Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

Just a few hours after Anna Corbella’s arrival in Bahia, four more of the Mini GAES Solidaria team also reached Brazilian shores. During the night and this morning (GMT) Spaniards Juan Carlos Sanchis, Toni Weijl, Gerard Marín and Hugo Ramón crossed the finishing line. The only Spaniard to continue racing is Joel Miró, who is due to finish tomorrow.

With a finishing time of 21 days, 8 hours, 57 minutes and 35 seconds, Juan Carlos Sanchís logged an 18th place finish in this leg, just behind fellow Spaniard Anna Corbella. In the overall provisional rankings for the two legs Anna and Juan Carlos are in 13th and 15th position respectively.

Toni Weijl took 21 days, 9 hours, 53 minutes and 36 seconds to complete this second leg. That means he took just 56 minutes more than Juan Carlos Sanchis. Gerard Marín and Hugo Ramón finished in the early hours of the morning (GMT) with Ramón logging a time of 21 days, 18 hours, 8 minutes and 5 seconds, but there is not yet any official time logged for Gerard.

Juan Carlos Sanchis

Juan Carlos Sanchis has had a complicated race right from the La Rochelle start. Just a few miles after the start of the race, the Spaniard was crashed into by a fellow competitor and was forced to turn back to shore to repair damage to the portside of the boat. The shore team managed to repair the hole in just 5 hours and from thereon Sanchis was the star of a fantastic recovery, reaching Funchal in 15th place, and finishing in 7th once the added time had been given due to the accident at the start.

The second leg wasn’t much calmer for this sailor from the famous white isle of Ibiza. Due to a series of problems, he was forced to sail a very conservative race. This may have meant he was safely positioned in the top half of the fleet, but it also meant he wasn’t able to push for more, as in the first leg. Without taking too many risks, and trying to get the best performance from his boat, the Spanish sailor reached Bahia in 18th place.

Juan Carlos explained: “During the first part of this second leg I hadn’t had any technical problems, but once I hit Cape Verde I found a boom problem. With my previous experiences I was very concerned that it would break and force me to stop at Cape Verde, so I slowed down and sailed slower until the finish so that I wouldn’t have to stop. I’ve also had sail configuration problems with a rather small gennaker. Also to add to this the mainsail gave me quite a few problems too, as the battens got caught in the spreaders with every gybe, making for a long and hard last few miles.

Toni Weijl

Toni Weijl stands out as the skipper with the most damage and problems with his boat. During the first leg he broke two rudder blades and the boom whipstaff, leaving him with just the portside replacement helm. Despite these setbacks, he still managed to finish the leg in 24th place. The stop in Funchal and his wealth of technical knowledge meant he was able to repair all of the damage to the boat ready for the next leg.

Minutes after the start of the Funchal-Bahia leg, during a tack Toni found he had a jammed canting keel. Toni was forced to return to port where the shore crew found that the axle had dislodged during an unfortunate manoeuvre. They put it back in and Toni set off again with a two hour disadvantage, but eager to make up positions. In an attempt to reach the trades earlier than the rest of the fleet, Toni Weijl, Gerard Marín and Joel Miró decided to go through the Canary Islands via Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria. This turned out to be a mistake, as the skippers found less breeze than their rivals who had gone through the islands further West. From thereon Toni chose to stick with the bulk of the fleet and sail somewhat more conservatively. Thanks to that call, the Spanish skipper finished the leg in 20th place.

Back on the quayside, Toni commented: “I made the call at the Canaries to look after my equipment, as I didn’t have complete trust in the boat by then. From the very start I had lots of keel problems and even a leak into the box which meant pumping out water for the whole race. Before Cape Verde I had a broken back stay and the base of the mast sank and became delaminated which meant that I was forced to sail a much more conservative race until the finish. The boat needed a lot more preparation and a lot more sailing beforehand. I want to come back and do this race a lot better in 2011".

Gerard Marín

Despite the lack of time to train and test drive his new prototype, Gerard Marín managed to push forward in both legs. He did especially well in Leg 1, finishing in 14th place after a great race.

Gerard had high hopes for Leg 2. The start of the leg saw the Spaniard run into some bad luck along with fellow team members Toni Weijl and Joel Miró along with Italy’s Andrea Caracci. They chose to stay East in the Canaries and saw themselves pushed back to the bottom of the rankings until they caught up with the trades. Marín pushed the boat where it needed and climbed positions to finish in 21st place. His best position during the race was 10th place, when he was also the fastest in the fleet.

Over the last few days, as his options to climb further disappeared the skipper did not give up fighting to reduce gaps and move ahead. Despite all of his efforts and having moved into the group with the Mini GAES Solidaria team in the last week, certain problems meant he was delayed from Fernando de Noronha onwards.

Hugo Ramón

Hugo Ramón sailed a promising first leg. He finished in 14th place, having also been in 10th place as the fleet passed Finsterre. The positions climbed by Hugo in that leg demonstrated that the Spaniard was a fierce rival for the other entries in the Series Division.

A similar situation occurred in the second leg. Hugo made one of the biggest recoveries in the entire fleet when he went from 17th place to 2nd in just 24 hours. The decision to stay West during a critical moment in the leg proved fruitful and he managed to get just a few miles from the race leader, Francisco Lobato at that point. Unfortunately the euphoria was shortlived and a tack East meant he was separated from the leaders. He slowly dropped back into 15th place, where he finished. Despite everything, this was a fantastic leg for the Spaniard, with a great finishing result.

Rankings 25th October 2009 08:00 GMT
Prototypes Division:                                                    

1.    Ruyant, Thomas / Faber France (FRA). Finished. 18 days, 20 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds. (6.91 knots average theoretical speed).
2.    Delesne, Bertrand / Entreprendre Durablement (FRA). Finished. 19 days, 02 hours, 45 minutes and 43 seonds. (6.81 knots average theoretical speed).
3.   Schipman, Henri Paul / Maison de l’Avenir Urbatys (FRA). Finished. 19 days, 02 hours, 46 minutes and 10 seconds. (6.81 knots average theoretical speed).
 ....
17.  Corbella, Anna / Gaes Solidaria 385 (ESP). Finished. 21 days, 02 hours, 53 minutes and 39 seconds. (6.16 knots average theoretical speed).
18.  Sanchis, Juan Carlos / Somni – Gaes Solidaria 403 (ESP). Finished. 21 days, 08 hours, 57 minutes and 35 seconds. (6.09 knots average theoretical speed).
…..
20.  Weijl, Toni / Gaes Solidaria 684 (ESP). Finished. 21 days, 09 hours, 53 minutes and 30 seconds. (6,08 knots average theoretical speed).
….
21. Marín, Gerard / Gaes Solidaria 727 (ESP). No official finishing time data.
32 entries.

Series Division:

1.   Dalin, Charlie / Cherche Sponsor- charliedalin.com (FRA). Finished. 20 days, 06 hours, 36 minutes and 00 seconds. (6.42 knots average theoretical speed).
2.   Lobato, Francisco / Roff Tmn (POR). Finished. 20 days, 17 hours, 08 minutes and 15 seconds. (6.28 knots average theoretical speed).
3.   Macaire, Xavier / Masoco Bay (FRA). Finished. 20 days, 19 hours, 55 minutes and 16 seconds. (6.25 knots average theoretical speed).
....
15. Ramon, Hugo / Nassau – Gaes Solidaria 450 (ESP).  Finished. 21 days, 18 hours, 08 minutes and 05 seconds. (5.98 knots average theoretical speed).
…
30. Miró, Joel / Gaes Solidaria 677 (ESP). 154 miles from finish.
46 entries.