Unstoppable, unshakable duo Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella sailed into the record books this morning when their Owen Clarke designed IMOCA Open 60 GAES Centros Auditivos broke the finish line of the Barcelona World Race in sixth place, stopping the clock at 07.17.18hrs UTC for an elapsed time of 102 days, 19 hours, 17 minutes and 18 seconds.
They were totally united in their joy as they crossed the finish line on the bow of Caffari’s boat which had already taken her once around the world in 2008-9.
The morning was chill with dark grey clouds hanging low over the Barcelona skyline as the GAES Chicas sailed their final miles upwind, but their smiles radiated their sheer happiness from several miles before the line: “We were unable to sleep last night because of the nerves and emotions.” Confessed Anna Corbella this morning, jubilant to have completed the Barcelona World Race.
Caffari,who has more experience of such race and record finishes, was nonetheless rendered almost speechless by the warmth of the welcome offered her by Corbella’s home city.
Corbella becomes the first Spanish woman ever to sail and race non stop around the world, while the unstoppable Caffari maintains her remarkable record in the extreme discipline of short-handed and solo ocean racing, by completing her fourth circumnavigation since she first went all the way around the globe in 2004-5. No other sailor in the world has sailed around the world more often in the last six years!
Dee Caffari extends her world record to become the only woman ever to have completed four circumnavigations, adding a second non-stop eastabouts racing passage to her sixth place in the epic 2008-9 Vendée Globe. And she returns to Barcelona a much more balanced individual having sailed twice westabouts, upwind against the prevailing winds and current, and now twice ‘ the right way’ eastbouts – Cape of Good Hope to Cape Leeuwin to Cape Horn and back to Barcelona. And Caffari has her sights absolutely set on a fifth, as she targets the 2012-13 Vendée Globe.
On completing the Barcelona World Race, Dee commented: „I’m very happy and very proud of what we achieved. Four boats didn’t make it and we did make it, and we did it non-stop which is what we wanted to do. And we had other challenges to overcome, and we did all of that. I think overall performance-wise we’ve got to be happy, we’ve achieved something that’s quite special and we can’t forget that not everybody gets to sail around the world non-stop. But it’s still in me, I’ve still got to get a top five place!“
The vastly experienced Caffari paired up with Corbella a little over a year ago on a fast track programme which was designed to step the Catalan former Olympic 470 dinghy aspirant turned Mini sailor up to complete a full racing circumnavigation on this race.
The duo’s training programme went in at the deep end, dealing with one of the biggest Atlantic storms of winter 2010, took in several passages back and forth from Barcelona to England, as well as last summer’s Vuelta España a Vela round Spain race. But they had formed a solid bond well before this race started and together they have sailed a solid, well considered race which showed Caffari’s increased confidence in her reliable boat since her Vendée Globe, and often proved that the duo could match many of the duos who finished above them.
Anna Corbella spoke of their partnership, saying „We really developed a really special relationship. I thought at the beginning that living together was going to be the most difficult experience in this sailing round the world. But you know, you haven’t got any other chance, so you depend on each other, you have to help each other, and that develops a very special relationship, and in fact I was surprised. We had a very, very good time, no arguments, same objectives, always pursuing the same goal, so it was great.”
They were slowed in the return up the Atlantic by having to make a composite repair to a forward ring frame which forms part of the forward ballast tank, but still had pulled back 550 miles on the fourth placed duo in their early part of the Atlantic.
Unfortunately for Corbella and Caffari a longstanding duel since the entry to the South Atlantic with rivals on Hugo Boss, Andy Meiklejohn and Wouter Verbraak, was finally terminated when the Kiwi-Dutch duo had to divert into the Falkland Islands to repair their damaged sails, but not until after an incredible match race passage around Cape Horn where the two boats which are usually domiciled in the same English marina, rounded the rugged Cape together.
Ironically the duel reprised a Vendée Globe tussle over the same stretch of the course between Caffari and Brian Thompson sailing a previous incarnation of the powerful Juan Kouyoumdjian designed Hugo Boss. (ex Pindar)
The duo become the fourth pair to complete the race non-stop, retaining Caffari’s excellent record for great boat preparation and reliability.
Since her 2004-5 Global Challenge race, Caffari’s record has been incredible especially considering she made a quick transition to the IMOCA Open 60 only in 2007, a complete culture change from her 178 days solo against the winds and current record of 2005-6.
GAES Centros Auditivos crossed the finish line to complete their Barcelona World Race at 07.17.18hrs UTC on Monday April 13th. Their elapsed time for the course was 102 days, 19 hours, 17 minutes and 18 seconds, an average speed for the course of 10.219kts for the 25,200 miles theoretical course. They sailed an actual course of 28,653 miles, at an average 11.61 knots.
