Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

Safran continues to dominate the IMOCA class Transat Jacques Vabre scoreboard, and the French entry has even widened the gap with her rivals. Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier have pushed Groupe Bel with Kito de Pavant and François Gabart to over 25 miles away. Mike Golding and Bubi Sansó have dropped to 100 miles back from the leaders. 1876 with Pachi Rivero and Yves Parlier is now in sixth place, 413 miles from the front and Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes’ W Hotels is in eighth place at 472 miles from the race-leaders.

Smooth sailing for the Spanish

Both 1876 with Pachi Rivero and Yves Parlier and W Hotels with Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes are enjoying moments of smooth sailing compared with the turbulent events of last week. The skippers have been able to rest and regain strength as they head towards the entrance of the Caribbean Sea, where they are sure to face some new tactical options that should help them to climb up the scoreboard.

For the moment the red boat with a Spaniard and a Frenchman on board (Pachi and Yves) is sailing in sixth place, some 413 miles from the top of the fleet. A high pressure pocket meant the loss of a hundred or so miles and two positions, with breeze that didn’t even skim the wind apparatus.

W Hotels with Barcelona’s Alex and Alicante’s Pepe, have moved up one place with Hugo Boss’s withdrawal and are sailing in eighth place, moving dangerously closer to their rivals, much to their chagrin.  

Hugo Boss abandons the race

A crash on Sunday afternoon with an unidentified object floating in the sea has cost Alex Thomson and Ross Daniel’s Hugo Boss the race. The British crew were forced to drop out after sailing in fourth place when the crash took place. The tough decision was taken yesterday as water entered the boat and was interfering with the team’s sailing.

Despite Alex Thomson and Ross Daniel having activated the bailing pump and trying everything possible to get rid of the water, it seemed that a metre and a half split had opened to the starboard of the boat, sealing the team’s fate. The Britons are sailing towards the Azores, and are currently some 400 miles from the archipelago.

General Rankings 08:00 GMT
IMOCA Open 60 class:                                                     

1. SAFRAN. Marc Guillemot - Charles Caudrelier,  2,280 miles from finish.
2. GROUPE BEL. Kito de Pavant - François Gabart, 26.2 miles from leader.
3. MIKE GOLDING YACHT RACING. Mike Golding - Javier Sanso, 99.5 miles from leader.
…..
6. 1876. Pachi Rivero - Yves Parlier, 413.7 miles from leader.
…..
8. W HOTELS. Alex Pella - Pepe Ribes, 472.3 miles from leader.
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