Clipper Progress

The drag race down through the Yellow Sea to Japan has continued during the 24 hours and the winners are those that have not broken anything. The leading pack of New York, Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and Hull & Humber have reported that everything is going well and none have had any breakages in these extreme downwind conditions.

Liverpool 08 reported a broken guy during the day yesterday and further down the fleet, Durban 2010 and Beyond has been pushing hard to make up ground on the leaders

Tactics are now coming into play and the next decision will be have to be made later today as the teams approach the southern tip of Japan. Uniquely Singapore is in an interesting position as the most southerly boat, a move that could pay off - and so far they have not broken any equipment.

With the winds still between 25 - 40 knots from the north, later today the teams should fly like a cork from a champagne bottle out of the relative confines of the Yellow/East China Sea into the wide open expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

The first of the yachts are due to arrive in the next port of call, Honolulu in Hawaii, on approximately 20 March. The fleet will be berthed in the Ala Wai Small Yacht Harbour.

Educacion sin Fronteras Just Finished

Barcelona-born sailor Albert Bargués and French yachtswoman Servane Escoffier sailed into home waters this morning at 06:55:02 GMT to finish the Barcelona World Race in 5th place, after an epic 108 days 18 hours, 55 minutes and 2 seconds, sailing a total distance of 27,892 miles at an average speed of 9.45 knots! An incredible achievement for one of only two mixed crews in the race, the Spanish-French duo were the least experienced in terms of circumnavigations; a first round the world race for 26 year old Escoffier, and the first offshore experience in 20 years for Bargués, for whom the arrival in his home city was particularly emotional,

Albert: "This race was for me a sheer pleasure! I am now a fully satisfied man and even if I shouldn't say 'never again', I don't feel like I would need to sail around the world again because this race has completely fulfilled me!"

However Educación sin Fronteras, along with Paprec-Virbac 2 were the only two teams to complete the Barcelona World Race without stopping - a huge accomplishment for both crew and boat; the former "Kingfisher" was the oldest on the fleet by two generations , although already sporting an impressive track record (a second place finish in the 2001 Vendee Globe with Ellen MacArthur and victory in the 2002 Route du Rhum).

Groupama 3 Investigation

Back in France after righting Groupama 3 in the New Zealand port of Dunedin, eight of the crew of the giant trimaran were in Groupama's press centre in Paris today to answer questions from journalists during today's press conference.

The most important news from this meeting is the confirmation by Groupama's Managerial staff that the adventure is continuing. Indeed, the damage suffered by the giant trimaran is considerable but reparable. Franck Cammas indicated that Groupama 3 was going to be loaded onto a cargo ship around 13th March with an arrival at the technical base in Lorient scheduled a month later.

The skipper also specified that the current assessment still hadn't revealed the reasons behind the breakage of the float between the forward crossbeam and the port foil casing: "We're going to discuss all this with the architects, the yard and the structural engineers. If this amounts to a design fault, then that means we were wrong but sailing remains a mechanical sport... We have a working base, which defines the stresses that the boat should be able to withstand and in the general project strategy, we never wanted to take risks: we didn't put any less carbon in it than for Geronimo! We may have to look at our calculations again but the concept isn't at fault. The way Groupama 3 handled, its sensations at the helm, its performance and its Atlantic records confirm that the project is viable: we want to head back out again next winter with a trimaran, which will handle in the same type of way, but without any doubts in the back of our minds about the reliability of the boat! ..."

Vendee Globe

Following the presentation of his project at the Dusseldorf Boat Show last month, Norbert Sedlacek has remained busy preparing his boat Nauticsport Kapsch for her entry in the Vendee Globe 2008-2009. During the show, he was able to announce that he has signed a new partnership with the Swiss watchmaker, Chronoswiss, and since then has been busy at work at the boatyard. Several hundred litres of paint, laqueur and anti-fouling have been prepared and the boat's colours are ready to be applied in the coming days. For several weeks, the team have been concentrating on the keel head mechanism, as this requires some fine tooling and precision work, in order to avoid the sort of problem, which forced the Austrian to retire from the last Vendee Globe. The first sea trails are planned for April, but before that there will be another occasion for the crowds to take a look at the project at the Tulln Boat Show in Austria on 6th March.

