Barcelona World Race…VOR…Snake attack…Don’t shoot, we’re racing
by . on 9 Jan 2015
Hugo Boss - Barcelona World Race 2014-15 Gilles Martin-Raget / Barcelona World Race
Sail-World Europe and Africa Newsletter 2015-01-09 - The Barcelona World Race kicked off with the fastest BWR exit ever from the Med from Alex Thomson and Pepe Ribes on Hugo Boss, and they also were leading the fleets south along the African coast.
Nine days into the race, Neutrogena lead for the Cape Verde islands passage, only 15 miles in front of Cheminees Poujoulat. GAES, Renault Captur and Hugo Boss are both around 40-60 miles behind the front boat.
To be clear the rankings are based on the direct distance to the next theoretical waypoint which is the Cape of Good Hope and so boats to the east are disproportionately favored in the sense that the leaders will be targeting their Doldrums passage at somewhere between 28 and 30 degrees west, then there is the South Atlantic high to go west of (usually) and the favored west also gives first bite at the low pressure generation zone off Cabo Frio.
Read more inside sail-world.com
While many of us shiver in our European winter, its high summer in the southern hemisphere and in Australia there is a record number of World Championships that have just happened, like the Ok's and Dragons, or are in progress like the Musto Skiffs, the I14's or about to happen like the Moth World's, we bring you the latest news on these in this issue.
Volvo Ocean Race: It has been relatively slow going since the fleet – minus the damaged Team Vestas Wind – set sail for Sanya last Saturday from Abu Dhabi. Dongfeng is just ahead of Brunel and Abu Dhabi. The fleet is close together following the leaders at the same southeasterly course, no boats splitting away.
Their progress has not been assisted by repeated hold-ups caused by ocean garbage, such as plastic bags and other debris, which has needed to be cleared from the keels by the sailors.
Team Brunel even had to remove a snake, which had wrapped itself around the sail drive – read about it here.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper, Ian Walker, got interrogated by the Pakistani Navy, as the Volvo Ocean Racer passed by Pakistani territorial waters. On Board Reporter, Matt Knighton, caught the serious-amusing exchange on video – Watch it here.
Meanwhile, the long campaign – 'A Race We Must Win' – for Team Vestas Wind to re-enter the race by the time it leaves Lisbon in June was continuing. The boat has been thoroughly examined in a port near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and is now being transported on a Maersk Line ship towards Genoa in Italy where it is expected to arrive on January 25. From there it will be taken to the Persico yard in Bergamo for repairing, with the assistance of Race Sponsor, GAC Pindar.
Low Carbon partnership will power team's HQ during bid to bring America's Cup to Britain. Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) is leading the sporting world in sustainability, in its bid to bring the 35th America's Cup to the UK.
The sailing team is announcing a long-term partnership with renewables investor Low Carbon. The partnership will provide the team with clean energy as it develops its 2017 bid for the world's oldest international sporting trophy.
Read the story here.
Stay tuned with the latest sailing news and developments in the sailing world on our website www.sail-world.com/europe
Good Sailing,
Dan Ibsen, Sail-World Europe and Africa Editor
Send this newsletter to your friends and they will be able to subscribe for the Sail-World’s free weekly newsletter by clicking here.
Send your news and images directly to Sail-World by clicking here.
If you are a potential advertiser and want to understand how Sail-World can work for your company, website or product, then drop a line to Lars Kiaer at lars.kiaer (a) sail-world.com.
If you want to contact Dan Ibsen directly email: dan.ibsen (a) sail-world.com.
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/130573