Barcelona World Race - Ryan Breymaier sole U.S. sailor

by Barby MacGowan on 7 Jan 2011 Barcelona World Race sailor Ryan Breymaier (Annapolis, Md.), the sole U.S. participant , is seeing the world through new eyes on his first-ever journey around the globe, which started December 31 and is expected to last three months.

With co-skipper Boris Herrmann (Germany) as the only other crew aboard, Breymaier is one of 15 double-handed teams from eight nations competing in the 25,000 nautical mile (46,300 km) race, which is expected to include approximately 2,000 hours of non-stop competition across three vast oceans, two hemispheres and around three famous Capes.

'This will be Ryan’s first time to cross the equator, to round the Horn...all of that,' said Breymaier’s wife Nicola, who has been tracking progress of the Barcelona World Race fleet through the race website and maintains near-constant email communication with the IMOCA Open 60 Team Neutrogena that is sailed by her husband and Herrmann. 'He has very much been looking forward to it. Just entering the Southern Ocean for the first time is a big deal for any offshore sailor; apparently it is another world down there.'

Team Neutrogena, in its fifth day of racing, holds sixth place behind Virbac Paprec 3, Foncia, Mirabaud, Estrella Damm and Mapfre after encountering frustratingly light winds on the way to the Strait of Gibraltar, which, according to Breymaier, marked his team’s 'escape from the grips of the Mediterranean.' (Team Neutrogena had been in third up to that point, showing stellar boathandling skills and tactics.)

'Sailing for me is pretty black and white. You either go the right way or not,' said Breymaier. 'The Strait of Gibraltar was, from my point of view, a series of small mis-timings, missed opportunities and general inability to control our situation given the terrible current and lack of wind.'

All teams have made it past Gibraltar and into the Atlantic Ocean, with the top six teams close together.

'We lost a lot of miles to boats that we were very close to as we entered the Strait,' said Breymaier. 'In my black-and-white world I would normally have to put this into the black failure column, except for one thing: sitting becalmed just on the western edge of Gibraltar, Boris and I got a surprise visit from a pod of pilot whales. We saw them from about 1000 yards away coming straight for us. They arrived under the boat and then--something I have never seen before--a couple of them did headstands under the water! It was at this point that Boris and I relaxed quite a bit about our situation and decided that maybe things weren’t so bad after all; thank goodness for little grey whales in my black and white world!'

The fleet next heads toward the Canary Islands where they will be faced with yet another light wind encounter and in approximately 15 days, all teams are expected to enter the Southern Ocean and then must round the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

'We will have the pleasure of several more days of light air before we finally arrive in the tradewinds,' said Breymaier. 'Luckily, there is much less land influence along the route, so it will be easier. We will just do the same things though; aggressive sail changing, good positioning of the boat, and patience.'

Event website