus of being able to see Cape Horn fading through a grey, windswept dusk ahead of the next rain squall being ushered along by the buffeting breeze, and then even getting the full dark-of-night effect with the Cape light blinking adieu through the blackness, saluting their safe passage through the Big South.

© GAES Centros Auditivos

Barcelona World Race / The Big Stretch North

Logically it was expected by both the co-skippers of Virbac-Paprec 3 and by MAPFRE. The long time leaders Loick-Peyron and Jean-Pierre Dick had some confidence that they would escape first from the south Atlantic high pressure system which had snared them for more than 48 hours.

With their more westerly course, closer to the centre of the anticyclone and so in lighter winds, Spanish Olympic medallists Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez were hopeful that they could still get sufficiently close to their rivals to reach the exit of the high pressure in close touch.

Even though the odds were very much in favour of the French duo getting out first, Jean-Pierre Dick still described life in the anticyclone like being in a ‘game of roulette’, but since Wednesday night it has been Virbac-Paprec 3 which, for the moment, have collected.

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 / Highs and Lows, Peaks and Troughs.

Not for the first time in this Barcelona World Race, and almost certainly not for the last, the contrast in fortunes between the pacemakers and the backmarkers of the fleet is vast. The only thing that Loïck Peyron and Jean-Pierre Dick seem to be struggling with on their ascent of the south Atlantic on Virbac-Paprec 3 this Sunday afternoon is deciding if their nearest rivals MAPFRE are indeed following in their wake, or whether Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez will break to the west of the high pressure system.

Credit : Groupe Bel

Barcelona World Race / All that Glitters

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.

Barcelona World Race / Serious Pursuit

After their detour and four hours halt to try and sort out a halyards issue MAPFRE have clearly channelled their frustration and disappointment into simply pressing the accelerator pedal back to the floor as they immediately try to make up the 200 miles that they lost to Barcelona World Race leaders Virbac-Paprec 3 yesterday night and this morning.

© Chris Cameron / DPPI / Barcelona World Race

Since getting back on course and up to race speed Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez have already clawed back nearly 20 miles on the race leaders Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron.

Barcelona World Race / Pointing North, Pacific Done

At 1020hrs this Thursday morning Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron on Virbac-Paprec 3 lead the Barcelona World Race fleet past Cape Horn only four hours and 20 minutes ahead of Spain’s double Olympic medallists Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez. With just under 7000 miles to sail to the finish in Barcelona, the lead of Virbac-Paprec 3 was only 72 miles.

© Virbac-Paprec 3

Since their enforced 48 hours pit-stop in Wellington to replace essential mainsail batten-cars, Virbac-Papred 3 crossed the remainder of the Pacific to Cape Horn in 15 days 1 hour and 35 minutes, their aggregate time since leaving the start line on 31st December of 61 days 22 hours 20 minutes.

Barcelona World Race / Cape Horn Thursday for Virbac-Paprec 3 and MAPFRE

Cape Horn is the round the world racer’s ultimate milestone. It is the time that the bow is finally directed in a northerly direction, what feels like homewards. In theory the wind ravaged Cape puts behind them the wild challenges of the southern oceans and starts the final long 10000 miles ascent of the Atlantic.

Credit : Virbac Paprec

In fact for the leading Barcelona World Race pair, Virbac-Paprec 3 and MAPFRE, there is likely to be little change in the intensity of their individual attack. The wind conditions may progressively ease, but both teams know that every mile gained and lost is a valuable one.

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.