Clipper Race: Speed through the sprint

Published on November 5th, 2019

(November 5, 2019; Day 13) – The majority of the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race fleet is speeding through the Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint, and with still at least four days of racing left in Race 3 across the South Atlantic to Cape Town, the jostle for podium places is heating up too.

Returning from Stealth Mode, Seattle is currently in sixth place whilst Imagine your Korea will be visible on the Race Viewer at 1800 UTC today.

Currently in eighth place, David Immelman, Skipper of GoToBermuda, reports: “We are in the Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint. It has picked the crew up quite a bit, and the urgency toward speed has been revitalized. Since we started the sprint, we have made a number of sail changes, pretty much all, increasing sail area, trying to push her harder and harder.

“I am not sure if I am a little too conservative with my sail plans, but at this stage we are getting good boat speed and the sailing is not too hard on the helms. We are also surfing a lot with this lovely following swell, which is fast and certainly good fun.”

David Hartshorn, Skipper on board Seattle reports: “At the moment we are enjoying the ‘Champagne sailing’ conditions, with the crew trying to out do each other with speeds on the helm.”

The ability to speed through the ocean sprint hasn’t come without challenges for the teams. Currently in fourth place, Qingdao Skipper Chris Brooks describes their recent experience: “Let me set the scene. The south side of the low pressure had given us headwinds. We beat into oceanic breaking waves in 45 knots of breeze.

“It’s soaking wet. It’s not soaking wet like when you’ve been in heavy rain and you walk through the door. NO? No, not like that. It’s soaking wet like someone has a fire hose pointed at you from across a small room. Above, beyond and in addition to this, three other firemen turn their hoses on full power too. They do this simultaneously for approximately one second in every seven.”

Top of the leaderboard is Unicef. Skipper Ian Wiggin has reported significant moments the crew have shared on board whilst racing, saying: “We had a bit of a double celebration this morning, in the darkness, with rain lashing down and spray flying over everyone. It is Christian’s birthday, so we sang him the usual good morning, followed almost immediately after by the crossing of zero degrees latitude, the Greenwich Meridian.

“We are due south of London, where, for many of us this crazy adventure started and where it will end. We will now be sailing eastwards and have to sail exactly the whole way round the world to finish our journey.”

The Skipper and crew on board Zhuhai, are being closely supported by the Race Office and the Clipper Race Global Medical Emergency Support Partner, PRAXES, after crew member Duncan Paul sustained an injury from a fall. For further updates on his condition, click here.

For the estimated arrival times, click here.

The 11 teams set off on October 23 for the second leg of the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race, referred to as Race 3: Spinlock South Atlantic Showdown, which takes the fleet 3555nm from Punta del Este, Uruguay to Cape Town, South Africa.The fleet is due to arrive in Cape Town between November 7 and 11.

Race details – Skipper list – Race route – Tracker – Facebook

About the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race:
The Clipper Race was established in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world in 1968-69. His aim was to allow anyone, regardless of previous sailing experience, the chance to embrace the thrill of ocean racing; it is the only event of its kind for amateur sailors.

Held biennially, the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race gets underway September 1 for the fleet of eleven identical Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s. This 12th edition has attracted 688 crew representing 43 nationalities for the 41,000+ nm course. The race finishes on August 8.

The course is divided into 8 legs and 15 individual races, with some of the crew in for the entire circumnavigation while others will do individual legs. The team having the best cumulative score over the entire course will win the Clipper Race Trophy.

The Clipper 2019-20 Race Route:
The fleet departs from London, UK to Portimão, Portugal; across the Atlantic to Punta del Este, Uruguay; the South Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa; across the Southern Ocean’s Roaring Forties to Fremantle, Western Australia; around to the Whitsundays on the east coast of Australia, back into the Northern Hemisphere to China where teams will race to Qingdao, via Sanya and Zhuhai; across the mighty North Pacific to Seattle, USA; to New York via the famous Panama Canal; to Bermuda and then it’s a final Atlantic crossing to Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland; before arriving back to London as fully proven ocean racers.