The battle to claim the first points of Race 3: The Spinlock South Atlantic Showdown is raging with six of the eleven teams making their way to the scoring gate.

Imagine your Korea and Visit Sanya, China lead the charge. Visit Sanya, China Skipper, Seumas Kellock reports: “Today has seen ourselves and Imagine your Korea locked in a vicious battle to see who can get further east, fastest in order to get to the scoring gate and pick up those all important bonus points. Constant comparisons of sail setting, boat speed and course have kept not only me and Jorge but the crew busy and engaged all day long and into the night.”

The GoToBermuda team is maintaining the pressure from the north and is on the hunt for its first bonus points of the 2019-20 edition. Skipper David ‘Wavy’ Immelman said: “So onward and east ward, and the race for the gate has six boats all heading for the points... we are unfortunately currently lying sixth, but with some luck and perseverance there might still be a point in it for us. It does mean that we are reaching very tight and heading a bit north, here's hoping the low pressure comes in our favour and we get to run back south to the rhumb line with speed and a nice following wind.”

Much to the dismay of the teams which opted for the more southerly routing and long since opted not to go for the scoring gate, the teams to the north continue to make good progress. The incoming weather front however is leading to the convergence of the fleet towards the rhumb line, positioning themselves to hopefully best benefit from the increase in wind speed.

Seattle looks to have made the decision not to venture further north for the scoring gate bonus points and the decision is paying off as the team is currently sitting in first place. Coming up from the south, Qingdao has made it to second and Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam to third. Josh Stickland, Skipper of Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam said: “Well folks it’s almost crunch time. When you get to reading this the barometer will be dropping and the wind speed will be rising, and you will start to see the winners and losers of this race start falling into line in the next couple of days.”

After a few days of calmer conditions the teams are ready for what is to come Ian Wiggin, Unicef Skipper said: “Excitement is building for some stronger winds which are due later today. The smooth seas and gentle breeze of the past few days has been most pleasant but we are all now ready for what will hopefully be a wet and wild ride all the way to the finish.”

Scoring gate results will be shared on the Clipper Race social channels once verified