New York to Barcelona - Straight for Gibraltar

5:19 PM Fri 16 Apr 2010 GMT

'The sea state from Estrella Damm - New York Barcelona' Estrella Damm / FNOB Click Here to view large photo

While New York Barcelona Transoceanic Record leader Estrella Damm heads directly for the Straits of Gibraltar, making steady speeds downwind towards the gateway to the Mediterranean, their rivals on W Hotels are also making good speed again, bouncing back after a series of blows which tested their morale, in hot pursuit of the pacemakers.

Yesterday afternoon W Hotels had reported damage to their port rudder. After dismounting it from the stern of the boat and making a repair to it, early this morning they were hit by a big wave which, with compromised steering, broached them and left them on their side with their keel and ballast on the wrong side of the boat.

But the tenacious trio To?o Piris, Pachi Rivero and Peter Becker dug deep and this afternoon were making best speed to chase down Estrella Damm, who about 150 miles ahead, some 300 miles from Gibraltar this afternoon, is expecting to pass the iconic Rock around midday tomorrow Saturday.

The resolve, ingenuity and technical skills of the W Hotels crew may have been tested but, after re-shipping the rudder this morning, they were steadily flooring the throttle again, knowing that the Mediterranean stretch home all the way to the finish off Barcelona, could hold any kind of weather surprise. And, already, as expected the leading trio were losing speed steadily as the breezes eased as they moved east.

Co-skippper Pepe Ribes of Estrella Damm admitted to this afternoon's radio session that they have three different forecasts for the leg from Gibraltar and none of them agree with each other. It will, he reminded, be a return to inshore buoy racing skills in the yacht's home seas.

W Hotels was knocked flat by a big wave early this morning whilst they were completing repairs to the rudder. The rudder was secured below but when the wave hit, the remaining rudder was lifted clear of the water and they slewed into a broach.

Co-skipper Rivero told how he could not confirm how long they were on their side for, but it took them around half an hour to get tidied up. But late this afternoon, they reported they were making around 20 knots of boat speed at times and had tested the repair in up to 32 knots of wind.

Estrella Damm was making 16 knots towards Gibraltar this afternoon. They suffered a knock to their rudder during the night. An assessment this morning proved reassuring that there was no damage to worry about.

Quotes
Pachi Rivero (ESP) co-skipper W Hotels: "We are a bit better now, our morale is on the up. Yesterday and early this morning it was a bit grim for a while. We are sailing with two reefs and the Solent and thinking to see if we can put up the main more to see if the rudder can take more speed and power.
We have a problem with the Solent which was our fault. We had to change for the staysail."

"It was a big wave which bent the box where the rudder articulates. We took it off and repaired it. While we were doing the repair the wind angle was about 140 degrees, and when the wave went under us then we lost steerage because the one rudder we had left was out of the water. Then we broached and it was a mess. The solent was damaged, the keel and ballast were all on the wrong side. I don't know how long it took to get it all sorted out, but it was at least half an hour. The straps for the sail stack broke and the sails were everywhere. The pushpit at the stern, and some of the stanchions were damaged, and some of the nave lights. Everything is fine now."

"We are sailing as fast as we can at the moment. We will try and push progressively harder just now. We know that there are lighter winds coming and so if the repair is good just now then it should hold OK in the lighter stuff. The repair? Well To?o is phenomenal, and Peter is very good, a real fighter, really motivated and good to have around."

"Now the seas are still quite big, the winds are about 227 degrees, we have a true wind angle of 135 degrees, making 108 degrees at 16-17 knots. The winds are still 27-28 knots and I reckon we are SE of the low. We have the rudder up to 32 knots of wind and so I hope that it if it can take that we'll be good for more speed and so maybe we catch up with Estrella Damm. We were lucky that we had the rudder in a safe place when the wave hit."

Peter Becker (USA) co-skipper W Hotels: "It is perfect now. These things happen in offshore racing. I love being out here. But we are up and running now, blasting along at 20 knots, having a great time."

"The seas were building and we had a wave come in and smash into one of the rudders. And while we were repairing it a very large sea hit us, the boat was on autopilot in a very large sea and we broached. We fixed that and put the rudder back on and we are up and running again."

"To?o was very handy at the repair, we all collaborated with it, with different ideas, not only in the repairs but also in the reattachment of the rudder. It was quite difficult. We are a very strong team."

Pepe Ribes (ESP) co-skipper Estrella Damm: "We have very good conditions now, sunny with no clouds, a good day where we are. The wind is SW, 215 degrees. The wind has dropped back from last night's 30 knots to 18 knots just now. We are heading directly to the Straits and hope to be off there around midday tomorrow. In theory we will be making around 10-15 knots, the same as the wind speed. Entering the Straits I think maybe the wind will drop and be quite light. Now we are about 300 miles off."

"The next bit is a different game, a transition from offshore racing to inshore Mediterranean racing and that is when you need to keep your head out the boat and use our eyes to see what is going on, and respond to that. We have three different forecasts for the Med and none of them agree. We have no other options at the moment. It would be nice for Stan if we could pass close to Gibraltar during the day, because it is quite a sight. We have seen it a few times before, but it would be good for him. We only would like to pass it quickly."

Stan Schreyer (USA) co-skipper Estrella Damm: "We are heading straight for the Straits of Gibraltar and we are happy. We hit something with our rudder and so we went slowly, until we could look at it in day light but it was OK. We think it's fine. I heard something hit the bow and the rudder popped up."

"You know we were actually expecting it to be a little windier than it was, but it was rather windy, sure, we saw 35 knots for a while. The waves were very big, but really it is nothing that this boat cannot manage. This is a very safe boat in conditions like that and the boat is very well prepared."

"It has a been a little bit of a crash course, sure, but it's funny because to Pepe and Alex 35 knots is nothing, it does not feel like a lot of wind. The boat is so well designed that even in 35 knots the boat is still sailing so well and pushing hard."

"I have been watching the weather and the routing, I follow what is going on but Alex and Pepe are the ones taking the tactical decisions."

Standings at 1300hrs GMT Thursday.

1. Estrella Damm (ESP), Ribes, Pella, Schreyer: 871 miles to finish
2. W Hotels (ESP), Rivero, Piris, Becker: 1026 miles to finish (+ 155 miles)

by NY-BCN Transoceanic Sailing Record Media Centre