Hugo Boss in the Barcelona World Race. Back to full racing mode!
The two boats leading the pack have already passed the Equator and have lengthened thedistance between them and their followers. Hugo Boss is currently in seventh place.On March 13 Hugo Boss reached the haven of Berkeley Sound in the East Falklands to make atechnical unassisted stop. On March 16 the crew made the difficult decision to stop at Port Stanley, theislands' capital, to make assisted repairs by working closely with their support team and sailmakers. OnMonday 21 the team completed repairs to the sail and rig and Hugo Boss left the port to resumeracing.On Wednesday 23, the boat sponsored by Hugo Boss and Hugo Boss Eyewear, was the fastest ofthe lot at 5 a.m., clocking over 17 knots as she rode the northern edge of a strong low pressure systemthat brought winds of over 40 knots.
Wouter Verbraak on board Hugo Boss said yesterday: “The guys [of the support team] havemanaged to do more than we envisaged in a short time. I would say we’re now 99 percent back to fullracing mode. It’s nice to have the boat with full main again, we can’t believe how big it is, having notseen it for the last six weeks. However, any hopes of a gentle reintroduction to the race course will beshort-lived, with a deep low pressure cell forming rapidly off the South American coast, which looks setto bring gale-force winds.”
“We’re anticipating way too much wind. The forecast is for gale force winds, 35-40 knots. Luckily it’sdownwind, but you should never underestimate any system like this, especially here. The models tendto underestimate the wind, so judging by what the guys ahead of us had a week ago, we could be in forsome rough weather sailing for another 36 hours.”
“Strong conditions are always the same, there’s not much to gain and there’s a lot to lose. We’ll justkeep doing like we’ve been doing from the beginning of the race, which is to nurse the boat through it,and make sure we’re a little bit more on the safe side, rather than the fast side when we have a chance.”
