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Day 104 Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio confirm their retirement from the Barcelona World Race
Central Lechera Asturiana has confirmed
today that they have retired from the Barcelona World Race because
of safety fears if they were to repair and carry on. The damage to
the ring frame could be repaired by the team, the onset of Southern
winter in the Pacific crossing and especially for a Cape Horn
passage would be extremely tough and is considered much too risky.
Ten days ago Central Lechera Asturiana
reported a damage to the ring frame which supports the engine box.
The first reaction of Juan Merediz and Fran
Palacio was to contact their management team and the
sponsor to decide what to do. Both agreed that the best course of
action was to head to New Zealand.
Meredizand Palacio today stated:"In
this difficult moments is when we are most grateful for the support
that Central Lechera Asturiana and our team always have given us. It
is never easy to make decisions like this. But safety is the first
requirement that we put together and the southern winter is upon us.
That really is the fact which we cannot get round or ignore.
Andy Meiklejohn and Wouter Verbraak
have less than 1400 miles to go on Hugo Boss to and this midday are
under 120 miles almost due west of Madeira. They are still sailing
upwind in NE’ly breeze but the weather scenario for them and
FMC is changing quite significantly. The dominant
Azores high pressure is getting weaker and a cold front is pushing
in from the west. That is entirely decaying the Portuguese trades
and the trade winds all the way down to the Canaries . For
Meiklejohn and Verbraak they will likely
have another day to in the remnants of the trades then it will be
lighter, and so at the moment they will carry on the same course
just east of north, but maybe hitch north again if there is an
opportunity. And then there is the little low pressure on the
Moroccan coast which will give them something to get upwind all the
way to Gibraltar but it will not be as easy as it previously looked
and they are still four days from the Med.
But the situation for FMC is less clear as
the trades decay for them, ending up in a light W’ly. So they can
either point for Gibraltar and take what comes to them, or can sail
a longer W’ly route for an uncertain long term future and certainly
windier, bumpier conditions.
Meantime We Are Water are now starting to
make good progress having got to the east and getting into better
trade winds, to the point that after tacking to the NW again five or
six hours ago they should go a little further today and then finally
start to get the lift they want which will finally allow
Jaume and Cali to bring the bow up on port
tack and head in a much more northerly direction and reel off some
good miles towards the Equator.
www.barcelonaworldrace.org
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