Clipper Yacht Race 2013-14 - Panama 100 Cup finale underway

by Clipper Ventures on 5 May 2014 Clipper Round The World Yacht Race 2013-14 - The captivating denouement of the PSP Logistics Panama 100 Cup is underway but with extremely light tropical winds and the teams beating upwind, it could still be a long and painful finish.

The Clipper Race Committee shortened the course for Race 11 last night and named the new finish line at the Fallarones Gate, around 75 miles away for the fleet front runners at 0800 UTC, who were then making between six and seven knots.

Henri Lloyd has overtaken Great Britain and at 0900 UTC was four miles ahead, in the lead. Team Garmin has also overtaken Jamaica Get All Right to go into third position as of 0900 UTC. The two teams are within sight of each other and are now match racing to the finish line.

Jan Ridd, skipper of Team Garmin, is aiming for his team's first podium finish. He said: 'I know that the last few hours of this race will be very hard and we will have to be on top form to just keep ahead of Jamaica Get All Right.

'I think everyone on board will be glad that this race will soon be over as it has been an emotional roller coaster with the big gains and losses made by different boats as we enter into different localised weather patterns. At least now we are all in the same area and if the weather stays as forecast we should have a fairly good run to the new finish line.'

Pete Stirling, skipper of Jamaica Get All Right said: 'Having another boat in sight is always a good bench mark of your own performance. Jan and I go back a while as we were both skippers on the Clipper 2009-10 Race so have some experience of sailing one on one against each other. At the moment Team Garmin have a slight advantage over us but we are working hard to turn that around. Just like old times!'

Standings

Position - Team	DTL
Henri Lloyd	0NM
Great Britain	10NM
Jamaica Get All Right	19NM
Team Garmin	14NM
Old Pulteney	48NM
Derry~Londonderry~Doire	57NM
Switzerland	53NM
One DLL	61NM
Qingdao	130NM
PSP Logistics	128NM
Mission Performance	144NM
Invest Africa	210NM