Jean-Pierre Dick, skipper of the IMOCA Open 60 Virbac-Paprec, has officially announced that he will be at the start of the Barcelona World Race on 11 November 2007 onboard his new Farr designed Virbac-Paprec – currently under construction in New Zealand.

Jean-Pierre, winner of the last two Transat Jacques Vabre races in 2003 and 2005, is currently in preparation for the solo Route du Rhum transatlantic race that starts this weekend 28-29 October from St.Malo, France. His new IMOCA Open 60 will be launched in 2007 in order to compete in the Barcelona World Race 2007 and Vendée Globe 2008, two of the key races of the ten event four year cycle of events in the IMOCA Ocean Racing World Championships. His co-skipper as yet unannounced,

Jean-Pierre is the seventh professional sailor to be officially announced for the Barcelona World Race, The Bar new two-handed non-stop round the world yacht race starting November 2007, to be held every 4 years. Jean_Pierre is joining the duos of Riou/Josse (PRB), Thomson/Cape (Hugo Boss) and Wavre/Paret (Temenos II).