Barcelona World Race - final push to finish

Michèle Paret of Temenos II speaks about the final push toward the finish: ”The climb up towards the Med and Barcelona promises to be longer than expected. The race is extending to my great delight, though I’m also keen to return to land… We are doubtless going to have to ration the food so as not to arrive in Barcelona with empty stomachs. I don’t think we’ll be alone in doing this. A lack, of food in particular, can very quickly become a disturbing element both on a physical and a psychological level on a boat (and indeed everywhere) but we haven’t reached that stage yet!”

After tacking overnight, the leader of the Barcelona World Race, Paprec-Virbac 2, is also now heading towards Gibraltar, the penultimate scoring gate of the race, and the doorway to the Med. Entering the Mediterranean Sea and finishing off the race can’t come soon enough for the race leaders. Sunday marks 85 days at sea and with just over a week left, body and mind, not to mention boat, are getting tired.

“It’s funny you should mention this is day 83,” joked Damian Foxall on Friday afternoon. “I think I’m beginning to know what it feels like to be 83 years old! But if we can hold on to the finish we’ll have really achieved something great for ourselves and the team.”

This latter stage of the race has been a tough, and at times slow, slog for the leaders as they battle upwind in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s hard on the crew and it’s hard on the boat as well. And when the wind comes and the speed rises, that brings its own set of problems as Damian explained.

“It's nice to see the speedo up but it brings some stress as well. The boat is always on our minds, especially now as we're doing a lot of banging and crashing. It's a bit worrying every time you jump off a wave and land on the other side of it.”

Behind them, Hugo Boss has faced much the same conditions. The second placed boat has gained a further 120 miles this week and skippers Alex Thomson and Andrew Cape have been sniffing for an opportunity to get off the track of Paprec-Virbac 2 in the hope of finding a way to close the gap further. But to this point, they haven’t found anything tasty enough to grab a hold of. Earlier this week, Alex Thomson explained the situation like this:

“The fact that we have caught up miles in the last few days means absolutely nothing whatsoever,” he said, sounding quite philosophical about the situation, rather than frustrated. “(For now) there is nothing we can do. We have the choice of going north or tacking up the African coast, which is about as close to suicide as you can probably get. What you need to do here is sail upwind fast and wait and see what is going to take us into the Mediterranean.”

Day 85 – February 2, 14:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader:
1. PAPREC-VIRBAC 2 - Jean Pierre DICK / Damian FOXALL – 1569 to finish
2. HUGO BOSS - Alex THOMSON / Andrew CAPE – 534 657
3. TEMENOS 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele PARET- 1385 1601
4. MUTUA MADRILENA - Javier SANSO / Pachi RIVERO – 1459 1679
5. EDUCACION SIN FRONTERAS - Servane ESCOFFIER / Albert BARGUES – 2852

Abandoned - VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT - Roland JOURDAIN / Jean Luc NELIAS
Abandoned - ESTRELLA DAMM - Guillermo ALTADILL / JONATHAN MCKEE
Abandoned - DELTA DORE - Jérémie BEYOU / Sidney GAVIGNET
Abandoned - PRB - Vincent Riou / Sebastien JOSSE

Bottom Photo: Chris Cameron / DPPI / Barcelona World Race