Clipper Race: Race 6 delay once again

(January 21, 2020) – Race 6 of the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race, a 4380 nautical mile race from the Whitsundays, Australia to Sanya, China, has been postponed yet again, this time due to lack of wind. The fleet has continued to motor sail before the Le Mans Race Start. This is after a delay due to watermaker issues on three of the boats.

The Race 6 route will see the teams complete the first Le Mans start of the current edition, cross the equator for a second time and navigate the varied conditions through the Solomon Sea, into the Pacific Ocean and towards the first Chinese stopover. The start is now planned to take place at 0700 local time on January 22.

Race 6 is expected to take around 26 days with the fleet estimated to arrive into Sanya sometime between February 10-15, 2020.

In other news, the Clipper Race Committee has finalized the list of penalty points that will be deducted from the teams following the assessment of damages and repairs needed after the Leg 3 (Race 4), a challenging 4,760 nautical mile race in heavy weather conditions from Cape Town, South Africa to Fremantle, Western Australia. The penalty points for Sail Repairs and Equipment Damage and Losses have now been finalized.

Sail Repairs
As per the Sailing Instructions, two penalty points will be awarded to the relevant yacht when the running total of sail repair and replacement costs exceeds £500 and a further two penalty points will be awarded for every subsequent £500 for the duration of the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race. This applies to all sails and is cumulative.

After examining the level of sail damage and repairs needed at the conclusion of Leg 3 (Race 4), the Clipper Race Committee has issued penalty points to Seattle, 2 penalty points for exceeding the £500 barrier on sail repairs (Code 2 repair, Code 3 repair and Mainsail repair in Fremantle).

Equipment Damage and Losses
As per the Sailing Instructions, one penalty point will be issued when the running total for equipment damage exceeds £500, with a further one penalty point to be issued for every subsequent £500 on the running total.

Following Leg 3 (Race 4), Equipment Damage and Losses Penalty Points have been issued to Qingdao, 1 Penalty point for exceeding the £500 barrier on equipment damage (Antal Hook 16 lost overboard)

All teams have been informed of this update by the Race Director Mark Light.

A full explanation of penalty points can be found in our Sailing Instructions and FAQ section (under ‘The Race’, subsection: ‘When and why are Penalty Points applied?’).

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.

Source: Clipper Round the World Yacht Race