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Sailing picture : Ambiance avant départ 42068

28.12.2010
Ambiance avant départ



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28.12.2010 Back to news

Arturo, the lucky!

It needs little more than setting off for three months on a double-handed round-the-world across the oceans to get you dreaming, and when the yacht is the "Laughing Cow®", children are unanimous. Today at the racing village, the children of Barcelona were in the foreground. At 11:00 all the skippers met on the "Expo" stage to receive a drawing that they would take with them around the world.

To unite the population around this event, a large drawing competition was organized in the fifteen schools of Barcelona. This morning, the winners handed over a drawing to each of the 14 crews. For Groupe Bel, the young Arturo was the lucky one to meet Kito and Sébastien. He was even able to visit the yacht with his mother. Despite the language barrier, and as always, the morning passed with the smiles and good humor that characterize the Groupe Bel team.

The young Arturo will remember this fine moment for a long time. His drawing “the diving whale” will travel with the two sailors during their three months of racing; a nice allusion to the children of Barcelona who have been faithfully following the last hours of the sailors on shore in Barcelona.

Talking of preparations
“We are nearly ready”, said Kito on Monday afternoon. “The lads have worked well on the yacht. The bags are ready, we are checking the large list of equipment, and this is taking up all our time. You’d almost wish to unload it all so as not to load down the yacht, but, nevertheless, we are leaving for three months. In fact, we are impatient to go to be able to rest at last!”, jokes the skipper. On board Groupe Bel, mainsail hoisted at midday in the harbor of Barcelona, everything has been put together and taken apart, just to check for the last time that it is working properly. The following preparations are being made: freeze-dried food, vacuum-packed clothes and the last list of “fresh” products to be loaded on Friday morning. There are just three days to the big day.