Franco-Irish pairing win first ever Barcelona World Race

(GETTY IMAGES)

Nerves were jangling all the way to finish line here last night as the Franco-Irish pairing of Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall became the first ever winners of the Barcelona World Race. It left the Anglo-Australian team of Alex Thomson and Andrew Cape considering what might have been.

They were making sure that they nursed the boat over the last few miles having feared losing their mast when coming through tough conditions in the Straits of Gibraltar. Nevertheless he took time to say: "What I am feeling is pure happiness. These moments are the peak of what one could hope for – it's five years of hard work being rewarded." Foxall, too, was particularly pleased to see Irish colours at the top of the podium.

The non-stop double-handed round the world event had taken about 93 and a half days, which is six more than the current record for sailing solo round the world in similar boats, the Open 60, in the four-yearly Vendee Globe which starts in November this year. Part of the reason for the extra time was having to sail upwind for about 30 of those days.

Dick, a veterinary scientist turned ocean racer, will be in the Vendee, too, but yesterday was just happy to contemplate a well-earned win. His is one of only two of the remaining five boats from the nine starters last November that have fulfilled the non-stop objective of an event devised and organised by Mark Turner and Dame Ellen MacArthur from their Offshore Challenges company in Cowes.

Dick and Foxall in the Bruce Farr-designed Paprec-Virbac had a 400-mile advantage over Thomson and Cape. They have been in the lead since the 27th day and looked almost unassailable when the favourites, Vincent Riou and Sebastien Josse were dismasted a day later.

With Roland Jourdain and Jean-Luc Nelias, followed by Guillermo Altadil and Jonathan McKee also dropping out, the only real challenge came from Thomson and Cape. But, although they seemed at times to have a faster boat, they were forced into Wellington for repairs, which triggered an automatic 48-hour wait to restart. They are expected to finish less than 48 hours behind Dick and Foxall on Wednesday.

They, too, had a hard time re-entering the Mediterranean in the Strait of Gibraltar. We have had a very rough 24 hours with Sunday night being the worst of the race so far," said Cape." They suffered some gear damage plugging into50-know headwinds and had to turn round to make repairs, which, Cape estimated, cost them a further three hours.

Dick and Foxall were scraping the freeze-dried food barrel, living on soup for the last few days after taking supplies for only 84 days as their actual time for what turned into over 26,000 miles, rather than 25,000, turned their calculations upside down.