Europa Warm-Up Race - Passage through the Straits of Gibraltar

by Windreport on 23 May 2012 The Europa Warm-Up Race fleet face the extremely tricky Straits of Girbraltar. The reputation of the Straits is built on extremes: lots of wind or very little wind and lots of current.

Indeed many of the skippers and crews racing will have seen both faces of the narrow gateway between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, but it is powerful combination of light winds and strong tides which have shaken up the order at the front of the fleet as 2004-5 Vendee Globe winner Vincent Riou stole a march on Virbac-Paprec 3 by staying to the north, escaping on the Spanish coast to lead off on the leg up the Portuguese coast to Cascais, Lisbon.

North or south was the simple, binary choice. There are rarely half measures and commitment to one or the other usually needs to be complete. Virbac-Paprec were on a making tack towards the Moroccan coast as the winds progressively died early this morning. Riou and his crew seized their opportunity to break from the leaders, Virbac-Paprec 3 perhaps also chosing to mark second placed Macif. As they went south the two leaders struggled more and more with the current and in the end were forced to break back to the north again. If Virbac-Paprec avoided the worst of the current and made a smart exit in early 2011 as they set sail on the Barcelona World Race while some of their nearest rivals were subject to the ignominy of going backwards with the current, this time they completed a full circle close to the Moroccan coast before they could make good back towards PRB’s track.

'We are keeping cool heads about it, it’s not over' warned Riou, after their orange hulled IMOCA Open 60 sneaked past the leading duo, 'nothing is won, nothing is lost’

Behind them nothing is easy. On the radio vacations there was mixed mood of positive optimism – perhaps more so now that the race has proven far less of a procession – especially aboard Groupe Bel and Cheminées Poujoulat. And on board Acciona 100% Eco-Powered, there is the usual frustration at being at the back of the fleet, but also there is considerable satisfaction that these are the Owen-Clarke design’s first proper racing miles and they are very much in touch with the body of the fleet. They have a few teething troubles to deal with, but Bubi Sanso already knows that in his new boat he has a boat which can be very competitive in the upcoming Vendée Globe.

They said :
Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel): 'We're focused, we know that under these conditions, we just have to stay vigilant, especially as the conditions should be better now for those in front. We would not like getting caught by the Strait of Gibraltar so we try to go our best. With no wind, it is obvious that it's more comfortable: the boat is flat, it is dry. We sleep better, for sure, but we sleep a lot less time, because you need to constantly adjust, monitor changes in the wind and make maneuvers. '

Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat): 'It was a good start, but it we did not deal with the first night well. We'll have to try to come back, but now it is rather better for those in front. We'll try not to get trapped by the calms; last night our tacks were based on changes of the wind. Here, we are close with Groupe Bel, which are downwind of us and they go a little better than us. Currently, we are still far from the strait and we already have three knots of current against us ... '

Javier Sanso (ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered): 'I'm glad we can test our ACCIONA EcoPowered under these conditions. As with any new boat, we had some technical problems, but everything is fixed for the moment. We lost a few hours with a problem with the Solent furler. But luckily Pachi is an ace and found the right fix. Yesterday the staysail came off when we were taking the third reef in 50 knots of wind. We make every effort to get back into the fleet, but it is not easy. We'll see if we can get back into the game, there is still a lot of miles to race. '

Ranking at 18h

Rg	Boat	Latitude	Longitude	Dist. to leader (NM)	30'
					Speed (Nds)	Course (Deg)
1	PRB	36 05.00' N	6 36.36' W	230.7 miles/ finish	10.6	281
2	Virbac-Paprec 3	36 03.80' N	6 33.08' W	2.9	10.3	278
3	MACIF	36 03.96' N	6 30.64' W	4.6	10.4	280
4	Banque Populaire	36 05.36' N	6 09.60' W	19.5	8.3	278
5	Cheminées Poujoulat	36 02.40' N	5 28.12' W	53.5	1.1	215
6	Groupe Bel	36 02.60' N	5 27.96' W	53.7	0.7	221
7	ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered	35 49.56' N	5 10.12' W	70.1	6.9	308

Europa Warm-Up Race website