HUGO BOSS in the Barcelona World Race: latest news from on board

11/02/2011
10 February 2011 - On New Years Eve 14 boats set out from Barcelona to sail around the world and back to Barcelona without stopping. Each boat has two people on board and the yachts are just under 20 metres long. The Barcelona World Race began in very light Mediterranean weather but since the boats entered the Atlantic there has been some boat-breaking conditions, two boats have already had to withdraw from the race having been structurally damaged. The fleet is now in the Southern Ocean – the worlds most inhospitable sea that surrounds Antarctica. The boats are stretched out in a line between Cape Town and Cape Leeuwin having been at sea for 40 continous days. Hard to believe that this race is not even half way through.

The poor start that HUGO BOSS had in this race due to the last minute substitution of its primary skipper due to a medical emergency meant that the boat left the Mediterranean not performing at the boats maximum. In a non-stop round the world epic of 100 days this poor start can be overcome if the crew and the boat perform at their potential which is what is now happening to the team supported by HUGO BOSS and HUGO BOSS Eyewear.

Quote from Andy Meiklejohn on board HUGO BOSS: “After a challenging start to this race HUGO BOSS has been starting to show her real potential in the last 10 days. We have made up several places, been the fastest boat in the fleet regularly and have begun to make those in front of us peer nervously over their shoulders… On board HUGO BOSS the relationship with my co-skipper, Wouter Verbraak is fantastic. We have worked through getting to know each other and the boat and we are now at a 100% and enjoying every minute of this race.”

Quote from Alex Thomson: “Having been taken in for emergency surgery two days before the start of the Barcelona World Race was heartbreaking for me given the amount of preparation that the team and I personally had put into preparing for this race. It was very difficult to see HUGO BOSS leave the dock without me on board. Having said that, I am so impressed with Andy and Wouter and they appear to have created a winning partnership in this race. The boat having had a slow start is now very much beginning to show her potential and I am very excited for the future. HUGO BOSS currently fights for the 8th position and in the last two weeks has really shown what she is made of having jumped up from 12th to 9th place. In the short term future it is likely HUGO BOSS will gain more places.”


Barcelona World Race, “ALEX 99” sunglasses aboard 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 licence 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 crews 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: 14/10/2011, 11:20