Clipper Race: Henri Lloyd close to winning shortened USA leg

(May 31, 2014) – Henri Lloyd is looking unstoppable as the current overall leader of the Clipper 2013-14 Race continues to hold fast in its bid to win Race 13 – The Grange Hotels Trophy – from Jamaica to New York City. They will finish today.

Due to the continued forecast for light winds, Race Director Justin Taylor shortened the course on May 30 due to the light winds in the weather forecast. Boats will finish at the second of two gates, the most northerly gate, the Norfolk Gate. This gate is approximately 240 miles from New York itself.

After tackling fickle winds and varied conditions Henri Lloyd will surely claim Race 13 as one of its greatest so far. Having won the Scoring Gate and Ocean Sprint, an impressive five bonus points, the team could walk away with 17 points from Race 13. Skipper of Henri Lloyd, Eric Holden describes the last 24 hours:

“Today it was announced that we did manage to win the Ocean Sprint, which we are all very happy about after putting in a huge effort. Thanks to the team for digging that extra bit deeper that made the difference.”

Eric added: “We’ve made it into the Gulf Stream and it is rather rough with a 20 knot northerly coming up against the 2 knot current. After going through a particularly large squall cloud this morning we lost visual with the other three boats we’ve been racing against so we’re eagerly waiting on these six hourly schedules more than usual as it’s the only position information we get.”

Meanwhile, the battle between second-placed OneDLL, third-placed GREAT Britain and Switzerland, in fourth, couldn’t be tighter as just five miles now separates the three teams. With just three podium positions up for grabs, there will be no margin for error in the closing stages of Race 13. Skipper of GREAT Britain, Simon Talbot remains focussed on the task at hand:

“Hopefully we can do enough to catch and overtake OneDLL, but I fear that unless the weather randomiser strikes again the lead that Henri Lloyd have managed to pull out will be unassailable in the time available, but we will obviously do everything we can to try.”

With just over 100 miles until the finish line, Northern Irish team Derry~Londonderry~Doire remains as competitive as ever. Skipper Sean McCarter describes the mood on board: “With less than 100 miles to the shortened course finish line at Norfolk Gate, we are doing everything we can to overtake a few of the lead group. We had also hoped to make better use of the Gulf Stream but unfortunately dropped out of it today for several hours due to one of its ‘meanders’.”

As stipulated in the race rules, any team within 250 miles of the race finish must deactivate its Stealth Mode. Derry~Londonderry~Doire and Old Pulteney’s positions are now both visible on the Race Viewer and to the rest of the fleet.

Report by event media.

Skipper reports: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/skipper-reports
Race tracker: http://yb.tl/clipper2013-race13
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 13, the 1420 mile leg to New York City – The Grange Hotels Trophye – on May 24. The fleet is estimated to arrive into New York between 31 May and 1 June. The final leg resumes on 7 June and concludes with a spectacular homecoming in London on 12 July.

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.