Ocean Masters: Standings shuffle among top three teams

(June 2, 2014; 22:00 UTC) – After departing New York and the metropolis of Manhattan less than 24 hours ago, the doublehanded crews in the IMOCA Ocean Masters New York to Barcelona Race have been easing themselves back into life on the ocean, attempting to settle into a routine on board, while all the time trying to push their boats to the utmost to get ahead of the competition.

While Spirit of Hungary was among the five teams that started on Sunday, she has since suspended racing and has returned to North Cove Marina to carry out some vital repairs after only arriving in New York on Saturday following her maiden voyage across the Atlantic to the start.

After Hugo Boss led past the Ambrose Light at the exit to New York Harbour yesterday afternoon, it was the French crew of Marc Guillemot and Morgan Lagraviere aboard Safran that were next to move to the front. They split slightly further north towards the Long island shore Sunday afternoon where they found better sea breeze enabling them to pull out a lead of almost five miles overnight.

“The wind is light, but we have to deal with that,” Guillemot said. “We made some good manoeuvres and sails choices – it was quite easy in the light wind and we didn’t need to use the water ballast.”

By Monday morning, the boats began to pick up the first northeasterlies associated with a significant low pressure system off to their southeast and as a result have turned a sharp right to make best use of the building breeze.

Among the group, Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin aboard Gaes Centros Auditivos split south last night and as a result were the first to get into this new breeze. They briefly took over the lead, but Safran pulled back ahead as of 22:00 UTC today. The forecast is for stronger wind ahead.

Hugo Boss skippers Ryan Breymaier and Pepe Ribes remain close in third, with hopes of improving their performance. “I’ve never competed before with this boat, nor with Ryan,” explained Ribes. “Of course, the objective will be to finish the race and gain confidence with the boat.” Breymaier admits that a wrong choice of sail cost them miles early on.

The next 24 hours are set to be among the most tactical in the IMOCA Ocean Masters New York to Barcelona Race at the same time as the crews are preparing for the first bad weather of the race as they close on the depression.

Race website – Tracking

Background: The 3720 mile IMOCA Ocean Masters New York to Barcelona Race is a new doublehanded race for the Open 60 class. Five teams started from New York on June 1, with the expected finish into Barcelona, Spain at around June 12-15.