Clipper Race: The race within the race

Published on December 11th, 2019

(December 11, 2019; Day 24) – Dare To Lead has crossed the finish line into Fremantle this morning at 10:07 UTC for the team to claim seventh place in Race 4 of the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race. The team clinched victory in the mini-match race that was raging between nearest challenger Seattle.

“At the last sched we had extended over our match race rivals aboard CV22 Seattle by 70 nautical miles, a more comfortable position than we had imagined following the mixed fortunes of the windhole but we won’t drink all the beer… honest!” said Dare To Lead Skipper Guy Waites.

Seattle is scheduled to arrive in early tomorrow local time.

Skipper of Seattle, David Hartshorn, said: “The team should be proud of their achievement, they have just crossed one of the most remote places on the planet. They have all logged in excess of 5,200nm, experienced F9 winds with gusts even higher and seen nine metre waves. Much of these things many yachtsman or women will never see in their life, let alone experience for a number of days in a row.”

Elsewhere in the fleet, late starters Unicef, Punta del Este, and Visit Sanya, China have a break in the low pressure weather they have been experiencing.

Seumas Kellock, Skipper of Visit Sanya, China reports: “What a difference a day makes. This time yesterday we were hammering along with 60 knots winds with waves that sounded like they would break the boat in half, but today we are struggling with six knot winds and a horribly lumpy sea state left over from the storm.”

Kellock added: “We are just about to break the 2000 miles to finish mark, which seems like a long way to go but if we can do the last 2000 as fast as the first then we’re having a good day at the office.”

With another milestone ticked off the list up next is the all important Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint where bonus points are still up for grabs.

For the arrival ETAs in Fremantle… click here.

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

The 11 teams set off on November 17 for the Leg 3/Race 4 of the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race, which takes the fleet 4750nm from Cape Town, South Africa to Fremantle, Australia. The majority of the fleet is due to arrive in Cape Town between December 9 and 14.

Delayed: After starting, Unicef diverted course on November 22 to Durban for crew member Andrew Toms to disembark and receive medical treatment for a suspected appendicitis, with the team returning to the race on November 27.

Collision: Punta del Este and Visit Sanya, China were in Cape Town for repair after an incident at the start of Race 4 resulted in significant damage. Their race finally got underway on November 28, with a review of the facts finding Sanya, China to be at fault after a clear breach of the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) 10 ‘On Opposite Tacks’. Details.

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.