Four skippers enter century club of Barcelona World Race

(April 11, 2015; Day 101) – The four skippers still competing in the Barcelona World Race have been at sea for over 100 days. For Renault Captur, it is their final day in the Atlantic – Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane are expected to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar in the small hours of tomorrow morning, while for Spirit of Hungary it is time to mark the milestone and look back over 100 days of ocean racing.

Renault Captur is just 80 miles from the Tarifa, with Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane set to become the sixth team to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar in this edition of the Barcelona World Race early tomorrow morning, likely 0400-0600 UTC.

The German-French duo have had a straightforward approach in solid north-easterlies, but Riechers and Audigane have seen their speed reduce in the Gulf of Cádiz with easing pressure and are currently sailing directly east at just under 7 knots.

As ever the narrow funnel between Africa and Europe looks set to complicate life for the pair, with one of the busiest commercial shipping lanes in the world, and a forecast fresh easterly. Once in the Mediterranean, the customary unpredictable conditions look set to carry them to Barcelona on April 15th.

Some 1,200 miles from Gibraltar 1,200 and 1,760 from the finish in Barcelona, Spirit of Hungary is this afternoon sailing about 500 miles west of the Canary Islands, at just under 7 knots on a north-easterly heading. Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman may expect a challenging day of light winds before the trades intensify again on Monday to accelerate their passage to the Strait. They are scheduled to arrive at Gibraltar around the morning of April 16th, and in Barcelona on April 20th.

Ranking at 14:00 UTC:
1. Cheminées Poujoulat (Bernard Stamm – Jean Le Cam) finished Mar 25 (84:05:50:25)
2. Neutrogena (Guillermo Altadill – Jose Muñoz) finished Mar 31 (89:11:47:00)
3. GAES Centros Auditivos (Anna Corbella – Gerard Marin) finished Apr 1 (91:05:09:28)
4. One Planet One Ocean / Pharmaton (Aleix Gelabert – Didac Costa) finished Apr 8 (98:09:12:09)
5. We Are Water (Bruno Garcia – Willy Garcia) finished Apr 9 (99:03:06:28)
6. Renault Captur (Jörg Riechers – Sebastien Audigane) 610 nm Distance To Finish
7. Spirit of Hungary (Nandor Fa – Conrad Colman) 1760 nm DTF
Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson – Pepe Ribes) Abandon

Tracker – Event details

Report by event media.

Background: The third edition of the Barcelona World Race is the only double-handed, non-stop, round the world race. Eight IMOCA 60 teams started December 31, 2014, with the intent to cover 23,450 nautical miles in a circumnavigation from Barcelona to Barcelona, putting the capes of Good Hope (South Africa), Leeuwin (Australia) and Horn (Chile) to port and the Antarctic to starboard.