Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

Yesterday, at 14:59 GMT, following a final dash to the finish in undercover mode, Bubi Sansó and Mike Golding finished the race in third place. It was third time lucky for the Spaniard; Bubi had finished fourth in 2001 and had abandoned the race in 2003, so this excellent result will boost the sailor, especially in light of his excellent fourth place finish in the last edition of the Barcelona World Race. At Puerto Limon, Bubi was satisfied and looked back over the tremendous storm: “The race has been pretty difficult and we are both very happy with the result. Taking into account the fact that I was surrounded by the IMOCA rock stars, I’m really happy with the third place finish. We’ve had some problems that have slowed us down: electricity, batteries and engine trouble. In the end we got a good result and we are proud of that. The storm was very tough. I can say now, that at one point we were right in it just waiting for something to happen, in full survival gear and harnessed up. Outside there things were so terrible that I don’t know what we would have been able to do if something had happened”.

W Hotels is expected to finish tomorrow morning (GMT). Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes will finish a magnificent race, in which they managed to get excellent speed from the boat as they gradually dominated their entry. Following Foncia’s fourth place finish with Michel Desjoyeaux and Jérémie Beyou, the FNOB sailing team entry has maintained a veritable battle with Veolia Environnement, Aviva and Akena Verandas – all now sailing in invisible mode. It is likely, however, that Pella and Ribes will finish ahead of these boats.

Pachi Rivero and Yves Parlier’s 1876 was 326 miles from Puerto Limon this morning. In the end, her best angle approaching the trades was not enough for the duo to recover some of the miles lost at the expense of having sailed further to the west than the rest of the fleet. At 5am this morning, 1876 had Aviva and Akena Verandas 90 miles ahead of them, and only a windless pocket stepping in the way of their rivals may allow the Spanish entry a possibility of improving the ninth place they are likely to hold until the finish.