Barcelona World Race: Battling in the Atlantic

[Source: Barcelona World Race] There is a pair of battles taking place in the Barcelona World Race as the fleet moves into the South Atlantic. Currently, just Educación sin Fronteras remains in the Southern Ocean. On Sunday afternoon skippers Albert Bargués and Servane Escoffier were roaring towards the Cape at 15 knots, knocking off another 350-mile day. With the Cape less than 700 miles away, Educación sin Fronteras should join the others in the Atlantic Ocean by early Tuesday (GMT) at the latest.

The battle at the front is being fought in a give and take manner, with one and then other of the first two boats racking up a daily advantage. On Saturday, it was Paprec-Virbac 2 who was regaining some of their lead. But over the past 24 hours, despite less than ideal conditions, Hugo Boss has made up 68 miles.

“It’s a bit bumpy for us right now. We had up to about 37 knots of wind last night and now we're sailing on the other gybe in a leftover sea,” said Alex Thomson. “We're trying to keep the boat fairly slow as leaping over waves isn't very pleasant.

“We just want to get to the other side of this front and start sailing upwind in more favourable conditions,” he said. “A day or two ago we sat down and said we should do whatever we can to get through this front, no matter what the routing says, but we can't do it, so we just carry on doing what we can.”

Temenos II is doing its best to hold off Mutua Madrileña and for most of the day, Dominique Wavre’s Temenos has been the faster boat, but nonetheless, Mutua Madrileña can claim another gain of nine miles for the day. Now, the gap is just 91 miles.

“Today (Sunday) is sunny, but still cold as we’re still below 50-degrees south latitude,” said Dominique Wavre this afternoon. “The albatross are still with us but we can feel that things are getting better and better.”

Day 71 – January 20, 16:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader

1. PAPREC-VIRBAC 2 - Jean Pierre DICK / Damian FOXALL – 4354 to finish
2. HUGO BOSS - Alex THOMSON / Andrew CAPE – 546
3. TEMENOS 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele PARET- 2061
4. MUTUA MADRILENA - Javier SANSO / Pachi RIVERO – 2152
5. EDUCACION SIN FRONTERAS - Servane ESCOFFIER / Albert BARGUES – 3178

Abandoned - VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT - Roland JOURDAIN / Jean Luc NELIAS
Abandoned - ESTRELLA DAMM - Guillermo ALTADILL / JONATHAN MCKEE
Abandoned - DELTA DORE - Jérémie BEYOU / Sidney GAVIGNET
Abandoned - PRB - Vincent Riou / Sebastien JOSSE