Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

“These people are amazing! I haven't seen Pepe Ribes sleep yet!”. That was some five days after Estrella Damm and W Hotels had been sailing at full steam across the North Atlantic, and Stan Schreyer couldn't disguise his admiration for his fellow crew. The expert yachtsman from the New York Yacht Club had never sailed an IMOCA Open 60 and was surprised at how beautiful and fast these offshore yachts were, as well as tough.

On the sporting side of the NY-BCN Transoceanic Sailing Record, Estrella Damm and W Hotels-Nova Bocana starred in a fierce battle against the clock and against one and other. With this being the first attempt at the record, the first boat to reach Barcelona would have the honour of setting the time to beat, so the battle was not only one fought between the two yachts, but against future attempts, so the time had to be a respectable one and difficult to beat. Twelve days, six hours, three minutes and 48 seconds was the bar set by Estrella Damm, inaugurating a brand new ocean challenge. That figure was an impressive time for the 3,760 miles covered between Ambrose Light in New York and the W Hotel in Barcelona, with an average speed of 12.48 knots. The merit is even more worthy considering that their competitor W Hotels-Nova Bocana by no means let them off lightly and arrived at the Catalan capital just nine hours later. The sporting success of both entries was rooted in the effort and commitment from the skippers and their shore crews.

The sailors were the visible face of the New York-Barcelona Record. Alex Pella, Pepe Ribes and Stan Schreyer were on Estrella Damm and Pachi Rivero, Toño Piris and Peter Becker were onboard W Hotels and were the stars of the record seen on TV, in newspapers and on the event website. However there were many other people behind this record who were not onboard. Alex mentioned those names during the record prize ceremony at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, where he gave thanks for the efforts of the different departments of the FNOB Sailing Team, who made this record happen.

The birth of a dream

The New York-Barcelona Transoceanic Sailing Record was much more than just a successful attempt to set the first record between the two cities. The event also served to strengthen relationships between respective councils, in the organisation of cultural activities and to get schools involved in activities relating to sailing and the sea. Also, the Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona also used the record as a rehearsal ground for the organisational infrastructure on which the upcoming Barcelona World Race will pivot.

The dream of Enric Puig, President of Barcelona's Salón Naútico from 1998 until his death in 2008, to unite New York and Barcelona by a sailing record in the style of an Atlantic crossing or the round the world Jules Verne Trophy began to take shape with the initial contact between the two cities in May 2009.

The idea was a hit from the start in New York, especially as the sporting challenge was to be intertwined with diverse cultural and educational activities, both main concerns for the city. From this initial contact the record committee was set up, headed up by Josep Maria González for the Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona, who was responsible for coordinating the different activities. For their part, the New York Yacht Club held the responsibility of regatta committee for the start and for the inshore regatta ahead of the record, as well as the management of the New York Port Authority permits and coordination with the USA Coastguard services.

On the other hand there were also the cultural activities to be organised, with an exhibition at the Winter Garden in the World Financial District of the city, as well as the exhibition of Avelino Pi, the Olympic photographer's work at the South Street Museum, also in the heart of the Big Apple; and their were also North American schools to get involved in the educational programme, already up and running in Barcelona schools.

The record participants, the Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona Sailing Team yachts sponsored by Estrella Damm and W Hotels-Nova Bocana were also keen to deepen the ties between the two cities. Estrella Damm is a company from Barcelona eager to break New York and W Hotels is a New York company eager to penetrate the European market via Barcelona. The two brands saw the challenge as the perfect platform for their interests and gave their full backing towards making the event a success.

Although this was a record, technically speaking the event was developed as if it were a regatta in terms of operations, press, TV, regatta management, all with their corresponding teams: from regatta management (boat tracking, publication of positions every four hours, an in-house meteorological service, different to the info received by the teams themselves, communications between the boats and land...), to press (media information and the development of a brand new website in three languages), and TV, operations, marketing and technology which has an impact on all of the different areas.

In the end, the great efforts by all were fruitful. For one, the sailors set a record that will be very tough to beat. The teams were able to really test the boats' performance features and the skippers had another chance to compete  and to test themselves and to overcome problems, such as the repair of the rudder on W Hotels, without the need for the yacht to approach land. Then there is the human team at the Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona, who managed to outdo themselves yet again by organising a top level international event and by continuing to be the driving force behind offshore racing in Spain. The different departments worked well together and have highlighted interesting opportunities for improvement for future events, such as the upcoming Barcelona World Race.

The NY-BCN Transoceanic Sailing Record was an incredibly valuable experience on a sporting, cultural and organisational axis, which aroused considerable interest both among the media (almost 1,300 news items on the record were published in the USA and Spain)  and among offshore sailors. Many different skippers around the world have shown interest in attempting to beat this record in the future, which will forever unite the cities of New York and Barcelona.