Sam Davies's preparations for the Vendee Globe 2008-2009 have been continuing over the past few weeks in Lorient. Her monohull, Roxy has been fitted with new daggerboards, the roof has been extended and two new winches installed. The team is busy working on the paintwork on the Open 60, aboard which the English yachtswoman will be setting sail from les Sables d'Olonne in November. The deck is once again brilliant white and Roxy's colours are due to be applied this week. Meanwhile, Sam has been doing some weather training with the router, Jean-Yves Bernot in Port La Foret. This week, she is looking forward to training alongside Isabelle Joschke, as she gets ready for the Solitaire du Figaro.

Over the past few weeks, Derek Hatfield's campaign has been making progress. Following the Toronto and Vancouver Boat Shows, the Spirit of Canada team was pleased to announce that 5000 individual supporters have now contributed to the appeal and will have their name be painted on the hull of the Open 60. The aim of the campaign is to support the first Canadian boat to take part in the Vendee Globe and they hope to reach 10,000 signatures before the start in Les Sables d'Olonne. Some local fans have even signed up twice, no doubt tempted by the lucky draw, which will allow one of the supporters to win a trip aboard Spirit of Canada.

Audi MedCup

Audi AG has signed a three-year contract to become the title sponsor of the MedCup Circuit which will feature the TP52 Class racing in six regattas over five months in four countries.

Now in its fourth year the circuit, to be called the Audi MedCup Circuit, features the TP52 Class. It is the world’s leading regatta circuit, the keelboat racing class of choice for America’s Cup teams, professional sailors, owner-drivers, Olympic Champions and Royalty.

Last year the circuit featured five events with a total of 24 teams from 12 countries competing in a mixture of inshore windward-leeward courses and short, day-long coastal races.

For 2008 the Audi MedCup Circuit will run between early May and mid-September. This year the circuit will also feature a sixth event and with just two months to run to the entry deadline already the fleet looks to be every bit as impressive as last year’s. Currently no fewer than eight new TP52 yachts are in the final stages of construction around the world, all to be launched and made race ready before the first regatta in May where they will join the already impressive fleet. To add to that a seriously impressive line-up of top international sailing stars are already committed to competing for the title of Audi MedCup Circuit Champion.

Clipper Leg 7

At 1530 local time (0730 GMT) on Sunday a horn sounded across Fuschan Bay, Qingdao, signalling the start of Race 7 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race to Hawaii. The race restart marked the end of a successful stopover in Qingdao's Olympic Sailing Centre, which acted as a dress rehearsal for the sailing events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The ten-strong international fleet crossed the start line in approximately ten knots of breeze from the south west, flying their Yankee One headsails at the start of the 4,400-mile race across the Pacific from China to Hawaii.

Following an extremely close and challenging upwind race from Singapore to Qingdao, the next stage of the race to Hawaii is expected to deliver some strong downwind conditions. Race 7 is the longest race of the Clipper 07-08.

The fleet's stopover in Qingdao marks the second time the Clipper Race has visited the city, giving the Olympic Sailing Committee further experience in hosting large-scale sailing events ahead of organising the sailing events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Groupama Towed

After arriving at the scene of their capsize on Tuesday evening (UT), the crew have spared no effort clearing the area surrounding the trimaran in order to see through the righting operations envisaged in open water.

Unfortunately, despite several attempts Franck Cammas and his crew didn't manage to turn Groupama 3 the right way up. As a result it was decided that they would tow the maxi-trimaran to Dunedin, over 70 miles away. Currently making 3 knots of headway, the support vessel towing Groupama 3 is expected in the New Zealand port overnight (UT).

These details were sent to us by Yves Parlier, who remained on shore to ensure the link between the sailors and the shore crew, directed by Stephane Guilbaud based in Lorient. Yves is also in charge of communicating weather data to the crew, which has been prepared by Richard Silvani from Meteo France.

New Syndicate for VOR

Carbon Challenge are aiming to be the final confirmed entrant in the world's most watched ocean Race. Once we receive the necessary support to achieve this, it will allow us to use our high profile throughout the race's 37,000 nautical mile course and 9 month duration to highlight the global warming emergency.

Our challenge is to be a competitive force in the race while, in our complete activities as a sailing campaign, emitting a carbon footprint which is 20% below that of a typical Volvo Ocean Race team.

