Barcelona world Race - President passes Gibraltar on a breezy delivery

by Barcelona World Race on 8 Dec 2010 Bruno Garcia and Jean Le Cam on the IMOCA Open 60 Président are making good progress towards Barcelona on their 1500 miles delivery from Port-la-Forêt and passed into the Mediterranean this Sunday evening.

The Barcelona World Race duo on the Owen-Clarke designed former Ecover 3, advanced the schedule of their delivery passage by nearly a week upon realising that the weather outlook for their planned period at sea was very unsuitable, as Gregoire Metz, project manager for the Président team explains:

' The meteorological situation changed during the morning of last Tuesday, predicting the arrival of a storm arriving from the Azores which would have given the pair of co-skippers headwinds of more than 40 knots, and strong southerly headwinds down the coast of Portugal. We already had the boat prepared and was ready to sail. Although Bruno was in Barcelona he jumped on a plane and within five hours of getting the call he was in Nantes. After a dash to the base and dinner and by midnight on Tuesday 30th Président was ready to cast off from Port-la-Forêt.'

The pair left expecting to complete the passage in eight days, traversing the Bay of Biscay, passing Cape Finisterre, down the Iberian peninsula and into the Mediterranean where they were expecting to be docked in Barcelona by the 9th December, a full three weeks before the start of the Barcelona World Race.

'Jean’s phone call took me completely by surprise.' Recalls Bruno Garcia, now an eminent Barcelona cardiac surgeon but a very successful Mini sailor in his own right. 'I was having some time in Barcelona and expecting to travel up to Brittany on Wednesday. But the phone went and it was all goo from there. It was all a rush, without even time to really see the family, but the good side of that is that I will now have more time with them at home before the start, delivery done!'

The 1000 miles or so before the Straits of Gibraltar, the gateway to the Mediterranean, has seemingly gone well for the duo who have Nicolas Lunven (FRA) winner of the 2009 Figaro Solitaire with them. Lunven is helping with the analysis of the performance data and optimization, also looking at the sail crossovers, allowing the two to fully concentrate of their partnership.

Yesterday (Saturday) they passed Cape St Vincente, the SW corner of the Iberian peninsula, Président has been up against the easterly Levante along the Algarve coast, Huelva, Casiz and down to the Straits of Gibraltar, passing close to the African coast by Tangiers. There they are expecting the wind to clock into the SSE allowing them to make a more direct course for Barcelona, passing Capes Gata (Almeria), Palos (Murcia), the island of Ibiza and the Ebro delta plains by Tarragona for the final stage into Barcelona.

For more information, please go to: www.barcelonaworldrace.org