The team’s call to tack west hasn’t delivered, for the moment, the desired results for the Open 60 "Mutua Madrileña". The Spanish entry has gone back to losing miles on rival "Temenos 2", but the crew are certainly not ready to give up yet. "Bubi" Sansó and Pachi Rivero have already come up with a number of possible options for the passage through the Canary Islands, their route to Gibraltar and the next scoring waypoint, 1,612 miles (2,985 km) away.
"The Canaries could be an obstacle or they could be our salvation. There are lots of mountains, like the Teide and las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and these can hide the wind. We must find a good route through", Spaniard "Bubi" Sansó said today.
Geographically speaking, 44 years-old Pachi Rivero and 38 years-old Bubi Sansó have now completed their first circumnavigation of the globe. "We’ve gone round the world now, and no-one can take that away from us. Now we just need to finish the Barcelona World Race".
One thing’s for certain, and that’s that both sailors have, at one time or another, said that going round the world was one of their biggest ambitions. In fact, the only way to describe the meaning of this race to Pachi Rivero and "Bubi" Sansó is "a dream come true". "Bubi" even got as far as to think that a circumnavigation of the globe wasn’t going to be possible for him, and he admitted this lunchtime that "this is something I’ve been hoping to do for many years" and he hopes it’s the first of many: "I’m hoping to do at least 3 or 4 more in the IMOCA class or in the Volvo Ocean Race.."
And now the end is near, the big question is ‘what are the "Mutua Madrileña" skippers going to do once they’re back on dry land? "Bubi" Sansó knows exactly: "Eat a hamburger with fries and a Coke and have a hot bath".
After so many days at sea that are certain things you miss: "good food, good sleep and news from the outside world " said Sansó. "I like to read the paper every day and I can’t do that here. Now we’re so close you realise that you’ve got a lot of banks to fill in…"
Soon "Bubi" Sansó and Pachi Rivero will tie up "Mutua Madrileña" at the moorings of Barcelona’s Moll de la Fusta, and then they’ll be able to eat hamburgers and find out what’s been going on in the world after more than 90 days at sea and 24,588 miles (45,537 km) under their belts.
At the front of the fleet "Paprec Virbac 2" is still leading, and at 16:00 GMT the entry was 15 miles from Gibraltar, just about to cross the seventh and final scoring gate in the race. In the words of Jean Pierre Dick the boat is in a tricky situation. 38 and 42 knots are blowing from the Straits, there are big waves and a lot of cargo ship traffic. Meanwhile "Hugo Boss" continues to move in and is now 345 miles (639 km) from the Franco-Irish entry. The latest predictions from the race organisers point towards an arrival date for Cape and Thompson in Barcelona of Wednesday 13th February, possibly two days after leaders "Paprec Virbac 2".
Day 90 – 16:00 GMT
Position/Boat/Skippers (Nationality)/Distance from leaders
1º Paprec Virbac 2, Dick (FRA)/Foxall (IRL), a 531 millas de Barcelona
2º Hugo Boss, Thomson (GBR)/Cape (AUS), +345
3º Temenos 2, Wavre (SUI)/Paret (FRA), +1.458
4º MUTUA MADRILEÑA, Rivero (ESP)/Sansó (ESP), +1.597
5º EDUCACIÓN SIN FRONTERAS, Escoffier (FRA)/Bargués (ESP), +2.750
Veolia Environnement, Jourdain (FRA)/Nélias (FRA), retirado
Estrella Damm, Altadill (ESP)/McKee (USA), retirado
Delta Dore, Beyou (FRA)/Gavignet (FRA), retirado
PRB, Riou (FRA)/Josse (FRA), retirado