Our residual carbon footprint will be offset using Gold Standard carbon offsets, so making Carbon Challenge carbon neutral throughout its campaign, just as the rest of Carbon Challenge's operating units will remain carbon neutral throughout their lifetimes.

Using a pre-campaigned boat our crew will have a harder job keeping up with the rest of the field. But that is part of the challenge - to outperform expectations by being carbon conscious rather than in spite of being carbon conscious.

Mutua Madrilena Finishes BWR

Spanish skippers Javier "Bubi" Sansó and Pachi Rivero jubilantly crossed the finish line early this morning, 19th February, in Barcelona onboard Mutua Madrileña at 00:18:40 GMT making them the fourth boat to race home in the Barcelona World Race.

A fabulous welcome for the national team as they sailed into the Olympic port on home waters surrounded by spectator fleet, supporters, friends and family after an epic 99 days 12 hours 18 minutes and 40 seconds trip around the world.

Volvo Ocean Race

Norwayís Knut Frostad (40) has been appointed as Chief Executive of the Volvo Ocean Race. Frostad, who has taken part in the Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race four times, twice as skipper and manager of his own projects, will take up his position at race head quarters in Whiteley, UK, on 3 March.

With background in business management and administration, Frostad has also been a board member and industrial advisor to leading companies as well as a sought after business speaker in Europe.

The 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain on 4 October 2008, it will for the first time, take in ports in Asia. Spanning some 39,000 nautical miles, stopping at around 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier yacht race for professional racing crews.

Groupama Capsized!

Last night at 23:43 UTC, Franck Cammas, skipper of the trimaran Groupama 3 engaged in the Jules Verne Trophy, alerted the shore crew to the capsize of the maxi trimaran: “We have just capsized. The leeward float broke in two, leading to the breakage of the two beams and then the subsequent capsize. The crew is all together, taking refuge inside the central hull of Groupama 3. None of the 10 crew are injured. There are 5 to 7 metre waves and 25 to 30 knot winds. The seas are breaking and for the time being we’re not putting anyone outside”.

Temenos Came Third

Swiss skipper Dominique Wavre and French yachtswoman Michele Paret crossed the finish line in their IMOCA Open 60 "Temenos II" to become the third boat in the Barcelona World Race.

They crossed the finish line at 18.09 GMT on Sunday just off the Olympic Port of Barcelona among family, friends and supporters who accompanied the ecstatic skippers back to shore.

After 98 days 7 hours, 9 minutes and 10 seconds exactly at sea, it has been a truly "unique round the world experience" for both, as reflected by Dominique's wor! ds just hours from the finish.

Hugo Boss is Second

British sailor Alex Thomson and Australian Andrew Cape have raced 'Hugo Boss', their IMOCA Open 60 class yacht, to a second place finish in the Barcelona World Race. They crossed the finishing line, just off the Olympic Port in Barcelona, at 05:34:57 GMT on Thursday morning, which was their 95th day at sea.

Volvo Ocean Race

The Ericsson 3, the first of Ericsson's two race yachts, has been given its name in an event that lit up the Barcelona night sky. The ceremony invited key guests from the telecom industry and sailing community to get on board the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009, with 235 days to go before the racing yachts set sail round the world.

Paprec-Virbac Wins Barcelona World Race

At 20h 49.49 GMT Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall steered Paprec-Virbac 2 across the finishing line to win the Barcelona World Race. Their 25 000 mile journey, non-stop around the planet, has taken exactly three months, and been an impressive display of speed and seamanship.

"This was our whole life, and all our energy and we are obviously very emotional," said skipper Jean-Pierre Dick, leaning over the lifelines and addressing the media as his boat pu! lled up to the pontoon in Barcelona.

The victory has been hard earned and impressive. The dynamic French-Irish duo has held the lead for the majority of the race, fending off early challenges from PRB and Veolia Environnement to grab the lead for good on December 7th. More recently, it's been Hugo Boss clipping at the heels of Jean-Pierre and Damian as they made their way back up the Atlantic Ocean.

Real obstacles came in the form of icebergs and equipment breakage. Deep in the southern latitudes,! Paprec-Virbac 2 played 'Russian Roulette' with icebergs on several oc casions, escaping unscathed, except for the toll the added stress and fatigue had taken on the two skippers.

