Barcelona World Race - GAES Centros Auditivos race update

by Coralie Rassinoux on 12 Jan 2011 Barcelona World Race - As Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella head past the Cape Verde islands today, the latest polling in the Barcelona World Race will be a bitter pill for the all female duo aboard GAES Centros Auditivos.

Especially after having just lost ninth position to race rivals Toño Pires and Pachi Rivero on Renault Z.E. Separated by just one mile, the girls will be desperate to reclaim their place, however with the Spanish team on Renault Z.E. currently the second fastest in the fleet at 18.4 knots, they will have their work cut out for them if they are to make good their chase.

Elsewhere in the race there have been several developments, the most notable being the dismasting of President last night at 1925hrs GMT. Skippers Jean Le Cam and Bruno Garcia are both onboard and safe as they head under engine to the more northerly tip of the Cape Verde islands. Foncia, currently in second place, have suffered damage to the crash box on the bow of their IMOCA 60 and intend to make a technical pit stop in Recife on the east coast of Brazil.

There has been another blow for fellow Brit competitor Alex Thomson who, having been declared medically fit to compete following his appendectomy, has postponed rejoining Hugo Boss due to the ill health of his baby son, Oscar, who was born four days ago.

Commenting this morning on the girls position, GAES Project Manager, Harry Spedding, said:

'There is no doubt the girls will be disappointed with their boat speed over the last 24 hours. However, they are very aware that there are still another 11 - 12 weeks of racing to go. The loss of President from the fleet is unfortunate, as the sistership to GAES Centros Auditivos she made a useful pace setter for the girls to gauge their performance off.

At the time of their dismasting President and GAES Centros Auditivos were only separated by one place in the fleet, so the girls should be content that they have not completely lost the pace.'

'I believe that the current standings are actually an aberration of the calculation used by the tracking system. In truth it will be another 24 hours before Renault Z.E. is truly ahead of GAES Centros Auditivos on the racetrack.'

Caffari and Corbella on GAES Centros Auditivos are in 10th place, 1 mile behind nearest race rivals Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez on Renault Z.E. Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron onboard Virbac- Paprec 3 currently lead the Barcelona World Race.

www.barcelonaworldrace.org