Barcelona World Race safety comes first

by Barcelona World Race on 21 Dec 2010 Barcelona World Race.

Following an in-depth safety briefing yesterday, it has been a day of safety checks for many of the BWR teams.

Enrique Molinelli, one of a team of seven French and Spanish scrutineers working on the IMOCA 60s, explained: 'Today we are trying to finalize the safety checks. We started on December 7th, and we’re hoping to finish everything tomorrow, or maybe the very last points on the 22nd or 23rd.

'We check all the safety and security items that are indicated in the rules. We have two sets of rules; the IMOCA class rules and then the ISAF Offshore Special Regulations. We have a checklist, so for example we check that all the communication systems work, the life rafts, lifejackets, lifelines, the harness, flares in case of emergency… We even check that they have high-energy food in a grab bag, which they take with them in case they need to leave the boat. They also have to have clothes in a vacuum bag in case they are wet. It’s a long list, and it takes between two and three hours to inspect each boat.

'The IMOCA class measurer is in charge of the control of the technical specification of the boat - the rig, the keel, and the stability test and structural tests that they need, so these things are checked by the class measurers who issue a certificate'

'We focus purely on the safety equipment, but there are a few things that we both check though, for example the anchor.'

One particular change to the scrutineering protocol, introduced since the last Vendée Globe, is that the skippers have to be on board during the safety checks.

'One important thing that we do is ask the skipper and their co-skipper if they know how everything works. So not only do they have everything on the boat, but they need to know how to use it. So we ask them, ‘Can you please use the VHF? And the Iridium telephone?’

'At the first inspection every team was missing something so we wait a couple of days and check again, but at the end of inspections all boats must have all items. For example, there is a new regulation that specifies they must have a special flare that disperses fluorescent colour in the water all around the life buoy and so many skippers need to buy those.

'One boat has passed completely – Estrella Damm – and we have four or five at 95 per cent that are just waiting for some more cylinders because many of the safety items must be sealed inside the boat.'

Having completed all of their safety checks Alex Pella (ESP) and Pepe Ribes (ESP) Estrella Damm were taking advantage of today’s perfect sailing conditions and 12-knots breezes for another training sail, testing their hydro-generator (small, highly efficient low drag paddle wheels immersed off the back of the boat which generate electricity)

As Estrella Damm’s project manager Jan Santana (ESP) explained: 'We had the hydro- generators in the summer which we tested and then we have sent them back to the factory for further improvements, and we have had them back just a few days ago. The story is that before the start of the race we need to check them to be sure they will work. We hope to save minimum 100 litres of diesel, which is a little bit more than 100kilos. They can create 30 amperes per hour for 12 volts, so it is very significant.

'In our boat saving weight is so important because ours is a slightly heavier boat than some of the newer boats.

'We have been studying the food weight. Every race and training we did over the last 18 months we weighed the food before we started and what was left afterwards. And then we know how much we need during a race. We take 250 kilos, saving around 50 kilos on what we would have had. We prepare for 100 days. We have changed the weight and quality of the food. Alex needs around 3800 calories per day and Pepe is around 4500 calories because he is 15 kilos heavier.'

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