An incident-free journey marked by the calm that affected the fleet's tail

With departure from Marina Rubicón, in Lanzarote and arrival in Marina de Mindelo, Martinique, the first stage of the Ocean Raid - Grand Prix of the Atlantic very fast, with toilets that remained stable on the 20 knots of intensity. The whole fleet arrived at its destination in Marina de Mindelo, after five days of navigation. The first in the early morning to port was the Islay Dos, Sun Odissey 49 of Artur Soto, followed by H43 Havana, Bavaria 50 of Miguel Hernández.

The lone navigator, Fernando Goizueta, on board the Baltic 54 Siesta, shared a video in which you can well appreciate the formed sea conditions that the navigators faced in the first stage of Lanzarote to Cape Verde.

The bulk of the fleet made the decision to delay the departure of the second phase Cape Verde - Martinique in order to complete the last preparations and repairs, as the automatic and wind pilots of some ships had suffered some mischief in the previous stage. Two ships, the Ulteria, the Catana 431 of Jaime de Muller and the Isway Two of Artur Soto, delayed their departure a few hours but finally left at 5: 00 p.m. on 17 January, the day initially planned by the organization, while the rest of the fleet did so the following day, at 12: 00 noon.

The first days of navigation were marked by stable alisies of about 20 knots of intensity that allowed most ships to mark their best records until the 180 miles that they managed to devour in 24 hours the fastest. The Utreia and the Isway Two, which had left a few hours before the rest, were able to take advantage of the wind intensity of these first days of singlature by putting miles between them and the rest of the fleet.

In the middle of the journey, with 1000 miles and so many miles to go, an area of crouches spread from east to west and affected the entire fleet, but especially those that were back. Undirected winds of 2 to 6 knots of intensity were the tonic for 5 days, in which the navigators had to test their tempere to keep moving. For example, on January 29, the lonely navigator Juan Antonio Martín, on board the Vagabundo, barely managed to cut 37 miles in 24 hours to the 881 miles that separated him from Martinique.

In the head of the fleet, the Islay and the Ultreia, which were already about 350 miles from Martinique, were less affected by the fall of the wind. It was only two days in which they suffered the calm, and they could finish the journey with an average of 152 miles per day. His particular duel remained at all times, with a distance between ships that never exceeded 65 miles and that the Ultreia cut in the last days to star in a "match-race"with the two ships in sight in their approach to Martinique, where they finally arrived the early morning of January 31 with just an hour of difference, after 13 days of navigation.

The next ships to arrive did it 3 days later. The H43 Havana, Bavaria 50 of Manuel Hernández and the Siesta, Baltic 54 of Fernando Goizueta arrived in Marina du Marin on January 03, while the Blaumari, Belliure 41 of Meritxell Cornudella did the day after. Whereas they had left a day later than the first two, they completed the Atlantic crossing in 15 and 16 days respectively.

Finally, at the last hour of February 05 and after 17 days on the high seas, the last two ships arrived: the Vagabundo, Oceanis 34, by Juan Antonio Martín, and the Colombo IV, Hunter 37.5 by Paco Vaño with crew A2.

With departure from Marina Rubicón, in Lanzarote and arrival in Marina de Mindelo, Martinique, the first stage of the Ocean Raid - Grand Prix of the Atlantic very fast, with toilets that remained stable on the 20 knots of intensity. The whole fleet arrived at its destination in Marina de Mindelo, after five days of navigation...

The Ocean Raid-Grand Prix of the Atlantic has completed its tenth edition. The organization thanks all the participants for their collaboration, especially that of Artur Sotos, who acted as the link of the organization in Lanzarote and Cape Verde covering the absence of Enrique Curt, the director of the test, who was forced to cancel his presence at the last minute for health reasons. Special thanks also for the indispensable collaboration of Marina de Rubicón in Lanzarote, Marina de Mindelo in Cape Verde and Marina du Marin in Martinique, as well as for the sponsoring companies Ausmar, Sailwiz and Cenautica. Special mention for the already mythical ONE bar of Rubicón that fire ocean sailors with their favorite song, to Tourism of Martinique that receives them with a basket of local products and to Armando Guilarte for his great work as host in Martinique.