Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - Race 5 Day 10
by Marina Thomas 12 Dec 2013 03:53 PST
12 December 2013
After racing over 2,000 miles from Albany, Western Australia and with less than 20 miles to the finish line, will Henri Lloyd be victorious or will OneDLL and qingdao be able to challenge its competitor for those all-important 12 points?
With little over 10 miles separating Henri Lloyd, OneDLL and Qingdao from each other, both teams will be doing all it can to stall Henri Lloyd from claiming its first win in the Clipper 2013-14 Race, further extending its overall lead in the race. After being becalmed in the early hours of the morning, the team continues to battle the final miles inshore to Sydney, Australia. Skipper Eric Holden knows all too well, it's not over 'till it's over:
"We had a good overnight run offshore and came out of Stealth Mode in first place. We have Qingdao and OneDLL chasing close behind and we are in for another tight finish. The boats further astern are now in Stealth Mode themselves so we can only hope that they are still a way back."
The rest of the fleets progress has been hindered as they battle the EAC current (Eastern Australian Current) and the tactical decision of whether to go inshore or offshore. With Mission Performance and Jamaica Get All Right taking the inshore route, it seems the light and variable winds continue to hamper the competitor's progress. After losing valuable ground in the last 24 hours skipper of OneDLL, Olly Cotterell explains his reluctant decision to head inshore.
"Last night was exceedingly tiring.The problem we had was the further offshore we got the windier it got. Now this would not have been an issue apart from the fact that 'Kraken' our heavy weight kite is down and out at the moment so we had to try and keep further inshore and use the lighter winds."
At 18:00 UTC yesterday, Old Pulteney requested to activate its Stealth Mode. Its position will be hidden from the rest of the fleet and the Race Viewer until 18;00 UTC today. (Thursday 12 December).
For the latest ETAs please click here.
To view the official race viewer click here.
To read all the skipper reports click here.