Barcelona World Race - runners and riders

We assess the 14 teams due to set sail on tomorrow's non-stop round the world race

The second Barcelona World Race sets sail tomorrow at 1300 for the 14 IMOCA 60s taking part. 15 were originally entered, but the Polish entry Fruit (the former PRB/Roxy) was forced to pull out at the last moment.

Like the Vendée Globe, the Barcelona World Race course is a non-stop lap of the planet, but unlike the IMOCA class’ premier event, it is doublehanded and has the start and finish off Barcelona making for a potentially more tricky opening and final 600 miles, out of and back into the Mediterranean. The route, as was the case when the race was last held in 2007-8, also requires the boats to pass through Cook Strait between New Zealand’s north and south islands.

Similar to other round the world races, the route features safety gates. The seven of these are primarily to keep boats north, to reduce the risk of encountering icebergs, however for this race two to the south of Australia have been added to prevent the boats erring below 46°S, which would otherwise be too far from the Australian rescue services. This follows their rescue of stricken skipper Yann Eliès during the last Vendee Globe.

Stopovers during the race are permitted and prior to reaching 140°E (ie to the west of Tasmania) they carry no penalty. Beyond this, any stopover will require a boat to remain in port for at least 48 hours.

As was the case last time, the route will be divided up into legs and for each of these there will be a trophy for the fastest boat. These are as follows:

North-South Mediterranean Trophy: Barcelona - Gibraltar
North-South Atlantic Trophy: Gibraltar – Cape of Good Hope
Indian Ocean Trophy: Cape of Good Hope – Cook Strait.
Pacific Trophy: Cook Strait – Cape Horn
South-North Atlantic Trophy: Cape Horn – Gibraltar
South-North Mediterranean Trophy: Gibraltar - Barcelona

The approximate length of the complete course is 25,000 nautical miles (46,300km) following a great circle route, although in practice the boats are likely to sail 25,500-26,000. The winner of the last race, Paprec-Virbac 2, took 92 days, 9 hours, 49 minutes and 49 seconds to complete the course at an average speed of 11.13 knots.

The line-up

Given the global economic melt-down of the last two years, the field for the Barcelona World Race is impressive. 14 boats may not be the 30 that started the last Vendee Globe, but it is nonetheless a strong turn-out and, of even greater interest for race pundits like ourselves, it is hard to pull out a winner, who will be taking home the 150,000 Euro prize for first place (part of a 420,000 Euro total prize fund).

The first two home in the last Barcelona World Race were Virbac-Paprec 2 and Hugo Boss, both new boats at the time and for this race two of the three new generation VPLP-Verdier designs are taking part. Jean-Pierre Dick is back to defend his title (and is taking with him a now classic dailysail woolly hat), but this time with ocean racing veteran Loick Peyron as his co-skipper, replacing Damian Foxall, now on Volvo Ocean Race duty with Groupama.

Virbac-Paprec 3 comes fresh from completing her first race, the Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale, where she finished fourth. Peyron and Dick are well acquainted – Peyron was on Dick’s design team for Virbac-Paprec 2 and worked alongside Dick’s project when he developed his own Vendée Globe sistership, Gitana Eighty. In 2005 the duo won the Transat Jacques Vabre sailing together.

Dick described his win three years ago as “one of the most beautiful moments of my life “the race is “an Adventure with a capital A. It defines us as high level professionals and adventurers.”

But would you bet against Michel Desjoyeaux? Would you bet against Michel Desjoyeaux if he were doing this race singlehanded? Like Virbac-Paprec 3, Desjoyeaux’s new Foncia is fresh off a ship from the end of the Route du Rhum, where she came home a disappointing sixth, Desjoyeaux having taken the wrong southerly option to cross the Atlantic. His boat is by far the most radical of the new generation boats launched to date (read more about her here) and for this race Desjoyeaux has with him the capable young Figaro sailor Francois Gabart, who is to have a new IMOCA 60 built from Foncia’s moulds, backed by his sponsor, the investment company Macif Group.

Meanwhile we understand that the new Foncia has been sold to Banque Populaire (who in fact own Foncia, the company) but as yet it is unclear on whether this will be for Pascal Bidegorry to compete in the next Vendee Globe or for their present Figaro sailor Jeanne Gregoire. Perhaps this depends on whether Bidegorry and the crew of his maxi-trimaran break the Jules Verne Trophy record this winter.

