Hi, my name is Carlos but all my friends call me Barel, so I am hoping that you will call me Barel :-)
I am Spanish and I was born in Madrid in 1965. Though I have spent most of my life in Spain, I currently live in the UK, in Aldershot. I arrived here at the end of 2015 after being offered a really good job opportunity in a British firm located in the Farnborough airport. I am a software developer and I have been developing software for more than 30 years. I started with small home computers (Spectrum, Amstrad) and created a company which created some of the most popular 8bit games in Spain in the 80s. We continued creating arcade games (anyone remember playing World Rally in the 90s?) and mobile games. Then in 2005 I moved to Galicia (northwest of Spain) and owned an online shop dedicated to weird, original and amazing presents which I sold in 2010. Since then I have been working in developing web applications and in this last job we are creating a very interesting application related to aviation refuelling
I have been sailing since 2001, when I discovered this fascinating sport thanks to CINA, a Spanish sailing club where I have met most of my sailing friends. I instantly fell in love with this sport and since then I have done a lot of sailing, both in dinghies and larger yachts (nothing as big as the Clipper boats, the biggest I have ever sailed is a 45 feet), with around 10,000 sailing miles under my feet. I have done less sailing in these last 4 years since I moved to the UK, mainly because all my sailing friends are back in Spain, but I am soon going to put an end to that :-)
Apart from sailing, I like other sports like cycling, scuba diving or snowboarding, though I would not say that I am a "sports" person. I love reading (my favourite books are "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Midnight's Children") and going to the cinema (some of my favourite movies: "Amelie", "Miller's Crossing" or "Wall-E"). But above all I love travelling, visiting new places and meeting people around the world. I have been to many different countries like Venezuela (before Chavez), India, South Africa, Ecuador... and I'd love to see many more places and cultures in the future.
I met Puri, my wife, in Galicia in 2011. I instantly fell deeply in love with her and she is the best thing that ever happened to me. She fully supports me joining the Clipper Round the World race and I really love her for that, I could not really do this without her support. We make a great team, with similar or complementary tastes, we both love cooking, movies, reading and travelling around the world. We recently bought a large (37 feet) motorhome which we call "La Gringa" given its origin (it's from the USA) and we have started to use it to travel around the UK, with the idea of moving full time into it at some point and travel around Europe. I have a son who is 15 years old now, his name is Leo and he lives in Madrid with his mother (ex-partner of mine) and he is also really excited about my participation in the race.
I am really looking forward to participating in the Clipper Round the World 2021-2022 race. I am doing legs 2 and 3 and to me it is an incredible opportunity, it is like you are a football fan and you are offered the opportunity to play at Wembley. In this blog I will try to tell you everything about this adventure, since the initial idea until my arrival in Australia in December of 2022 (where Puri will be waiting for me to spend Xmas under the Australian sun!!)
I have been sailing since 2001, when I discovered this fascinating sport thanks to CINA, a Spanish sailing club where I have met most of my sailing friends. I instantly fell in love with this sport and since then I have done a lot of sailing, both in dinghies and larger yachts (nothing as big as the Clipper boats, the biggest I have ever sailed is a 45 feet), with around 10,000 sailing miles under my feet. I have done less sailing in these last 4 years since I moved to the UK, mainly because all my sailing friends are back in Spain, but I am soon going to put an end to that :-)
Apart from sailing, I like other sports like cycling, scuba diving or snowboarding, though I would not say that I am a "sports" person. I love reading (my favourite books are "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Midnight's Children") and going to the cinema (some of my favourite movies: "Amelie", "Miller's Crossing" or "Wall-E"). But above all I love travelling, visiting new places and meeting people around the world. I have been to many different countries like Venezuela (before Chavez), India, South Africa, Ecuador... and I'd love to see many more places and cultures in the future.
I met Puri, my wife, in Galicia in 2011. I instantly fell deeply in love with her and she is the best thing that ever happened to me. She fully supports me joining the Clipper Round the World race and I really love her for that, I could not really do this without her support. We make a great team, with similar or complementary tastes, we both love cooking, movies, reading and travelling around the world. We recently bought a large (37 feet) motorhome which we call "La Gringa" given its origin (it's from the USA) and we have started to use it to travel around the UK, with the idea of moving full time into it at some point and travel around Europe. I have a son who is 15 years old now, his name is Leo and he lives in Madrid with his mother (ex-partner of mine) and he is also really excited about my participation in the race.
I am really looking forward to participating in the Clipper Round the World 2021-2022 race. I am doing legs 2 and 3 and to me it is an incredible opportunity, it is like you are a football fan and you are offered the opportunity to play at Wembley. In this blog I will try to tell you everything about this adventure, since the initial idea until my arrival in Australia in December of 2022 (where Puri will be waiting for me to spend Xmas under the Australian sun!!)