Shortly after passing through Cook Strait, they hit an object in the water, seriously damaging their rudder system. But the were able to fix this without stopping. Then, after rounding Cape Horn, their forestay broke, and dismasting was a likely outcome. But again, quick thinking and on-board acumen allowed them to fashion a repair that would hold to the finish.

Finally, the ascent up the Atlantic turned into a marathon. First, lighter than normal headwinds s! lowed their progress. Then, fierce headwinds and terrifying seas made their passage through the Strait of Gibraltar terrifying. Now on the home stretch in the Mediterranean Sea, their food supplies started to run thin, making for a pair of hungry and happy sailors as they crossed the finish line tonight for victory.

"I have done this for years, but today I have done it all. I'm still in shock so I'm not sure what my baby must be feeling," said an emotional Damian Foxall, moments after being handed his seven-month old son. "If I were to stop sailing now, and I'm not saying I will, I have done everything! We lost the forestay in the Atlantic and there were times when we didn't think we would make it but here we are! This is incredible!"

Jean-Pierre and Damian were to be welcomed at the pontoon in Barcelona by family and friends along with their entire team. The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, was on hand to offer his congratulations. And offshore sailing legend! Dame Ellen MacArthur, whose OC Events is a co-organiser of the event, paid tribute as well:

"Racing together on a boat for three months, non-stop, under extreme pressure is an amazing test of any partnership. There are very few circumstances in sport like it and it is obvious that Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall on Paprec-Virbac 2 have formed an incredibly strong team and have been able to fight hard right to the end of this long race. Every boat competing in the Barcelona World Race has experienced difficult conditions - icebergs, the torture of no wind to storm-force ! conditions. Paprec-Virbac 2 has held the lead since South Africa and fully deserves to take the finish line in first place. It's a credit to the shore team who have prepared the boat so well and the skippers who then dealt with any breakages on board themselves - including a inner forestay failure off the Brazilian coast a few weeks ago that could have ended their race."

Second placed Hugo Boss crossed into the Mediterranean last night and is due to finish on Wednesday.

Paprec-Virbac 2 Closing

Paprec-Virbac 2 is counting down the miles as they close in on the finishing line and an historic victory in the first edition of the Barcelona World Race. The final hours aren't without tension - in a mechanical sport, a win can't be assured until the finishing line is crossed. But at this point, it would take a terrible calamity to deny skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall the glory they have earned. The Paprec-Virbac 2 team is one of just two to reach the final stages of the race without having stopped, adding another layer of achievement to their success. Jean-Pierre and Damian have had to work incredibly hard to manage their equipment through 25 000 hard miles of offshore ocean sailing. This morning, Hugo Boss joined the race leader in the Mediterranean Sea after a horrible night in the Strait of Gibraltar. Storm force winds, a frightful sea state, broken gear and plenty of commercial shipping traffic made the passage a nightmare. In the battle for third place, Mutua Madrileña has elected to gamble on an Easterly routing, in hope of closing up the gap with Temenos II. At the tail end of the fleet, Educ ación sin Fronteras is out of the doldrums and making 10 knots, while heading North. The finish is 2800 miles away.

Barcelona World Race

After an already epic journey in some of the world's harshest waters Barcelona World Race leaders Paprec Virbac 2 are finally back into the Mediterranean and their last 400 miles to Barcelona. Yet by no means is the battle over for Jean Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall, who passed Scoring Gate 8 in the Strait of Gibraltar at 18.39 GMT last night (with elapsed time of 14 Days 22Hours and 14 seconds from Fernando de Noronha.) The Franco-Irish tandem is currently sailing in the Alboran Sea, close to Malaga, with easterly winds still gusting at 35 knots.

Rolex Miami OCR

The Greek Olympic gold-medallist, Sofia Bekatorou has spent the past month sailing out of Coconut Grove, FL, training on Biscayne Bay (Miami). Bekatorou is competing in the upcoming 2008 Yngling Women's World Championship from 8 - 16 February, and is taking advantage of training on-site in the local conditions.

These World Championships will include some of the world's best women sailors with 27 teams from 18 countries and four Olympic gold medallists entered so far. Although ten countries plus China have already qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (the Sailing Competition will be held in Qingdao), there are still four places to be decided and the competition among the eight remaining countries represented will be fierce. Bekatorou and her crews' aim is to clinch one of the four remaining spots and to continue training and preparing for China.