Beyond the two new boats, the crème of the fleet from the last Vendee Globe is set to be on the start line tomorrow, albeit mostly in new hands.

Could this finally be the race for Kito de Pavant and his red first generation VPLP-Verdier design, Groupe Bel? De Pavant’s track record in major races in the IMOCA class hasn’t been that flash, Groupe Bel dismasting soon after the start of the last Vendée Globe and suffering problems with the pin securing the ram to the keel head in the recent Route du Rhum. De Pavant for this race is sailing with towering, well respected Figaro sailor Sebastien Audigane, who in recent years has graduated up to maxi-multihulls – he was on Orange 2 for their successful Jules Verne Trophy attempt five years ago and last year was part of Banque Populaire’s crew for the transatlantic and 24 hour records.

If there is another individual talent to rival Michel Desjoyeaux in this race it is Jean le Cam, racing Président. A generation older than Desjoyeaux but also heralding for ‘La Vallée des Fous’ (Port la Fôret), le Cam, 51 also comes from the Eric Tabarly school, although he competed in the Whitbread on Pen Duick VI whereas Desjoyeaux was on Cote d’Or and La Poste. Le Cam was a two time champion in the Formula 40 multihull class during the 1980s and like Desjoyeaux is a three time winner of La Solitaire du Figaro (although he got there first, in 1999). Le Cam has a huge, lengthy and successful background in the ORMA 60 trimaran and IMOCA 60 classes, coming home second in the 2004-5 Vendee Globe.

However in the last Vendee Globe le Cam's VM Materiaux lost her keel bulb approaching Cape Horn requiring him to be rescued from upturned 60 by fellow competitor Vincent Riou and PRB.

With his last boat lost, le Cam is racing Mike Golding’s Ecover 3 in the Barcelona World Race. Alongside him will be Spanish Mini sailor Bruno Garcia, who finished fifth in the 2003 Mini Transat.

Oddly while Président is a French brand, part of the 8.5 billion Euro annual turnover Lactalis Group, even based in Brittany (near Rennes), the deal to compete in the Barcelona World Race was struck by the company’s Spanish subsidiary, taking advantage of the Spanish government’s generous tax incentives for companies associated with this race. However hearing that one of their Breton sons was to compete in the Barcelona World Race under their colours, the French head office is now said to be interested. Therefore perhaps if le Cam posts a good result in this round the world race, it might mean that he succeeds in his ambition of getting an entry, ideally a new boat, to campaign in the next Vendée Globe.

Of the 24 sailors taking part in this Barcelona World Race an impressive 13 are Spanish. Hopefully this will bolster the chances of a competitive Spanish entry in the next Vendee Globe. Of these without doubt the most high profile are Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez on board Mapfre, previously Foncia, Michel Desjoyeaux’s winner of the last Vendee Globe.

Martinez and Fernandez are best known for their Olympic sailing, securing 49er gold for Spain at the Athens Olympics, following this up with silver in Beijing. They are three time World Champions in the Olympic skiff, a title they currently hold. But uniquely they have continued their partnership into an entirely different arena within our sport and have been integral to Spanish campaigns in the last two Volvo Ocean Races, Martinez having skippered Telefonica Blue in the 2008-9 event. While they are well versed in double-handing, this is the first time they have transferred their skills up to the IMOCA 60 class. Since the Vendee Globe, their boat has been modified a lot with a new kick-up rudder system and a similar daggerboard arrangement to that of Michel Desjoyeaux’s new Foncia.

Beyond this the form starts to get extremely hard to gauge. As was the case in the last Vendée Globe, the battle is likely to be intense between Martinez and Fernandez’ Mapfre and the two other Farr-designed sisterships - the former Gitana Eighty and Virbac-Paprec 2.

When these three boats lined up in the fully crewed Vuelta a Espana a Vela race for the IMOCA 60s around the Spanish coast this summer, it was the latter that came out top of the pile, in the hands of Spanish former Mini sailor Alex Pella and well known Volvo Ocean Race crewman, Pepe Ribes. Now red and rebranded in the livery of Spanish beer producer Estrella Damm, their boat has the advantage of knowing the way as winner of the 2007-8 race in Jean-Pierre Dick’s hands.

