Barcelona World Race
TWO CREW NON STOP EXTREME SAILING AROUND THE PLANET
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Leaders Cheminées Poujoulat continue to have the more favourable course, a routing keeping them comfortably 40 miles north of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone. Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have opened their lead a further 25 miles overnight, now out to 255 miles ahead of second placed Neutrogena, Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz.
Read more »The top 3 boats have a solid lane of Wílies in which to get east. There is a dissipating Tropical Cyclone to the north (formerly Cyclone Diamondra) which should be watched for possible impact as the remnant low moves to higher latitudes and toward the BWR course. High pressure southeast of South Africa continues to be a troublesome feature, pinning the optimum route to the northern edge of the Ice Exclusion Zone for the middle of the fleet. Meanwhile, the weather pattern is expected to get active south of South Africa, which could make for a more complicated passage through this area for the back of the fleet.
A combination of high pressure and the no go zone created by the wall that is the Antarctic Exclusion Zone is a frustrating one for third placed Anna Corbella and Gérard Marin on GAES Centros Auditivos. The high pressure zone to their north, extending SE from South Africa is going to create much lighter winds for the Spanish duo who can find themselves trapped and losing miles to their pursuers, notably Renault Captur.
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Leaders Cheminées Poujoulat continue to have the more favourable course, a routing keeping them comfortably 40 miles north of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone. Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have opened their lead a further 25 miles overnight, now out to 255 miles ahead of second placed Neutrogena, Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz.
Read more »We are approaching the exclusion zone fully loaded on a reach. The wind of around twenty knots has declined as expected and will move north in the coming hours.
Four weeks after the Barcelona World Race started on a warm, sunny afternoon off the Catalan capital, just hours before 2014 became 2015, and the fleet is now well spread over very nearly 3000 miles of ocean. Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam on Cheminées Poujoulat are pushing on well in the relatively moderate conditions of the South Indian Ocean, teasing their margin out today beyond 200 miles once again, ahead of Neutrogena, Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz.
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Jean-Pierre Dick has won both editions of the Barcelona World Race so far. But the French skipper will not race this time to defend his title. The skipper from Nice is working on his new IMOCA 60 Saint-Michel-Virbac, a Verdier-VPLP design which he is having built for the next Vendée Globe. The boat will be launched at the end of the spring 2015 but until then the skipper is high and dry, boat-less. So there will not be a third double-handed circumnavigation for JP, even if the Barcelona World Race is an event he dearly loves and wanted to be back in…
Read more »Guillermo Altadill has more round the world experience than any other skipper in the Barcelona World Race fleet, garnered from the earlier days of the Whitbread on Fortuna and Galicia-Pescanova, Assa Abloy and Ericsson as well as The Race on the Maxi multi Club Med. He has amassed an incredible number of ocean racing miles over 30 or so years on all types of craft.
Bruno Garcia is a Barcelona based cardiologist who has always liked to make his own heart beat just a little faster. For many years he has been at the forefront of Spain's solo and short handed ocean racing movement, one of the pioneers who has inspired some of the younger Spanish ocean racers. And when he is not ocean racing, working as an interventionist cardiologist he is something of an extreme skier. The other love always close to his heart is his family. He also loves to spend time with them.
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Race Direction monitor the Barcelona World Race crews around the clock, 24 hours a day, tracking the boats’ progress virtually minute by minute, mile by mile around the world, to – hopefully – Barcelona. They keep the various MRCCs (maritime rescue and surveillance organisations) updated throughout the race. And in times of crisis they are the first point of contact for the skippers and the teams, and thereafter coordinate any actions required.
Read more »Without doubt Nandor Fa is an enigma when it comes to sheer fight and determination, but the 61 years old Hungarian skipper is totally unique in the world of IMOCA 60 racing in having designed his boat himself, and built a lot of it. He is a self taught designer, although he spent time in the 1980’s in the design office in Australia of Ben Lexcen not long after his successful wing keeled 12 Metre Australia II had won the America’s Cup. Yacht design, he asserts, is his hobby, his way of relaxing from the pressures of his business (designing and installing marinas). As well as the three 60 footers he has designed he has a number of smaller yacht designs in his native Hungary.
All of the participants at the Racing, Athletes and Machines debate held on the 24th of April were in agreement on one key objective; the need to find a balance between innovation, cost and safety in the search for a set of rules to regulate open format racing. The new IMOCA rules were at the heart of the discussion.
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From 17 to 21 November, in Barcelona, the scientific community will plan the coming decade of international collaboration in marine science and technology, with a view to improving ocean governance.
The Barcelona World Race Interpretation Centre, home to Spain's first permanent ocean sailing exhibition, also hosts special events and corporate hospitality programs. Discover the charm and original architectural features of this remodeled Port building.
