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Europa Warm’Up - Leg 1 Day 3

by Europa Warm’Up Media
21 May 2012

On board PRB during Europa Warm’Up leg 1

On the beat into the Alboran Sea where the IMOCA Open 60 fleet are progressively funnelled into the narrows of the Straits of Gibraltar Jean-Pierre Dick and his crew on Virbac-Paprec 3 are closely monitoring their rivals but so far only the wily Armel Le Cléac'h on Banque Populaire has broken ranks and tacked towards the Spanish coast.

Wind forecasts suggest the Spanish coast should yield a more breeze which is more to the right, allowing a more direct angle to be sailed for some of the time as they close in to the narrows, but so far the advantage remains very much with the leading boats.

Mid afternoon Monday and Virbac-Paprec 3 lead by just under 4 miles from PRB of Vincent Riou in second and MACIF, skippered by Francois Gabart lying third at 6.8 miles behind the leading boat.

In fact since Banque Populaire chose their investment in the north, towards the Spanish coast with an early morning tack, they have conceded about half a miles to MACIF, finally breaking contact with their friends and nemesis. Indeed Gabart noted ironically this morning that the twin sisters from the VPLP/Verdier offices had been in sight of each other for more the last three weeks!

The gap back to the second group remains relatively constant with Groupe Bel, Kito de Pavant giving chase as the Dick and his crew approached the half way mark of the 800 miles leg from Barcelona to Cascais, by Lisbon. Groupe Bel is some 30 miles behind Banque Populaire.

There has been consistently more breeze offshore and it still appears the leaders have had the best of it, Virbac-Paprec 3 had around 110 miles left in the Mediterranean.

Ranking at 18h:

Pos Skipper Boat Name DTL

1 Jean-Pierre Dick Virbac-Paprec 3 408 miles to finish

2 Vincent Riou PRB 3,8

3 François Gabart MACIF 6,4

4 Armel Le Cléac'h Banque Populaire 8,7

5 Kito de Pavant Groupe Bel 40,5

6 Bernard Stamm Cheminées Poujoulat 44,7

7 Javier Sanso ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered 53,4

Pos	Skipper	Boat Name	DTL
1	Jean-Pierre Dick	Virbac-Paprec 3	408 miles to finish
2	Vincent Riou	PRB	3,8
3	François Gabart	MACIF	6,4
4	Armel Le Cléac'h	Banque Populaire	8,7
5	Kito de Pavant	Groupe Bel	40,5
6	Bernard Stamm	Cheminées Poujoulat	44,7
7	Javier Sanso	ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered	53,4

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