Clipper Race: Race 14 Day 5 – White Sails Up

(June 12, 2014) – The wind has strengthened dramatically and veered around to the north after a series of frontal squalls passed over the fleet, meaning the teams have gybed and are now racing with white sails up.

After several days of frustratingly slow progress, spinnakers have been replaced with the Yankee 1 or 2 as the shift finally came through and boat speeds picked up.

Jamaica Get All Right, the most southerly yacht in the fleet is being helped along by the Gulf Stream current and still leads Race 14. Derry~Londonderry~Doire has moved ahead of close rivals Switzerland into second position.

Simon Talbot, skipper of GREAT Britain, currently in fourth, said: “It was so great to finally have enough wind to get us fully up to speed and once again see us doing what we are capable of in terms of powering along and eating the miles. It was like a breath of fresh air when the front passed over us this morning, bringing with it a rapid shift to the north in the direction of the wind and an increase in strength that meant our spinnaker was rapidly replaced with our fixed luff sails as we powered up to full speed on a cracking beam reach. This new breeze continued to build making for some stunning sailing during the afternoon and early evening, still to the backdrop of clear blue sky and mild air temperatures.”

Gareth Glover, skipper of Qingdao, in ninth place, said boat speed was in double figures and the team dropped the lightweight kite just before the wind built to more than 25 knots. “After rigging our heavyweight kite we decided that the Yankee 1 wound be a better plan and no staysail on a close reach. This kept us moving most of the day with reef one in the main but as night fell, we swapped to the Yankee 3 staysail and reefs in the main as the wind went forwards again and it became more of a beat. We also must have found a bit of current as our boat speed is above what we should have for this sail plan and hope we can close the gaps on the yacht in front.”

Simon Rowell, the Clipper Race’s meteorologist, said the fleet should have good, generally northerly winds for the next two days or so off the back of the low that’s moving away to the east of the fleet now, then a day or so of lighter westerly winds after that before the next system moves in behind them.

Report by event media.

Skipper reports: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/skipper-reports
Crew diaries: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/crew-diaries
Race tracker: http://yb.tl/clipper2013-race14
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.

The 12 teams began Race 14, the 2850 mile leg from New York City to Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on June 7. The fleet is estimated to arrive by June 21.

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 on July 12.