The majority of the fleet in The Spinlock South Atlantic Showdown, is speeding through the Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint. It’s a closely fought bonus point battle and with still at least four days of racing left in Race 3, 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 revitalised. 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.”
“At the moment we are enjoying the ‘Champagne sailing’ conditions, with the crew trying to out do each other with speeds on the helm” David Hartshorn, Skipper on board Seattle reports.
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 (went against the wind and oncoming sea) 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 a crew member sustained an injury from a fall.
IMAGE: Taken on board Punta del Este