Clipper Race lead group remain close

(April 29, 2014) – With two valuable extra points up for grabs for the fastest team to cross the Ocean Sprint Gate, the Clipper Race competition is getting fierce as the fleet continues to juggle positions at the top of the leaderboard in the race from San Francisco to Panama. With 1300 nm to go, the fleet is nearing Oaxaca, which finds the top half of the fleet within 45 nm of each other.

GREAT Britain, OneDLL, Jamaica Get All Right, Old Pulteney and Mission Performance have all reported completing the 90 mile Ocean Sprint, situated between the lines of latitudes 17 30 north and 16 north, and now await confirmation from the Clipper Race HQ on who has secured the fastest time and those important bonus points.

It was a disappointing Ocean Sprint for overall leader in the race, Henri Lloyd. Skipper Eric Holden described the sprint as “A non-event for us, considering we spent the first six hours sailing parallel to the start line and the following six hours almost stationary.” In contrast it seems GREAT Britain, who has once again taken a marginal lead in Race 11, had the wind gods on its side as it made a bid for the extra two points.

Skipper Simon Talbot said: “Thankfully as the afternoon drew on, our efforts were rewarded and the wind started to build once more and we are now making good speed towards the end of the Ocean Sprint and the first of the compulsory gates. Weather wise it looks like the wind will start to die off after the first compulsory gate, but will hopefully leave enough behind for us to reach the second gate before it shuts off completely.”

With the light and fickle winds continuing to hamper the fleet’s progress, PSP Logistic, currently in ninth place, remains determined to win its titled race.

Skipper of PSP Logistics, Chris Hollis explains in his skipper report today, “Surprisingly, we managed to hold our own through the afternoon, except for GREAT Britain. It had an astonishing run of nearly 60 miles, and it is now half way through the Ocean Sprint. So the challenge has been posed. As I write this blog we are about to enter the Ocean Sprint, so challenge accepted. We are making very nice speeds between 8 and 10 knots, so I hope we have positioned ourselves to give us a fighting chance to get our name on something in this race.”

Meanwhile, Old Pulteney has chosen to activate Stealth Mode. This means the team’s position will be hidden from the Race Viewer and the rest of the fleet for a period of 24 hours from 1200 UTC today, and published again tomorrow at 1200 UTC.

Report by event media.

Skipper reports: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/skipper-reports
Race tracker: http://yb.tl/clipper2013-race11
Race website: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com

Background:
The 40,000 mile Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race began in London, UK on September 1 for the fleet of twelve identical Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s.

Twelve teams started the 3,350 mile leg from San Francisco, USA to Panama on April 19, and are expected to arrive by May 10.

The race route includes Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; Albany, Sydney, Hobart and Brisbane, Australia; Singapore; Qingdao, China; San Francisco, USA; Panama; Jamaica; New York, USA; Derry-Londonderry, Ireland; and Den Helder, Netherlands before returning to London in July.