Videocast: Arriving in Barcelona

Latitude: 41.40’ N
Longitude: 2.17’ E
Position: Second
Average speed: 0 knots!

And so I am writing my final diary entry for the Barcelona World Race from a small laptop computer, in a warm, dry comfortable hotel room, rather than being thrown about, struggling to press the keys of a cold, damp keyboard onboard a dark HUGO BOSS.

We have finished the Barcelona World Race! Capey and I crossed the finish line just off Barcelona at 05.34 GMT yesterday morning and it’s SO good to be here. The atmosphere at the finish was great, and we had a good night out last night, celebrating with family, friends and my shore team.

I’m feeling a mixture of excitement and reflection at the moment, looking back on the race and recounting some of our stories to everyone. The finish of any round the world race can mentally be quite bizarre for any sailor – Capey and I have had only each other for company for the last 94 days, and whilst technology allows us to keep in touch with everyone at home so easily, it’s a bit of a shock to step off the boat and go back to the ‘real world’.

HUGO BOSS is an amazing machine, and I am very pleased with the boat and how she has performed in this race. All of the way round the world I spent time looking at the boat and thinking about how I am going to race her when I am sailing alone, in my next event, the Vendee Globe. She is immensely more powerful than my previous boat and it’s been great to sail her in a double-handed race in which you’re able to push the boat much harder than if you are sailing solo, simply because you have twice the man power.

I’ll set up the boat a bit differently and adapt some of the systems for solo sailing – when I’m sailing alone I have to be careful not to push her too hard, as she’s a real handful. I hope that finishing this race proves to everyone that I can finish a race and sail both competitively and safely. Not finishing the last Vendee Globe and then losing my last boat in the Velux 5 Oceans race definitely changed me as a sailor.

The thought of something breaking is constantly on your mind, and it’s illustrated by the fact that four of out of the eleven boats that started this race have been forced to retire. We had some dramatic moments of our own, but it’s great to be here in Barcelona, in one piece, and finishing second, and I’m looking forward to returning home to the UK.

I’d like to thank all of my team for everything they have done in making this race possible for me.