Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm, skipper of Cheminées Poujoulat, has announced his participation in the Barcelona World Race. Stamm who recently became the overall winner of the Velux 5 Oceans Race, has confirmed his co-skipper as British sailor Conrad Humpreys.

This brings the total number of entries to eight so far for the Barcelona World Race that starts on 11 November this year. Co-skippered by 16 of the world’s top offshore sailors, the quality of the duos of the Barcelona World Race is boosted further by this entry. Stamm and Humphreys have completed three circumnavigations each and takes the combined tally for the number of circumnavigations by the competing skippers to an incredible 44 in total.

Stamm’s Open 60 Cheminées Poujoulat is the ex-Virbac-Paprec (a Farr design, launched in 2003), previously skippered by a fellow-Barcelona World Race competitor Jean-Pierre Dick. This boat has an impressive track record including winning the 2003 and 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre, finishing sixth in the 2004/05 Vendée Globe and third in the 2006 Route du Rhum.

Commenting on the recent announcement Stamm said: “Conrad and I have completed exactly the same number of circumnavigations each. The three round the world voyages we each have under our belts, will be hugely beneficial to us during this race, as we will both be famiiar with what we will be confronted with while we are out there. Conrad knows the IMOCA 60ft monohull having already raced in the Vendée Globe in a similar boat. He is very organised, a great guy and we get on really well. On the human plan, all is okay; for the life on sea and his sailors’ competence, I’m not worried at all, his experience is considerable! I know Conrad is very specialised in terms of weather forecasting which is very important in this race.

“A two crew race is more difficult for the boat because the two sailors will push it more! As I don’t know my new boat very well, it will be an accelerated and invaluable training for the 2008 Vendée Globe. On the human side of things, the advantage with having two onboard is that you can rely on each other. It is important to race with someone who shares your objectives because three months can be a very long time. I think a crew who has issues with harmony can’t win. On a crossing of 15 days, it’s possible but not on a round a world race.”

Humpreys added: “There are few sailors in the world who have enough determination for racing round the world three times in a such little time. When I found out that Bernard wanted to race in the Barcelona World Race, I immediately wanted to join him, the decision was easy to make. Bernard is a determined sailor and I think his Open 60 is the best prepared boat for this race.”