Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

The 31st of December will see the Barcelona World Race become one of the international sporting calendar's most important offshore events. Since the finish of the first edition of the regatta in February 2008, the concept of the competition has continued to grow and has done nothing but gain momentum among the sailing community. The organisational success of the first edition and the prestige of a city such as Barcelona have both proved valuable additional guarantees which have yielded solid results.

Jean-Pierre Dick, winner of the first edition of the regatta, was the first to announce his entry, back in July 2009. Since then, over a year later, 14 more teams have signed up to become part of the spectacular fleet set to moor at Barcelona's Port Vell. As Jean-Pierre confirmed his entry, the Fundacio Navegacio Oceanica de Barcelona (FNOB) had already been putting together a racing team along with with some of Spain's most experienced sailors: with one crew made up of Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes and another with Pachi Rivero and Guillermo Altadill, who began their two team preparation on some of the leading yachts of the moment. In the end, Guillermo gave way to Tono Piris, at the same time as many other Spanish sailors were getting mobilized and forming crews. There would be a strong home contingent racing in this regatta, another key factor in the event's success. Second place finish in the first edition went to Alex Thomson, who made his entry official ahead of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the double-handed transatlantic challenge. The regatta shares a natural bond with the Barcelona World Race, and for the first time in the history of the event, two Spanish teams took part. Alex Pella was there with Pepe Ribes and Pachi Rivero took on the challenge with the great Yves Parlier, providing a full display of Spanish offshore sailing talent, despite the lack of an IMOCA class tradition in Spain.

Both Alex Thomson and Jean-Pierre Dick had new IMOCA campaigns in the pipeline and the Barcelona World Race was the cornerstone of these. The model had been drawn, and the idea became the basis for a project for Michel Desjoyeaux, undeniably the world's leading figure in offshore sailing. In January Michel was immersed in the building of a new yacht when he chose to announce his schedule: following a Route du Rhum he would take on the Barcelona World Race, and then go on to tackle the Vendee Globe. The attraction of the regatta among offshore sailing's biggest players was made patently clear in Michel's comments as he presented his new project: “The programme is intense, but it's also convenient, because we have to continue to set ourselves new challenges, to push our limits, without hanging about. This doesn't bother me, in fact, quite the opposite, it motivates me even more. These new prospects make me very happy."

Britain's Dee Caffari, the only woman to have sailed around the globe in both directions, was the next international sailing star to confirm her entry. The announcement came in March, alongside Spain's Anna Corbella. Anna, from Barcelona was one of the successful new talents in the GAES Solidaria sailing team created by the FNOB to promote the great training ground that is the Mini Class. She joins forces with Dee to attempt to become the first female duo to race around the world.

Following the news from the ladies, Dominique Wavre announced an entry alongside his permanent partner Michele Paret, with whom he finished in third place in the first edition of the race. Dominique emphasised the great contribution that a strong Spanish fleet would make to the IMOCA class and the boost that the race would give to the class as a whole: “This arrival 'en force' of the Spaniards to the class is one of the best things to happen to the IMOCAs. We had been desiring this sort of internationalisation for some time, because up until now the situation was more of a French-British duel. I wouldn't be surprised if the Barcelona World Race inspires new sailing vocations." These words from the Swiss yachtsman, a skipper with one of the highest offshore mileage records in the world, proved to be a premonition of things to come, and there was soon an announcement from a team that demonstrated the Barcelona World Race's ability to open up the field in offshore sailing: Germany's Boris Hermann and the US's Ryan Breymaier joined forces with Roland Jourdain's Veolia Environnement. Boris is one of the key players in the Class 40 fleet having won the Portimao Global Ocean Race, and he had chosen to take the leap into the IMOCA class with one of America's most promising and talented yachtsmen.

Ahead of the Sailing Tour of Spain came an entry from Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez. The
Olympic champions and seasoned Volvo Ocean Race crew, weren't going to miss out on the double-handed race around the world, a regatta which seemed almost tailored to their professional characteristics. The Sailing Tour of Spain also saw other Spanish teams set the Barcelona World Race in their sights: Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio, both newcomers to the IMOCA Open 60 class, and Jaume Mumbru and Cali Sanmarti; both teams with exciting projects and a clear scope for future development. The Spanish fleet was becoming strengthened by projects with long-term visions.

At the same time, the regatta was proving popular among the international sailing elite. Jean-Pierre Dick announced his co-skipper, none other than Loick Peyron, a figurehead in global offshore competition. Shortly after, Michel Desjoyeaux revealed Francois Gabart as his partner for the challenge, a star in the Figaro class and one of France's up and coming offshore talents. Alex Thomson announced that his co-skipper would be Andy Meiklejohn. That was just before another big player in French offshore sailing, Kito de Pavant, announced his second attempt at a round the world regatta, forming a team with another of the world's round the world experts: Sebastien Audigane. Another hugely experienced sailor, Ludovic Aglaor, joined forces with Spain's Gerard Marin, a promising member of the Transat 6.5 GAES Solidaria sailing team.

Before October was out other entries were made public. Krzysztof Owczarek would bring
Poland into the IMOCA world, joining forces with Armand Coursodon from France, and another key figure in international offshore sailing, Jean Le Cam, revealed he would be racing with Spain's Bruno Garcia.

Fifteen teams, 15 duos, 30 skippers from eight different nationalities speaks for itself. The race has taken a huge leap forward, and on the 31st of December highly acclaimed figures from the world of sailing, and current leaders in the IMOCA class such as Jean-Pierre Dick, Michel Desjoyeaux, Loick Peyron, Jean Le Cam, Kito de Pavant, Dominique Wavre, Michele Paret, Alex Thomson and Dee Caffari, will join newcomers such as Francois Gabart, Boris Herrmann and Ryan Breymaier and other great experts from different offshore classes Ludovic Aglaor, Armand Coursodon, Krzysztof Owczarek and Andy Meiklejohn.

There are also 13 Spanish sailors who'll be taking on the double-handed round the world regatta. That figure was inconceivable just three years ago and shows what a fantastic challenge this is for all. The Spanish fleet is also made up of acclaimed figures and specialists in different classes such as Alex Pella, Pepe Ribes, Pachi Rivero, Tono Piris, Íker Martínez, Xabi Fernández, Bruno Garcia, Jaume Mumbru, Cali Sanmarti and Juan Merediz, who have joined the IMOCA class with young promising sailors such as Gerard Marin, Fran Palacio and Anna Corbella. Spanish sailing will never be the same again... and this is only the beginning.