BWR: Back in the North

(April 2, 2015; Day 93) – At the tail of the Barcelona World Race, Spirit of Hungary crossed the Equator back into the Northern Hemisphere at 1553hrs UTC this afternoon. Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman have taken 92 days 03 hrs 53 mins since the start on December 31st to return into Spirit of Hungary’s ‘home’ hemisphere. They cross 5 day and 10 hours behind Renault Captur.

Second placed Spanish skipper Guillermo Altadill praised Fa for his strength of character and his fortitude, paying tribute to his race today.

“He is a remarkable character. I cannot say that I would have his energy and drive to do so much the way he has at the age he is, designing, building and now racing the boat around the world,” said Altadill.

Fa and Colman have emerged from the Doldrums today and are making 9.9kts north this afternoon although their problem in the short to medium term is that the trade winds are quite N’ly and so they will be unable to make very profitable northing. And, as yet, the winds are still quite light. Their ETA back in Barcelona is currently something like 21st April. Patience has been their outstanding virtue since the start and it is being tested again!

One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton are north of the Canary Islands, but they are into much lighter airs and can expect their nemesis We Are Water to close miles in the coming hours.

Renault Captur have finally divested themselves of clinging weed which has gotten everywhere over the last three days, requiring back downs every few hours and severely affecting their ability to make energy with their hydros. Jorg Riecher and Sébastien Audigane are due at Gibraltar on 12th April.

Ranking at 18:00 UTC:
1. Cheminées Poujoulat (Bernard Stamm – Jean Le Cam) finished Mar 25 (84:05:50:25)
2. Neutrogena (Guillermo Altadill – Jose Muñoz) finished Mar 31 (89:11:47:00)
3. GAES Centros Auditivos (Anna Corbella – Gerard Marin) finished Apr 1 (91:05:09:28)
4. One Planet One Ocean / Pharmaton (Aleix Gelabert – Didac Costa) 1063.0 nm Distance to Finish
5. We Are Water (Bruno Garcia – Willy Garcia) 1152.7 nm DTF
6. Renault Captur (Jörg Riechers – Sebastien Audigane) 2483.1 nm DTF
7. Spirit of Hungary (Nandor Fa – Conrad Colman) 3064.7 nm DTF
Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson – Pepe Ribes) Abandon

Tracker – Event details

Report by event media.

Background: The third edition of the Barcelona World Race is the only double-handed, non-stop, round the world race. Eight IMOCA 60 teams started December 31, 2014, with the intent to cover 23,450 nautical miles in a circumnavigation from Barcelona to Barcelona, putting the capes of Good Hope (South Africa), Leeuwin (Australia) and Horn (Chile) to port and the Antarctic to starboard.