As part of their preparations in Miami, Bekatorou competed in last month's Rolex Miami OCR, so that the team could race against a serious fleet that will also be competing at the Worlds - and which will take place on the same race course on Biscayne Bay, considered one of the world's best sailing venues.

In the end at the Rolex Miami OCR, Sofia Bekatorou, Sofia Papadopoulou, and Christina Charamountani finished in 17th place overall. Bekatorou doesn't let herself lose focus on the ultimate goal. Bekatorou, a Rolex Testimonee since 2006, is a four-time 470-class World Champion (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003), and a gold medallist in the 470 at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. With these past successes, she was also the winner of the prestigious ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards in 2002 and 2004 (with Emilia Tsoulfa).

After over eight years dedicating her career to 470 class competition at the highest levels, and with a much-needed break for back surgery due to the rigors of the 470 dinghy, Sofia moved to the Yngling class in which she has been campaigning since 2006. As time permits, in between her campaign duties, Sofia has been sailing in offshore and big boat regattas in the Farr 40 and TP52 classes. In addition, she is dedicated to promoting sailing among youngsters in Greece and organizing match racing, such as The Dream Race, in Mykonos, Greece in 2005.

Too Many Tacks

The situation is getting more difficult now for the race leading crew on board Paprec-Virbac 2 as weather conditions have forced them further and further north of Gibraltar. Skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall are waiting for the wind to shift to allow them to tack towards the gate to the Mediterranean.

But the forecast shows they'll have upwind conditions the rest of the way, meaning the next few days will see them tacking up the coast, each tack requiring up to half an hour of hard manual labour as they shift the contents of the boat (sails, water ballast, navigation station) from side to side in an effort to balance the boat and keep it flat and fast.

And they'll have to do it on reduced rations as their food supplies become more and more meagre by the day.

Groupama 3

Just 23 hours separate Orange II and Groupama 3 in the space of three years. Bruno Peyron's maxi-catamaran 'virtually' passed along the same trajectory as the giant trimaran this Tuesday at 0800 UT with a deficit of 590 miles. This is good news since Franck Cammas and his men have thus saved two and a half hours on the reference time since their passage of the equator, despite a succession of gybes slowing their pace. Though the averages have grazed and even exceeded an average of 27 knots over the past two days, the trimaran has extended its course by performing successive hooks to the SW to get clear of the pitfalls of the Saint Helena High. Bruno Peyron's catamaran didn't have to resolve such problems, instead scribing a perfect curve from the equator to 40 degrees at equivalent speeds. Result: more route at the same speed and Groupama 3's room for manoeuvre has been reduced by 80 miles in half a day.

Barcelona World Race

The race leader Paprec-Virbac 2 is being forced to take the long road home, with a large high pressure system blocking the direct route to Gibraltar. As a result, the Franco-Irish pairing is sailing more miles to the north, in an effort to sail clear of the system. This could provide an opportunity for Hugo Boss to cut inside and gain some miles before reaching the Mediterranean.

Paprec-Virbac 2 is heading towards Gibraltar

After tacking overnight, the leader of the Barcelona World Race, Paprec-Virbac 2, is now heading towards Gibraltar, the penultimate scoring gate of the race, and the doorway to the Mediterranean Sea. Entering the Med and finishing off the race can't come soon enough for the race leaders. Sunday marks 85 days at sea and with just over a week left, body and mind, not to mention boat, are getting tired.

Barcelona World Race

The leading boat in the Barcelona World Race, Paprec-Virbac 2 is now less than 2 000 miles from the finishing line, which translates to about 10 more days of racing. With a 462 mile lead on Hugo Boss, the situation is comfortable for the race leader, but by no means assured as Damian Foxall explained today as stronger winds - up to 30 knots! - have seen their boat speed rise, as well as their stress level.

Barcelona World Race

While aboard Hugo Boss Alex Thomson and Andrew Cape are psychologically ready to struggle against light conditions until Gibraltar, things started to move a bit more swiftly this afternoon for race leader Paprec-Virbac 2. Which certainly doesn't mean the situation is clear for Dick and Foxall, who will have to play hide and seek with a high pressure system whose movements are less than predictable.