Kruzenshtern (Russia) leads Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge fleet
by Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge media on 5 May 2009
Tall Ships route Sail Training International
http://www.sailtraininginternational.org/
The Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge fleet have enjoyed excellent conditions overnight and are progressing well on the race towards Tenerife. The winds have remained good at 20 kts, from a northerly direction.
At 1400 hrs GMT today, each vessel reported their position to race control. Using the Sail Training International rating system, this has been calculated into the positions for the fleet and shows that Kruzenshtern (Russia) is in the lead overall on corrected time and in the group made up of both Classes A and B. Tecla (Netherlands) is in second, and Jolie Brise (UK) is in third. Leading the group made up of Class C and D vessels on corrected time is Urania (Netherlands), with Rona II (UK) in second and Peter von Danzig (Germany) in third.
On the water, Kruzenshtern has been revelling in the conditions and is ahead, with Peter von Danzig just two miles behind and Rona II a further five miles behind her. The winds however are forecast to reduce to six-eight kts over the next 24 hours, further reducing to 3-4 kts over the coming days, which will slow the fleet considerably and favour the smaller vessels.
Peter von Danzig report that because they had lost a spinnaker yesterday morning, they didn’t risk using one over night, but they are back on track now with a new chute that is helping them cruise along at a minimum of 10 kts. They appear to be having a lot of fun and have picked up a small passenger en route - a little bird that dropped in for the ride!
Unfortunately the Spanish naval yacht Arosa was forced to retire with a broken pipe. This is a relatively minor problem so she is making her own way to Oporto and did not need any assistance.
The fleet tracking software (http://www.tallshipsraces.com/mapping) is now operational and shows the actual positions of the fleet as as 1400 hrs GMT today. A further update will be posted tomorrow at the same time.
The list of all the vessels positions on corrected time can be seen in the Vessel Positions Update - http://www.tallshipsraces.com/results/
http://www.tallshipsraces.org/
The Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge is organised by Sail Training International with the American Sail Training Association.
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