Barcelona Bad Boy….

Get ready. I know that you are probably preoccupied with The America’s Cup (go here for great daily video updates). There’s great suspense. Will Dean Barker get canned in favor of Ben Ainslie? Is there a killer new keel under secret development? Have ‘ol Larry and Dicko finally got their act together, or is the usual musical chairs meltdown just around the corner? We’ll see. And then we’ve got the Mini Transat to keep us going.

“Thank God I’ll finally have someone with me to close the hatches…” Photo by Jon Nash

But spare a thought for a race that will start out of Barcelona on November 11. Because it will kick ass. The brainchild of Mark Turner and his Offshore Challenges empire (which Ellen, excuse me, Dame Ellen, calls home), The Barcelona World Race is something entirely new. A double-handed, non-stop circumnavigation. We’ve got the solo Vendee, we’ve got the fully-crewed Volvo. So this is the Goldilocks race—something that fits nicely in between. It’s just right (though it would be great to get a fully-crewed nonstop race like The Race going again, now that there are so many G-Class multihulls out there). Different psychology, different performance level, different risks and dynamics. It’s amazing no one thought of it before. Turner smartly chose Open 60s, because a huge fleet already exists. And so far there are seven teams, chock full of the world’s top Open 60 and offshore sailors. Here’s the entry list so far:

Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) & Damian Foxall (IRE) / Paprec Virbac
Vincent Riou (FRA) & Sébastien Josse (FRA) / PRB
Dominique Wavre (SUI) & Michèle Paret (FRA) / Temenos
Alex Thomson (GBR) & Andrew Cape (AUS) / Hugo Boss
Jérémie Beyou (FRA) & Sidney Gavignet (FRA) / Delta Dore
Guillermo Altadill (ESP) & Brian Thompson (GBR) / Boat name tbc
Roland Jourdain (FRA) / co-skipper tbc / Veolia

That’s a list of well-seasoned group of global racers (between them they have a total of 38 circumnavigations), many of whom will be training for the 2008 Vendee. Unlike the undersubscribed Volvo there will probably be some very close racing. Need convincing? Settle in and check out this nice series of promo vids. And one thing I can guarantee is that Turner and his Offshore Challenges team will deliver a nail-biting, cutting edge, internet experience. This is going to be good. I promise…

Video Bonus: Check out this video showing how America’s Cup crews amuse themselves when racing is canceled day after day. See, the German team is good at one thing…

Have A Wetass Weekend,

Tim Zimmermann