Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

At midday today with the warm sun beating down on her, Pakea-Bizkaia crossed the finishing line at Sanxenxo and so officially closed the third leg of the Sailing Tour of Spain. These 220 nautical miles have thrown up some surprises for the fleet, with an especially warm welcome for the favourable winds that the IMOCA Open 60s really love.

It was Safran leading the yachts after rounding the mark positioned some 1.5 miles from the Gijón Leisure Port, with GAES Centros Auditivos hot on her tail. From the anchored buoy the yachts set a course West towards Estaca de Bares and then Cape Ortegal, followed by a turn at the corner of Cape Finisterre where the yachts would receive half scores.

During the long stretch to Estaca de Bares, the pair of French entries revealed why their reputations do not exceed them. Meanwhile Movistar gritted her teeth and moved up into third place in an impressive comeback. W Hotels – Nova Bocana and GAES Centros Auditivos battled it out to improve positions and to broaden the gap with Estrella Damm, until the yacht skippered by Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella gained back some ground by changing sails earlier.

With Estaca de Bares Point out of the way, the course opened up for the yachts and invited the use of the spinnaker, a manoeuvre which ended up defining this Gijón-Sanxenxo leg. Vincent Riou's PRB had some problems releasing the spinnaker bag and was forced to replace it whilst watching Safran move away with full sails at a good speed. Further ahead Movistar suffered the same problem and was forced to lower the sail, remove the bag, wool up the spinnaker and hoist it back up, moving back into sixth place. Her bad luck didn't end there, with the sail later breaking during a gybe. Her only consolation was to risk big at the scoring gate, crossing it close to the rocks, sailing a more direct course than GAES Centros Auditivos which had already been overtaken by Estrella Damm.

In the final stretch of the course PRB chose to sail further away from the coast, with W Hotels-Nova Bocana and Estrella Damm making the most fo the situation to dangerously reduce the gap. GAES Centros Auditivos benefited from Movistar's problems to move up into a fifth place finish.

Central Lechera Asturiana with Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio couldn't do much to improve on their seventh place in both the first and second legs of the Tour. Their yacht, which is slower than the more modern designs wasn't helped by the wind, with few tactical options open to the crew.

And so the rankings have undergone a shake-up. None of the four top entries which left Gijón held the same position after calculating the points for the scoring gate and the thrid leg. Safran and PRB have switched places, as have W Hoteles-Nova Bocana and Movistar, with Estrella Damm holding fifth.

The three top Spanish entries are now bunched within a points margin of just three and a half points, which means that the next legs will be even more competitive, if that were possible! It might mean the Spaniards push to a stronger pace and manage to break down the French leadership in this Sailing Tour of Spain, and GAES Centros Auditivos certainly won't be content with merely following in their tracks in the upcoming legs.

Comments:

Pepe Ribes (ESP), Estrella Damm: “It's clear that we still need to get the hang of starting well, as with these boats you don't tend to do so many. On the close reach upwind to Estaca de Bares Point the boat wasn't going as fast as it usually performs. We tried everything, but there wasn't anything to be done. Having said that, it is going a lot faster than in the Europa Race, and we are happy because it means the changes we've made are paying off. With the spinnaker open we sailed really fast and from Finisterre to Sanxenxo we moved two miles closer to W Hotels-Nova Bocana”.

Dee Caffari (GBR), GAES Centros Auditivos: “We started well and sailed a good beat upwind, very good, in fact, as we were further ahead than we've ever been. Later on we decided to hoist the spinnaker. Sailing at night with the spinnaker was spectacular. The boat was very fast, the sky was full of stars and we sailed close to these impressive tall coastline. We were back close to the leaders but we didn't quite close in, although there is some consolation for us in the fact that we beat Movistar, and the fact that we can finally enjoy the spinnaker on this IMOCA Open 60”.

Xabier Fernández (ESP), Movistar: “It's been a tricky day, and we started off on the wrong foot by jumping the gun at the start. On the beat upwind we climbed back and we were in third place, getting close to those in front, with a good gap between the fourth place entry. We were happy, but the we hoisted the spinnaker and the regatta got tricky for us. It was a shame not to be ahead and to really see what these conditions are like with a spinnaker, an opportunity we hadn't yet had in the other legs”.

Marc Guillemot (FRA) Safran: “Our biggest concern was to finish before the others, not focus on the overall rankings too much, although it's obviously great to top the rankings as well as to have gained some points at Finisterre. We sailed a good race and everyone on the crew has worked hard. Charles Caudrelier has been excellent with navigation and tactics. We've had to give everything we've got right up until the finish, because we'd planned a sail change for when we entered the Pontevedra estuary, in the case of a lull, so we were very alert and working right up until the finishing line. PRB had passed us during the afternoon, but the breeze dropped somewhat, we hoisted the spinnaker before them and we passed them during the night. I think they had some manoeuvring issues and we went from a two mile lead to a five mile lead. I'm looking forward to my head hitting the pillow, as I'm exhausted. We've used every sail except for the heavy wind spinnaker”.

Vincent Riou (FRA), PRB: “We were with them (Safran) up to Cape Ortegal and we tripped up at the hoisting of the spinnaker, as the sock wouldn't release. We had to remove it, change it for another and get back on track. We're not doing badly in terms of the boat being race-ready compared to a boat like Safran that's three years old and has been finely tuned. We still have some room for improvement though. We've also had to watch out behind us. We moved away from the coast for fear that there would be less breeze closer in, whilst W Hoteles-Nova Bocana managed to gain ground and moved in considerably”.

Gonzalo Infante, W Hotels-Nova Bocana: “In the last stretch we positioned ourselves between PRB, which was further out and Estrella Damm, which had gybed earlier and was closer to the coast. We weighed up our options and we chose that one in order to minimise risks ahead of a possible shift in wind”.