Quotes
From the boat after finishing:
Dee Caffari:“I’m very good. Very happy and very proud of what we’ve achieved, it’s great to be in Barcelona with a welcome like this so early in the morning, I’m really impressed. It’s been a long time but it feels great to be finished. We were ready for the finish – we were ready for some fresh food and a hot shower.
“Each race is really different, and they’re all special in their own way. To have raced two-handed is very different, and means that you’ve got someone to enjoy it with the whole time, and this finish was just spectacular for both of us so it’s been really nice.
“The start was awesome for us, we had a great start and that stuck in my mind – I remember this beach very well as well motored down. And obviously finishing with this reception is incredible after so long at sea. But there’s been a lot of really good points – a few bad points, but we’ve smiled through all of it and we’ve had a lot of fun.
“I had a request from Anna that she wanted to round Cape Horn while she could still see it so she could get a photo and we just scraped in before it got too dark, and at that time we actually crossed gybes with Hugo Boss and overtook them as well so it was very memorable. A special place to pass anyway, and then to move up the rankings – I think overnight we gained two places so we were good.”
You’ve now done two eastabout and two westabout round the worlds:
“I’m even now – I’m even both ways. I’m getting better at it! And I think believe it or not there’s probably a few more round the worlds left in me! And I still consider myself relatively sane!”
“For me, I had the opportunity to be the first to sail the wrong way, and then the first to go both ways, and now to be a contributing factor to Anna having such a successful story today is brilliant, and she deserves it. She’s been really good and I think there’s a lot more left in her as well.”
Anna, will you do three or four more round the worlds?
Anna Corbella: “I’m not sure, but for sure I’m not going the wrong way round, 100 per cent sure, because I hate going upwind!”
From the dock:
Dee Caffari: “It’s crazy, I’m really impressed. I didn’t expect it to be quite this big, especially so early in the morning but Anna’s local heroine now so it’s deserved that she has a welcome like this.”
How do you feel about your result?“If I’m completely honest a little mixed, I was really hoping for a top five, but four boats didn’t make it and we did make it, and we did it non-stop which is what we wanted to do. And we had other challenges to overcome, and we did all of that. I think overall performance-wise we’ve got to be happy, we’ve achieved something that’s quite special and we can’t forget that not everybody gets to sail around the world non-stop. But it’s still in me, I’ve still got to get a top five place!
“Four really good skippers with really good boats had problems and that’s the nature of a round the world race, you have these issues and you either overcome them and keep going, or it beats you. We had a structural issue that I’ve never had to deal with before and I’ve had to test my boat building skills which I haven’t had to do before, so I’ve learnt loads. But for me strategy and tactically with the weather I feel as if we’ve really stepped forwards, which was key for me as I did try and work quite hard on that. And I’m pleased with the decision-making process, now I’ve just got to work on pushing a little bit more consistency.
“I think what our downfall is, we’ve discussed it and where our weakness is is where we have big wipe-out or a bit issue I lose a bit of confidence and it takes me a while to get back on the saddle again. And with Anna, she was quite happy to go ‘Woah, let’s back off’, and probably what I needed was someone saying ‘No, let’s get that sail back up again’ and I think that was a difference with the TJV with me sailing with Brian [Thompson] maybe, there was that person who had more confidence to go again.”
What drives you to keep going round the world? “There’s nothing wrong with my relationship or my life at home, honest! I love it. And the fact that I keep improving encourages me to keep going back out there. I don’t find it a hardship, I actually find it enjoyable. Even the good and the bad, because you overcome a challenge and you feel quite good about life. I think because I’m still improving it encourages me to keep going out there. And, you sail with some of these amazing names and I’m feeling more confident being amongst them know, you know four laps of the planet and I think I deserve my place!
“The boat’s been really good. We had that structural issue which I was really gutted about because we had perfect weather and we were in a mode of catching up the miles. You know we slowed down for a week and I took two days to do the repair, so I was gutted about that. Sail-wise we’ve got a full boat working well and it’s all really good. So for reliability I love my boat! And my team are just the reason we got around. The reason I’m successful at non-stop is because I have that team – Joff (Brown, Technical Manager) is meticulous in his preparation and it gives me the confidence having his support.”
Dee Caffari:“We had an awesome start, that was a very memorable day, we were very happy. And in the Mediterranean we just worked really hard, all the boats were really close, the weather was a lot of transitions, a lot of work, and some boats really suffered and some boats gained. We were doing really well, and then we had our first big challenge of the race and we got caught in a fishing net.”
