Following the crossing of the Canary Island scoring gate (Educación sin Fronteras is the only boat yet to leave the Canaries behind) the Barcelona World Race fleet has plenty of tactical decisions ahead on this long stage south to the next gate at Fernando de Noronha off the coast of Brazil. The leaders, Paprec-Virbac 2 and PRB elected to continue on a southern heading after passing the Canaries with Hugo Boss - suddenly up to third place - following in their tracks.
In contrast, Veolia Environnement and Delta Dore initially continued their match race out to the west before the French skippers on Delta Dore decided to even up their position relative to the fleet and tacked south, as Jérémie Beyou explained via email:
"To get through the calm patch, we thought we were going to be better situated in the west. But this morning the weather information was telling us something quite different.nothing is clear," he wrote. "We still have to get through a big light area tonight and then we should finally get into the trade winds. The first to get through the calms will be the one who comes off best out of this, and Paprec Virbac is already in a good situation for that."
Jérémie Beyou & Sidney Gavignet onboard Delta Dore
© Delta Dore
Delta Dore, despite some frustrations today, can be proud of a stage victory in the passage from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands gate. The team completed the stage in 4 days, 4 hours and 35 minutes - incredibly, this was just one minute faster than the race leading Paprec-Virbac 2.
In addition to picking up 2000 euros in prize money for the stage win, the boys on Delta Dore pick up scoring points towards the overall 'stage win' leaderboard. Of course, none of this changes the fact that Paprec Virbac 2 is ahead on the racetrack, although with yet one more big, light patch to navigate before the trade winds kick in, nothing is secure.
"Weather conditions are not great , we should be in the tradewinds in 30 hours approx and the first boat who gets them will get the speed, so we will be better once we get to them !www.barcelonaworldrace.org
HIGH NOON FOR THE CANARIES
One week into the Barcelona World Race, the leader, Paprec-Virbac 2 is projecting an ETA of noon GMT on Monday to pass through the second scoring gate at the Canary Islands.
The middle of the leaderboard was given a good shake-up overnight as Veolia Environnement, Delta Dore and Hugo Boss all used a westerly position to sail around Estrella Damm and Temenos II.
Mutua Madrilena, who had tried a coastal strategy along Morocco, dropped back dramatically overnight after running out of wind. At the back of the fleet, Educación sin Fronteras also ran into a light patch and dropped further behind the leaders.
The passage past the Canary Islands holds a lot of potential for gains and losses. As Damian Foxall explained, the geography of the islands means it is quite easy to get stuck in the lee of an island, no matter how clever your plan is approaching the island.
Day 8 - November 18, 16:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader
1. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean Pierre Dick / Damian Foxall - 0.0
2. PRB - Vincent Riou / Sebastien Josse - 15.8
3. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain / Jean Luc Nelias - 79.9
4. Delta Dore - Jeremie Beyou! / Sidney Gavignet - 82.2
5. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson / Andrew Cape - 116.7
6. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill / Jonathan Mckee - 141.0
7. Temenos 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele Paret - 145.4
8. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso / Pachi Rivero - 160.8
9. Educacion Sin Fronteras - Servane Escoffier / Albert Bargues - 369.1
www.barcelonaworldrace.org
THE RACE TO GIBRALTAR
After a long, challenging night with periods of no wind, the Barcelona World Race fleet was happy to wake up to wind that built to the 15 to 20 knot range over the course of the day. They weren't as thrilled with the direction however - the Easterly flow meant beating directly upwind towards Gibraltar.
The light conditions overnight saw a slight compression of the fleet (first to fifth is just a 29 mile separation on the 16:00 GMT position poll) and the forecast means the strategy is now quite similar for the top six boats, who have all darted in towards the coast of Spain in anticipation of a Northerly shift later tonight.
Temenos II and Estrella Damm have sailed in nearest to the coast (closing to within a half mile before tacking out again), while the race leaders, PRB with Paprec-Virbac 2 chasing just three miles behind, have stayed slightly further offshore.
Following the anticipated northerly shift, the wind will continue to clock around to an easterly direction by Thursday morning. If that Easterly comes in from behind the fleet, the back markers could find themselves in favourable conditions.
Day 4 - November 14, 16:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader
1. PRB - Vincent Riou / Sebastien Josse - 0.0
2. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean Pierre Dick / Damian Foxall - 3.2
3. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill / Jonathan Mckee - 22.3
4. Temenos 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele Paret - 26.3
5. Delta Dore - Jeremie Beyou / Sidney Gavignet - 29.2
6. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson / Andrew Cape - 39.8
7. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain / Jean Luc Nelias - 57.4
8. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso / Pachi Rivero - 65.6
9. Educacion Sin Fronte Ras - Servane Escoffier / Albert Bargues - 173
12th November 2007
Yesterday, the Barcelona World Race began and already the Paprec - Virbac 2 is in second place. Emotions were high as Foxall waved goodbye to his five month old baby, Oisin and his new wife.
Before they left, Jean Pierre and Damien Foxall showed their enthuasiasm: Jean-Pierre Dick, Paprec Virbac 2: "Our strong point is that we are incredibly motivated by this race. We both think we are taking part in something that is quite legendary; a double-handed race around the world and that is fantastic. There is a cohesion and friendship between us that we hope to keep throughout and after the race."
Damian Foxall, Paprec Virback 2: "I am very, very fortunate to be here to take place in this first edition of the race. We've sailed the boat half way around the world to get here so I think we're quite a good position. Obviously there are plenty of other good boats here.let the race begin."
