Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella embark on GAES’ first race. Supplied image.
by Coralie Rassinoux
At 1100hrs (BST) today, Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella crossed the start line of the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) race from Hondarribia to Barcelona onboard the Open 60 yacht GAES Centros Auditivos. This will be the duo’s first competitive outing on GAES Centros Auditivos and as the only female crew to participate in the Barcelona World Race later this year, they will be keen to put in a competitive performance.
GAES Centros Auditivos will race against seven other IMOCA Open 60’s over a 1730 nautical mile course (3204kms) that will take the crew around the Spanish coastline. Taking around 18 days to complete, the six stages of the race are: Hondarribia-Santander, Santander-Gijón, Gijón-Sanxenxo, Sanxenxo-Calpe, Calpe-Palma de Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca-Barcelona.
Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella will be joined onboard by their rotating crew of Bruno Dubois, Joff Brown, Scott Gray, Tim Carrie, Harry Spedding and Aleix Gelabert. On this first leg, the crew will also be joined by the director general and CEO of GAES, Antonio Gassó, who said: ‘I am enormously proud to sail with such a good team.’
On the dockside before leaving Dee Caffari said: ‘We want to do well but our main challenge is to work as a cohesive team." Co skipper Anna Corbella added: ‘I am excited to be competing in the race and really keen to familiarise myself and adapt to the boat.’
For Dee and Anna, this race forms part of the racing calendar leading up to the Barcelona World Race. Spanish Anna Corbella and Briton Dee Caffari will be taking part in the race, which celebrates its second edition and leaves Barcelona on 31st December 2010. On successful completion of the 46,300 km race, Anna will become the first Spanish female to circumnavigate the globe non stop.
Dee Caffari