In fact in the race around Spain the former Gitana Eighty also finished ahead of the 49er Olympic medallists. She is now being campaigned as Renault ZE Sailing Team, crewed by Spain’s Pachi Rivero and Antonio Piris. Rivero sailed the last Barcelona World Race with Javier Sanso aboard Mutua Madrileña, the former Ecover 2, finishing fourth. Piris is another well known figure from the Spanish pro crewed racing circuit – for many years he was boat captain for Caixa Galicia.

When it comes to laps of the globe there is none in this race who can match Swiss veteran Dominique Wavre for whom this will be his eighth circumnavigation. The skipper of Mirabaud has three Vendee Globes under his belt, plus a third place in the last Barcelona World Race in addition to Whitbreads with Pierre Fehlmann and ultimately Laurie Smith on Intrum Justitia. Conveniently Wavre gets to sail this race with his real life partner, Michèle Paret, who also competed in the Whitbread on Tracy Edwards’ Maiden. Once again they are racing the 2006 generation Owen Clarke design, previously known as Temenos II.

Somewhere in this mix comes Alex Thomson and his Hugo Boss co-skipper Andy Meiklejohn. 

Thomson is now on to his third black boat bearing the name of the German fashion label, however this will be the first time he has raced his latest steed in a major event. The new Hugo Boss is the sole Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed IMOCA 60 racing at present (although Bernard Stamm’s new boat is due for launch this spring) and is the most powerful in terms of her rig and bulb size in the fleet. In this respect she should hold better potential than the rest of the IMOCA 60s competing in this doublehanded race.

Over last winter substantial changes were made to Hugo Boss, which now has a near flush deck and a very different cockpit layout – located right at the back of the boat with two substantial doghouses to protect the steering position and, as was the case on the previous Finot-designed Hugo Boss, the lines from the mast and foredeck running into the cockpit twixt the two. Read more about the mods here).

The boat could very easily be a weapon, were it not to a shakey start to the campaign due to Thomson’s 11th hour appendectomy and his excellent track record for failing to complete races. Saying this the Barcelona World Race could be lucky for him – four years ago when he sailed with well known Volvo Ocean Race navigator Andrew Cape, his previous Finot-designed Hugo Boss came home second.

Another team with potential is Gaes Centros Auditivos with the Anglo-Spanish all-female duo of Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella on board. Thomson and Caffari will be the only British competitors in this Barcelona World Race. Having become the first women to sail solo non-stop around the world in both directions when she successfully brought Aviva home in sixth place in the last Vendee Globe, Caffari has been on a continuous learning curve with her Owen-Clarke designed sistership to Jean le Cam’s Président and says she feels a lot more confident aboard her (watch out for our interview with her). Alongside her for the race will be Anna Corbella, a Spanish Mini sailor who ended up 15th in the Proto class in last year’s Transat 6.50 Charente Maritime-Bahia.

And then we get into the older boats.

In the latter half of the fleet, a team to watch will be the German-US duo Boris Herrmann and Ryan Breymaier on Neutrogena, previously Roland Jourdain’s 2004 generation Sill and latterly Veolia Environnement. Originally a German 505 National Champion, Herrmann has seen success in the Class 40 when he won the Portimao Global Ocean Race. Breymaier holds a very different background as a professional rigger who has spent the last 10 years racing maxis such as Roel Pieper’s Swan 82 Favonius. Both were looking to mount their own Barcelona World Race campaigns and were put together with Roland Jourdain’s Team Kairos.

The final three boats seem likely to be also-rans. Central Lechera Asturiana, is the former Ecover 2 and will be sailed by former Mini and Figaro sailor Juan Merediz and Turismo de Madrid IMS and GP42 crewman, Fran Palacio.

Turning back a few more pages in the IMOCA history book we find Ellen MacArthur’s Kingfisher, famously second in the 2000 Vendee Globe and winner of the 2002 Route du Rhum, now rechristened Forum Maritim Catala and to be sailed by yet another Spanish Mini sailor, Gerard Marin alongside French multihull veteran Ludovic Aglaor. Aglaaro, like Groupe Bel's Sebastien Audiagne, was on Orange 2 for the 2005 Jules Verne and has since been with Gitana.

Last but not least is We Are Water, none other than Bernard Stamm’s two time Around Alone/Velux 5 Oceans winner and one time W-E transatlantic record holder. She looks to be in good shape with a newly reshaped cabin top.

We are Water is being sailed by yet another promising Spanish Mini sailor, Jaume Mumbru, who despite now being a lawyer living in Barcelona was born in Newcastle. He is joined by Cali Sanmarti.