It starts at 13.00, 31 December, a good way to start the year :-) a non stop circumnavigation race for duos on IMOCA racers (Open 60's). Unfortunately not many teams, only 8 and not all top teams. The good news is that Spaniards are really on the short crew/solo racing. Half of the teams are Spanish and that is a first: a duo circumnavigation race that has not a majority of French teams!!! Not yet favorites, but as Alex Pella showed on the Route du Rhum, it is a question of time.
The favorites are the usual, even if many top sailors are not racing this one. They are two: Stam/Le Cam and Alex/Ribes with an outsider on his first big circumnavigation race, Riechers, here teaming with Audigane. No favorites among the Spanish? I don't believe so...well, if Pella was on Neutragena maybe an outsider but it is Altadill that is the skipper, teaming with Muñoz. Great sailor but more of a team player than a solo/duo sailor, but maybe he proves me wrong.
Jose Muñoz, the Altadill partner in Neutrogena, is Chilean, not Spanish.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right. Thanks for the correction and good luck to him, I bet Chileans would be pushing for him ;-)
DeleteOf course! Jose is a friend of mine for long years. He is onboard thanks to a group of fanatics Chilean sailors who put the money.
ReplyDeleteJust being able to watch Jean Le Cam and Bernard Stamm together on the same boat will be worth the time spent following this race. They are so different in personality that it is remarkable they even thought of sailing together. After the last Vendee I really came to appreciate Jean Le Cam, both as a sailor and as an entertainer. I know I sometimes make too much of this, but the value he provides to his sponsors cannot be underestimated. For example, they know that he will not be able to win the last Vendee Globe against all that talent with new boats, but his broadcasts and attitude were always positive and entertaining - indeed, among the funniest moments of the race. That's what sponsors and their customers like to see. So chapeau to Jean and Bernard. I know I'll be following them the entire voyage. And maybe this will be what Stamm needs to finally get to the top of the VG next time.
ReplyDelete