Barcelona World Race - Le Cam aims for podium

by Barcelona World Race on 23 Dec 2010 It would be surprising to see Jean Le Cam line up at the start of a major race without having the ambition of ending up somewhere on the podium. Just like in the Vendée Globe, the Barcelona World Race, which begins from the Catalan capital at 1200 hrs GMT on Friday 31st December is obviously whetting Jean Le Cam’s appetite.

He will be sharing the Imoca monohull 'Président' throughout the theoretical course of 46,300 km with Bruno Garcia (ESP), who is a born and bred Barcelonan. The internationalisation of the class, an opportunity to discover another way of doing things in an ocean race and the appeal of being with a warm and friendly co-skipper... Everything is falling into place at the end of the year to ensure that Jean Le Cam can feel relaxed on the eve of what will be his fourth circumnavigation.

'I love Barcelona!' The magic of the big Mediterranean city and the visionary spirit of Christopher Columbus and Gaudi are working on Jean Le Cam on the eve of this major event, a round the world race from west to east leaving the major capes to port (Good Hope, Leeuwin and the Horn).

This foreign location is having a calming effect. Far removed from the Franco-French sailing world that he has been used to over a period of more than thirty years, the ocean-racing skipper from Finistère admits he is enjoying himself during these final preparations in Spain.

'Seeing how long we have been trying to export ocean racing, it’s really great to be able to be involved in this experience, where the organisers are not French' stressed Jean. 'The line-up here is clearly influenced by the presence of the Spanish, and it is interesting to see how things are maturing here in a similar way to what happened recently in France.'

Whilst it is true that the latest boat builds are still reserved for the French, Jean Le Cam, alongside his Barcelonan co-skipper Garcia is well placed to judge the growing interest of the general public and the media for this sport, and can observe for himself how the ability to sail quickly and cover great distances has developed in the Spanish sailing world, which has after all been brought up with a strong maritime tradition.

'Everything in Barcelona is linked to the presence of the sea. You find it in the culture and in their history' explained Jean, who can hardly wait to set off in the direction pointed to by Christopher Columbus from the top of his monumental column, which towers over the Vell Port.

'In a very short space of time, we have managed to be extremely well prepared' added Jean. When we chartered Ecover III from Mike Golding, we knew it was unlikely to be a bad choice She is not my boat and we had to adapt to design choices, which weren’t mine.'

Le Cam says he only has good memories of the experience of these last three months, where time has just slipped by, while they carried out this quick, but efficient preparation in Port la Forêt.

A special time, which enabled Bruno Garcia, a full time cardiologist and his partner who he refers to as the French sailing legend. have managed to to get to know and appreciate each other.

'Bruno came and stayed in our house. Our friendship developed quite naturally and I can sincerely say that I can’t imagine finding a better co-skipper'.

A few final trips are planned off the coast of Barcelona. Jean Le Cam and Bruno Garcia are looking ahead in their minds to the pleasures of those names shrouded in mystery and the unknown, 'Cook Strait' in particular, which is a compulsory part of the route for the Barcelona World Race, and a place that Jean will discover for the first time. 'There are a few differences between the Vendée Globe route and this one.

I’m pleased to see we’ll be going through the Cook Strait, a northern point to keep us away from the drifting ice, and there is also the Mediterranean stretch via Gibraltar, which is certainly far from being an easy option, as the Mediterranean never seems to want to match the weather forecasts...'

Barcelona, its quality of life, this new intriguing race, which has attracted a lot of interest from the public and media, the friendship that has developed with Bruno Garcia, for whom this is a dream come true... All of these elements seem to come together to wipe out any stress normally associated with the start, to the point where with just a few hours to go to Christmas, Le Cam had not even thought of where and how he will be celebrating this festive occasion, but will spend Christmas Eve enjoying the hospitality of his co-skipper's family.

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