04 February 2008
Day 86: Blocked from turning for home
The race leader Paprec-Virbac 2 is being forced to take the long road home, with a large high pressure system blocking the direct route to Gibraltar. As a result, the Franco-Irish pairing is sailing more miles to the north, in an effort to sail clear of the system. This could provide an opportunity for Hugo Boss to cut inside and gain some miles before reaching the Mediterranean.
"The routing shows that we'll be able to cut the corner," confirmed Hugo Boss skipper Alex Thomson. "We definitely shouldn't have to sail as many miles as them, which is a bit unlucky for those guys. The forecast is changing slightly every 12 hours, so we'll have to wait and see.but we should catch up some miles over the next couple of days."
For Paprec-Virbac 2, the situation is frustrating, but not critical as they skipper Jean-Pierre acknowledges they'll probably spend some of their 500-mile lead over Hugo Boss over the next couple of days.
"The question is when are we going to turn right for Gibraltar," Jean-Pierre said. "We are working on it now. But for sure, we will encounter some upwind conditions to Gibraltar. We are happy at sea, we have nice conditions now but it will be very good to be back for a shower and a good meal and to see our friends in Barcelona."
The real battle reindexs that between Temenos II and Mutua Madrileña. Skippers from both boats proclaimed their motivation to come out on top of this today, with the gap between the two under 90 miles again today.
"If you look at our tracks, we're like the shadow of Temenos II," said Javier Sansó today. "We don't have a chance to attack them," he complained. "We can't go windward, we can't go west. So for now, we try to conserve the miles and later on we'll do something. We're not happy in fourth. We want third and we're going to fight until the finish gun."
"But we're very motivated too," warned Michèle Paret from the third place boat. "We're certainly not going to give up."
That sentiment was echoed on board the fifth placed Educación sin Fronteras where Albert Bargués and Servanne Escoffier are making miles to the north.
"We are okay," was the reassurance from Servanne today. "We're sailing upwind, in about 12 knots of wind, on port tack, waiting for a windshift to tack on. Yes, the race seems a little bit long especially after the emotional moment at Cape Horn where you think you are almost finished but then you see you still have 7 000 miles left to go. But now, it's just over 4 000, so we're getting there."
Watch 'The Barcelona World Race': Episode Two of the six-part series, 'The Barcelona World Race' is now available to watch online at: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com/player/. A new episode will be posted every Friday.
Day 86 - February 4, 14:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader
1. PAPREC-VIRBAC 2 - Jean Pierre DICK / Damian FOXALL - 1407 to finish
2. HUGO BOSS - Alex THOMSON / Andrew CAPE - 523
3. TEMENOS 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele PARET- 1391
4. MUTUA MADRILENA - Javier SANSO / Pachi RIVERO - 1480
5. EDUCACION SIN FRONTERAS - Servane ESCOFFIER / Albert BARGUES - 2811
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
In Quotes - Alex Thomson, Hugo Boss: "I think we both (Alex and co-skipper Andrew Cape) knew we'd have a laugh doing it. We both had the same attitude that we'd have fun no matter what. We do have a good laugh and we seem to be laughing more as time goes on. The one thing that can stop you having fun is the frustrations to do with the race and positions etc. But we're in a relatively good position and as time goes on you get used to how to deal with those frustrations a bit better."
OC Events
Lou Newlands
info@ocevents.org mailto:info@ocevents.org
|
