Alex Thomson ready to race

The Barcelona World Race (BWR) is the only double handed, non-stop, unassisted race around the world. The race is part of the IMOCA Ocean Masters World championship, which provides an international bench mark for extreme ocean sailing.

Alex Thomson who will skipper Hugo Boss this year achieved second place in the first BWR 2007-2008 with co-skipper, Andrew Cape. This year Thomson has partnered with Pepé Ribes one of Spain’s most celebrated sailors, with a strong race history in the IMOCA, Volvo Ocean Race and the Americas Cup.

Thomson and Ribes will race  for up to 90 days non-stop in their IMOCA 60 designed by VPLP. The course is from Barcelona to Barcelona with the sailors racing the fastest route approximately 26,000 nautical miles (46,300 km) via the three capes: the Cape of Good Hope off the South African coast, Cape Leeuwin south of Australia and the infamous Cape Horn at the most southern tip of South America.

The BWR is a race held in the most extreme conditions known to man. The sailors will be faced with conditions that would test any person to their physical and mental limit. With the race course taking Hugo Boss into the Southern Ocean close to the Antarctic. Thomson and Ribes will be faced with wind speeds in excess of 70 knots and waves as high as 10 storey buildings. Hugo Boss is designed to travel at a top speed of 30 knots, fighting to secure an overall victory in the Barcelona World Race.

The sailors will dodge hazards such as icebergs, contend with rough weather conditions and will deal psychologically with the isolation of potentially not seeing another vessel for the entire race, and land a sight saved for the finish. Alex Thomson says: "The race is about survival. Survive and then win."

On top of this, another challenge faced by the Skippers during the race, is ensuring basic human needs such as eating and sleeping are met when faced with these extreme conditions.

Yachtsmen can't afford to sleep for long periods, and coping with this unnatural rhythm requires considerable training. For this reason, Thomson and Ribes begin adjusting their sleep patterns weeks in advance ready for their time on-board Hugo Boss. The watch system is gruelling and to ensure optimum performance at all times the skippers will take it in turns only sleeping for short periods at a time.

Race preparation is the key to survival. Thomson and Ribes need to prepare their bodies for the physical trial awaiting them on-board. During the course of the race, the skippers will lose up to eight kilos each in weight. The extreme conditions and physical capabilities required, means they can burn up to 7000 calories a day. With this in mind it is important that Thomson and Ribes are constantly refuelled to cope with the physical exertion to skipper a 60ft yacht around the world.

Nutritional needs are met by eating the same Freeze-dried meals eaten by Astronauts. In addition to the freeze-dried food, the skippers also have a limited number of snacks known as 'little luxuries'. These snacks play a key psychological role. It is critical that Thomson and Ribes do not get dehydrated while racing and ensure they are constantly monitoring fluid intake. To achieve this they rely totally on their on-board water maker, a vital tool in offshore racing.

The Race organisers FNOB (Fundació Navegació Ocea`nica Barcelona) estimates a line-up of 10 international teams at the start of the race on December 31.