Anna Corbella on swimming in Gibraltar to cut nets off the rudders:“It was a horrible problem, and in the end we had to get into the water and cut it loose, because it was impossible to get rid of it. But anyway, we thought after this anything could happen to us so we were ready to sail on.”
You were competitive down the Atlantic, then just under Cape of Good Hope you had a high pressure ridge and a lot of upwind sailing and lost a lot of miles?
Dee Caffari:“It was not what was promised in the brochure, I’d told Anna about the South and I’d told her about the big surfs and the downwind sailing and big gybes to do. And after we got round the Cape of Good Hope our first experience was a few days of really horrible upwind sailing, and Anna was a little bit disappointed with that.”
In the South your strategy was quite conservative then pushed hard in the Atlantic on the way back up?
Dee Caffari:“In hindsight maybe we should have pushed a little harder. But we kept the boat in one piece and all the sails in one piece. We had a few challenges along the way, we’ve got a few stanchions missing from a little wipe-out. But we overcame all of them, we lived in the cold – and Anna was very brave in the cold, she was very happy when we turned the corner into that Atlantic. And that was our time then to chase the boys!”
Anna, did you suffer with the cold in the South?
Anna Corbella: “Well the truth is that it was cold, but we were so well prepared. In fact there was a Catalan company who really dressed me up from top to bottom. I was cold but I didn’t suffer too much, and besides I benefitted from Dee’s experience, she was very helpful – she told me when I should change clothes, when to go in, have a hot drink etc. But you can imagine when you get this spray of water at three degrees, and you get all splashed and wet, but you know there’s an end to it and after Cape Horn everything is going towards warmer waters so you look forward.”
Tell us about the relationship between you, will you be good friends after this?
Anna Corbella:“Sure, we really developed a really special relationship. I thought at the beginning that living together was going to be the most difficult experience in this sailing round the world. But you know, you haven’t got any other chance, so you depend on each other, you have to help each other, and that develops a very special relationship, and in fact I was surprised. We had a very, very good time, no arguments, same objectives, always pursuing the same goal, so it was great.”
Dee Caffari:“Well Anna’s very British now, she’s on time ALL the time. It worked really well, for me having an extra pair of hands was an added security. It made me very confident knowing that Anna was on the lookout for me. It builds your confidence and we got on really well. We had a lot of laughs and enjoyed it, and I think a lot of people noticed that most of the time in our videos and photos that we were generally smiling. Even if one of us was having a bad day the other one could bounce the other back. So we didn’t have any issues which I was surprised at because it’s something I was nervous about. I think twice we admitted to each other we may be grumpy because we were tired, and both of us were in a similar situation so it was all good.
“She’s developed a taste for Haribo, I’ve developed a taste for jamon!”
Dee, you’ve been around the world three times now non-stop, would you see yourself doing this on a latest generation boat for a record attempt?
Dee Caffari:“Ooh, is that an offer! Yes, I’ve definitely got more round the worlds in me and I’m learning all the time and getting better. So the boys are going to have to watch out because I’m not staying in sixth place!”
After 102 days at sea do you feel like going for a walk, Anna?
Anna Corbella:“Sure I feel like going for a run right away but of course my legs are weak because we haven’t been walking here on board and I guess that my first hundred metres are going to be exhausting and I’ll have to stop and rest. In fact Dee warned me that after the Vendee she went for a walk and had to take a break because she was exhausted!”
There’s a lot of talk about your all-female crew, do you think it will have repercussions for female and Spanish sport?
Anna Corbella:“I hope so. I hope I am encouraging lots of females to take on sailing. For me personally my effort is the same whether I’m the first, the third or the fifth. But I realize I am opening a door for many other girls, many females who are going to see that if I did it they can do it as well. I encourage all girls to take on ocean sailing, I think this is a great experience for all of us.”
Dee, final thoughts on the race and whether you’d do it again?
Dee Caffari:“It’s awesome. The dynamic of having two people on board but the challenge of sailing around the world non-stop is still there regardless. We all face different challenges and we all had to overcome them. Being successful this time gives you more confidence, and I hope in four years time I’ll be at the third edition.”
Anna Corbella:“After the Mini Transat this is something very different. It’s not very much the same at all. But we’ve had such good fun, a lot of laughing. We also we had some hard times, but right now I’m thinking about my immediate future, which is a shower, sleeping and eating, and then we’ll see about the opportunities but I’m very enthusiastic and I’m ready to do it again.”
