Slowly but surely "Mutua Madrileña" is making up ground in the Barcelona World Race. Throughout the day Pachi Rivero and Bubi Sansó have been moving back in on "Temenos 2", if at a fairly slow rate. The Gibraltar scoring gate is less than 1,000 miles (1,423 km) away now and the Spaniards are being vigilant, eager to see what changes the next few hours will bring.
From Wellington (New Zealand) to now, some 10,000 miles (18,520 km), "Mutua Madrileña" and "Temenos 2" have captured the regatta focus with a constant push and pull battle where each entry was fighting hard to gain miles on the other. On ESP-4 the Spanish duo chose to move away from their rival, due to the proximity of the final scoring gate in the race, also in an attempt to shift the dynamic between the two, Pachi revealed today.
"Mutua Madrileña" will pass the Canary Islands between the archipelago and the AfricanCoast. Meanwhile, "Temenos 2" is sailing further North. "Yesterday and the day before we go a lot less breeze than them and they pushed some 250 miles away from us. We’re pushing hard, we’ve got some good Northwesterly and we’re doing 11-12 knots with peaks of 14", commented Pachi Rivero.
In fact the 16:00 GMT position reports showed "Mutua Madrileña" was the fastest entry in the 5-strong fleet with 12 knots – 1.5 more than "Temenos 2", and with a VMG of 10.4 (also the highest).
The boat has also topped the distance covered rankings for the same period – 243 miles (450 km) sailed between 16:00 GMT yesterday and today.
"Mutua Madrileña" congratulates winners
From onboard the "Mutua Madrileña" IMOCA Open 60 the crew have congratulated the ‘almost’ winners of the Barcelona World Race, Jean Pierre Dick y Damian Foxall. Pachi Rivero had these words: "They’ve done a great job, right from the start of the race, right up till the finish they’ve shown they’ve the best. They dealt with the pressure back with "PRB" and then when "Hugo Boss" went on the attack they pushed forwardwith all their might…good for them! From ‘Mutua Madrileña’ both ‘Bubi’ and I want to give them our warmest congratulations and tell them that they’re the best".
Thinking about family
Spaniard Pachi Rivero confessed today that he’s trying not to think too much about the finish, because there are still 1,423 miles (2,635 km) to go till Barcelona and they’ve still got the tricky task of getting through the Straits to deal with. However, he admits that it’s virtually impossible not to, especially when it comes to the family: "Sometimes you get carried away and start to think about Barcelona. I think about the finish and how much I’m looking forward to seeing my kids and my wife and the rest of the family".
The current finish prediction for "Mutua Madrileña" is Tuesday 19th February.
"Paprec Virbac 2", about to cross the finish
Today’s big news is the imminent finish of the first competitor and the winner of the very first Barcelona World Race, "Paprec Virbac 2". Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall who had 7 circumnavigations between them (one for the Frenchman and six for the Irishman) before the start are expected to reach Barcelona’s Olympic Port between 22:00 and 23:00 local time. In their Farr-design launched in February 2007 the duo have sailed for three months non-stop round the world covering 24,588 miles (45,536 km) navigating the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Day 93 – 16:00 GMT
Position/Boat/Skippers (Nationality)/Distance from leaders
1º Paprec Virbac 2, Dick (FRA)/Foxall (IRL), 53 miles from Barcelona
2º Hugo Boss, Thomson (GBR)/Cape (AUS), +404
3º Temenos 2, Wavre (SUI)/Paret (FRA), +1,125
4º MUTUA MADRILEÑA, Rivero (ESP)/Sansó (ESP), +1,370
5º EDUCACIÓN SIN FRONTERAS, Escoffier (FRA)/Bargués (ESP), +2,787
Veolia Environnement, Jourdain (FRA)/Nélias (FRA), retired
Estrella Damm, Altadill (ESP)/McKee (USA), retired
Delta Dore, Beyou (FRA)/Gavignet (FRA), retired
PRB, Riou (FRA)/Josse (FRA), retired