Clipper fleet prepares for approaching low front

(March 26, 2014) – While the good racing conditions continued yesterday, skippers spent the day closely analysing their data and altering courses overnight in preparation for the approaching low weather system, forecast to impact the fleet over the next 24 hours.

Explaining expectations, OneDLL skipper Olly Cotterell said: “In about 20 hours or so from writing this, the change will start and it will start with the wind dying off. The low developed off the coast of Japan, one of the areas of cyclogenesis that affects this area. It is tracking up the cold front of a low to the north of us that was birthed over the Kamchatka Peninsula. This means that the centre of the low has so far stayed fairly far south.

“It is tracking north east, towards the Aleutian Islands.We do not want to end up north of the centre of the low as this would give us more unfavourable conditions, so we are trying to get east and a bit south.”

Aside from Mission Performance, all visible yachts are now heading south east of the rhumb line. Invest Africa, GREAT Britain and Qingdao have elected to use the full 48 hour Stealth Mode allowance for Race 10 and thus, their positions will remain hidden from the Race Viewer till later tonight (18:00 UTC – Invest Africa, 00:00 UTC-GREAT Britain) and tomorrow (12:00 UTC – Qingdao).

While some teams may choose to follow the shorter, northerly rhumb line course to San Francisco, Simon Talbot, skipper of GREAT Britain summarised decisions, saying: “The yachts in the north are making hay whilst the sun shines, whilst the yachts in the south put money into the bank, saving for the rainy day that they hope will ruin the harvest of the yachts in the north.

“It is all nail biting stuff and with over 3,400 miles still to go until the finish, the same distance as the whole leg from Rio to Cape Town, there is still everything to play for.”

Once the weather system passes, all eyes will be firmly focused on claiming valuable points in the Scoring Gate, which now lies less than 500 miles ahead of the fleet.

PSP Logistics is currently in 8th position after 6 days racing, compared directly to the rest of the fleet in its same position. The teams leaderboard position is updated daily at 12:50 UTC based on its previous 24 hours elapsed distance.

Report by event media

Skipper reports: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/skipper-reports
Race tracker: http://yb.tl/clipper2013-race10
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.

Eleven teams started the 5,600 mile leg from Qingdao, China to San Francisco, USA on March 16. PSP Logistics started the leg on March 19, a result of their late arrival into China due to several setbacks.

All twelve teams are expected in San Francisco between April 8-12, subject to prevailing conditions. The fleet will be berthed at South Beach Yacht Club until the April 19 start of Race 11 to the Panama Canal.

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.