Clipper, Transat, Laser Worlds—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond
by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 17 May 2016
The PSP Logistics Panama Cup - Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Clipper Ventures
Just a few weeks ago, the Clipper Round The World Race was in a rainy and cold Seattle, the crews shaking-off a seriously tough leg from Qingdao, China to the Emerald City as boatwrights hustled to fix busted bowsprits and broken structural bits. Now, however, their realities could not be more acutely different as the fleet of 12 identical 70-footers makes its way from the Pacific Northwest to the Big Apple, by way of the Panama Canal and the sometimes slow and sticky tropics.
At the time of this writing, the fleet was somewhere between Southern Mexico and Nicaragua, with less than a thousand miles of sailing left for the leaders before the clock gets paused and the transit through the canal begins.
That’s the good news for the Clipper sailors. The bad news is that their worlds are currently comprised on sunshine, heat, more sunshine, plenty of salt water, humidity, more sunshine and little wind. While this could be read as a big step up in the world from some of the days that the event spent in Seattle, the no-wind situation can be tough on nerves and corrosive on concentration levels.
At the time of this writing, some 375 nautical miles separated “LMAX Exchange’s” bowsprit from “Da Nang Viet Nam’s” sternpost. According to the Clipper website, the various teams only covered somewhere between 14 and 79 nautical miles in the past 24 hours, with the top three boats only reporting distance gains of 30 to 51 nautical miles. Tough going, to say the least!
While New York City can sometimes be plenty hot in June, at least there are ways to effectively combat the heat (read: AC, ice and plenty of hydrating fluids) once the fleet reaches the Big Apple.
The singlehanded Transat bakerly fleet is also making tracks for New York City and the finishing line for their transatlantic push. Twenty-six boats entered the race, with nine having already reached Point B. Unfortunately, eight skippers saw their dreams implode due to structural damage, tattered sails and medical emergencies, leaving nine skippers still out racing westbound across the Atlantic.
Francois Gabart, sailing aboard the “Ultime” class trimaran “Macif” enjoyed fantastic conditions and handedly won line honors in this challenging race, but he narrowly missed setting a new course record. Other sailors faired less favorably, including Richard Tolkien (61), an experienced British bluewater sailor who abandoned his boat due to a medical emergency (he was hit in the head by a furling drum, requiring stitches).
Meanwhile, for fans of Olympic-class racing, the Laser Worlds are currently taking place on Banderas Bay, Mexico (May 10-18). A glance at the leaderboard reveals that-at the time of this writing- Nick Thomson (UK) and Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (FRA) were locked in a tight battle for first place, with the always-fast Robert Scheidt (BRA) currently sitting in third place. American and Canadian interests were well represented at the event, but unfortunately none of these sailors had yet to break into the Top Ten.
So, while the Clipper fleet struggles and swelters to make progress southbound, and while the Transat bakerly fleet works hard to reach their westbound finishing line, sailors competing at the Laser Worlds are savoring hot weather and the right kind of winds to enjoy a great inshore race series. Best yet, they can go swimming in between races-a luxury that would be borderline suicidal for the singlehanded sailors in the Transat bakerly.
Odds might be slim that you’ll bee seeing many (or any) Transat bakerly or Clipper sailors signing-up for the Laser circuit, but you can bet your last roll of duct tape that thoughts of swimming and sleeping in dry and stable beds at night have crossed their minds at least a few (hundred) times since they last left solid ground astern.
May the four winds blow you safely home,
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