Hugo Boss in the Barcelona World Race: back to full racing mode!

24/03/2011
March 24, 2011 – The double handed, non-stop race around the world has returned to the Atlantic Ocean. The two boats leading the pack have already passed the Equator and have lengthened the distance 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 a technical unassisted stop. On March 16 the crew made the difficult decision to stop at Port Stanley, the islands' capital, to make assisted repairs by working closely with their support team and sailmakers. On Monday 21 the team completed repairs to the sail and rig and HUGO BOSS left the port to resume racing.

On Wednesday 23, the boat sponsored by HUGO BOSS and HUGO BOSS Eyewear, was the fastest of the lot at 5 a.m., clocking over 17 knots as she rode the northern edge of a strong low pressure system that brought winds of over 40 knots.

Wouter Verbraak on board HUGO BOSS said yesterday: “The guys [of the support team] have managed to do more than we envisaged in a short time. I would say we’re now 99 percent back to full racing mode. It’s nice to have the boat with full main again, we can’t believe how big it is, having not seen it for the last six weeks. However, any hopes of a gentle reintroduction to the race course will be short-lived, with a deep low pressure cell forming rapidly off the South American coast, which looks set to bring gale-force winds.”

“We’re anticipating way too much wind. The forecast is for gale force winds, 35-40 knots. Luckily it’s downwind, but you should never underestimate any system like this, especially here. The models tend to underestimate the wind, so judging by what the guys ahead of us had a week ago, we could be in for some 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 just keep 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.”

Barcelona World Race, “ALEX 99” sunglasses onboard with HUGO BOSS
At 13:00 on 31 December 2010, 14 boats left Barcelona on a 25,000-mile sailing race around the world two-handed – non-stop over some three months. Among these was the yacht HUGO BOSS, an IMOCA 60 sailed by the partnership of Andy Meiklejohn from New Zealand (34) and Wouter Verbraak from the Netherlands (35). Verbraak came in as a last-minute replacement for the British skipper owner Alex Thomson (36) who underwent an emergency appendectomy 48 hours before the off. Boat and crew are supported by HUGO BOSS and HUGO BOSS Eyewear, the brand that includes ranges of spectacles and sunglasses produced by Safilo on license from the brand. As part of that collaboration, Safilo has designed and produced a special model of sunglasses, the “ALEX 99”, now worn by the crew of the HUGO BOSS.

Press Office: Safilo, tel. +39.049.6985111, email baldoi@safilo.com | ISM Italia, tel. +39.02.733403, email abagno@ismitalia.it

Web: www.barcelonaworldrace.org, www.alexthomsonracing.co.uk, www.imoca.org, www.hugoboss.com, www.safilo.com


Last update: 11/10/2013, 13:22