British Three Peaks Race - Slow sea road to Scotland

by Peter Campbell on 23 Jun 2010 With the wind dying away overnight, the leading yachts in the British Three Peaks Race are making slow progress up the west of Scotland towards the finish of the final sailing leg at Fort William, at the head of the long and narrow Loch Linnhe.

At 4.30am today, local time, the leading yacht, EADS Innovation Works, was maintaining its lead and was abeam of the Scottish seaport of Oban on its starboard hand and the Isle of Mull to port, both famous names on the west coast.

Based on satellite reports, the British boat, an X99 and sailed by a crew contesting their third Three Peaks, has a lead of about eight nautical miles from a group of yachts, including the Australian entrant Team Whistler.

EAD Innovation Works has about 50km to sail up Loch Linne to Fort William where the runners in each team will climb to the peak of Ben Nevis and back to complete this demand combination of short-handed offshore sailing, mountain running, plus some cross country cycling thrown in for good measure.

the leading half dozen boats were making less than two knots in the early hours of the morning, but at least they will have a daylight sail, or possibly, a row to the finish at Fort William.

Team Whistler, sailing the Reflex 38, Reflex Lightning, has climbed into second place, having sailed well since leaving Whitehaven on the west coast of England, yesterday.

However, a delayed check-in at the end of the second sailing leg (they missed the tide at the entrance to Whitehaven) followed by a navigation error on their cycling leg, saw the Tasmanian Three Peaks champions slide from first to seventh overall in standings, country sailing, running and cycling times.

Today, as they sail (or row) up Loch Linnhe they need to open up a good lead under sail to give their runners a buffer against British teams that so far have proven faster on the mountain climbs.