Clipper Round the World Yacht Race fleet sprint towards Leg 7 finish
by Heather Ewing on 26 May 2012
Gold Coast Australia - Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race Abner Kingman/onEdition
Clipper 2011-12 Round the World Yacht Race fleet are on the eleventh day of race eleven from Panama to New York. It has been an exciting 24 hours of close racing for the fleet of ten yachts with only ten miles separating the current first and second place rivals Gold Coast Australia and Visit Finland.
With around 24 hours until race finish near New York, Skipper Richard Hewson explains his tactical manoeuvres that have allowed the Australian entry to steal back poll position in race eleven, 'Gold Coast Australia has been charging up the coast like a freight train over most of the day on a tight reach with reasonable winds. We have finally managed to take the last of the 40 mile lead that Visit Finland held over us a few days ago, bringing us into first place.'
On board the Finnish entry, skipper Olly Osborne reports that the team is doing its best to pack in as many miles as possible and with less than thirty miles separating the top three yachts on the leader board the race finish could be one of the closest yet. For current third place competitor Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, the heat is on to hold its position against the rest of the fleet and secure the team’s first podium win of the series.
The first of the yachts is estimated to arrive late evening local time on Saturday, 26 May (early hours Sunday 27 May GMT) and the rest of the fleet is expected to finish over the next 12-18 hours.
The yachts will muster at Liberty Landing in New Jersey for a few days before the whole fleet sails in a formal parade across to New York where it will berth at North Cove Marina in Manhattan’s financial district for a busy programme of activity with Clipper Race sponsors.
Latest boat positions (1200 UTC)
Position Team - DTF / DTL
1 Gold Coast Australia - 245NM / 0NM
2 Visit Finland - 256NM / 11NM
3 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital - 276NM / 31NM
4 Geraldton Western Australia - 313NM / 68NM
5 De Lage Landen - 319NM / 74NM
6 Singapore - 333NM / 88NM
7 Qingdao - 357NM / 113NM
8 Welcome to Yorkshire - 360NM / 115NM
9 New York - 368NM / 123NM
10 Derry - Londonderry - 374NM / 129NM
Full positions are updated every three hours and can be found
online along with daily skipper
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race website
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