Counting down
One year before the start of the next Barcelona World Race we take a look at prospects for the second edition of this unique two-handed round-the-world contest
In Barcelona the clock is ticking. There is just one year to go until the starting gun for the second edition of the Barcelona World Race on 31 December 2010.
The 18 skippers who sailed away from the Spanish city’s spectacular send-off in November 2007 were taking part in a unique offshore event: the first ever double-handed round-the-world race. The pairings came from the world of Volvo Ocean Race crewed racing and solo Vendée Globe marathons, with 36 circumnavigations between them. And that trend looks set to continue.
Prior to the first Barcelona race the longest double-handed event on the Imoca 60 calendar had been the Transat Jacques Vabre. Sailing with a co-skipper may split the workload, but it also doubles the intensity and the pressure to push harder. Performance records during the first Barcelona World Race showed the two-handed crews had pushed themselves at a pace not previously seen in this type of short-handed ocean racing.
The inaugural Barcelona Race winner and twice a winner of the TJV, Jean-Pierre Dick, explains: ‘Double-handed racing is different from solo racing. Despite there being two of you onboard, it’s at least as difficult, because in sporting and psychological terms the sailing is always so much more intense.
‘I get great pleasure from both types of sailing. They are different but they complement each other. The bonus with double-handed sailing is that you get a lot out of being with the other person – hopefully in my own case the reverse is also true!’
Fellow Barcelona Race veteran Pachi Rivero adds: ‘Double-handed racing is certainly more intense but it is also faster. If you are solo you do a lot of thinking ahead of every sail change. Racing double-handed you sail almost at the same pace as racing in a team. When a sail change is needed you just do it, there is no reviewing or waiting in case the wind changes... You get on and do the change and as quickly as possible.’
The course and unique dynamics made for a gripping first event, with audiences drawn to the challenges of keeping the Imoca 60s sailing at near 100 per cent capacity, as well as the drama of two skippers operating in such a tight partnership.
By working from a clean sheet, the co-creators of the first Barcelona World Race – British-based OC Events and Spanish organisers Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona – were also able to create a race with an international feel from the outset. The nine competing teams last time included French, Spanish, English, American, Australian, Irish and Swiss sailors, with the winning duo onboard Paprec-Virbac made up of French short-hander Jean-Pierre Dick and experienced Irish offshore sailor Damian Foxall.
No non-French skipper may have so far claimed that other non-stop crown, the Vendée Globe, yet the Barcelona World Race is already a genuinely global competition – albeit with a healthy vein of Spanish passion running through it!
For the 2010-11 race FNOB take over as organisers; the race already has two main sponsors, 24 sub-sponsors and numerous suppliers have confirmed their involvement. As a result organisers are now looking beyond December 2010 to the third edition, scheduled for December 2014. Andor Serra, FNOB’s director general, explains: ‘Real proof of [the race’s] success is that before the first race was finished it had been added to the Imoca calendar, where our race now alternates with the Vendée every two years.’
In these budget-wary times this gives sponsors a better opportunity to maximise the return from an Imoca programme by competing in two distinct non-stop round-the-world events. Runner-up in the 2007 race, Alex Thomson, recently confirmed his entry in the 2010-11 Barcelona World Race along with the extension of his Hugo Boss sponsorship; Thomson intends to compete in the 2012 Vendée Globe as well.
The potential returns are also now clearer: media coverage generated by the 2007-8 race included over 400 hours of broadcasting with an estimated value of 45 million euros, plus more than 5,000 published articles.
For the second edition organisers have developed a valuable benefits package to support international entries. This includes free shipping from Guadeloupe for competitors in the preceding Route du Rhum; a spectator boat for the start and hotel rooms for sponsors and guests; a logistics area and team accommodation in the prerace period; plus targeted advertising in the team’s key territories. There is also, of course, the 500,000 euro prize fund...
Jean-Pierre Dick is returning to defend his title on the new Paprec-Virbac, now building in New Zealand. ‘I love this race,’ he says. ‘It is unique and also well organised. Being on the starting line of a round-the-world race at a large European city such as Barcelona is a special feeling. It is also a magnificent place to return to after two and a half months of racing. I am coming back because I like the challenge... but I am aiming for a second win.’
The race is now acquiring a strong Spanish identity, as a groundswell of interest in ocean racing emerges in the host city. During the 10 days before the start last time half a million people visited the race village and a flotilla of 650 boats accompanied boats to the start. The home nation will again be well represented, with several confirmed entrants including Pachi Rivero on Estrella Damm, plus Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella, currently competing in the double-handed TJV as part of their preparations.
‘It’s a great step forward,’ Rivero comments. ‘The previous experiences of the Spaniards who have been competing in offshore races like the Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Race have clearly helped; note that (for the first time) there were more crew from Spain in the last Volvo Race than from any other nation.
‘All this is brilliant for the future, to persuade the keen 20-year-old sailor not just to aim for inshore events like the Copa del Rey, but to go ocean racing! Just as we have done with the Kiwis in the Volvo Ocean Race, now it would be pretty good for us to catch up with the French in short-handed ocean racing...’