Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 2015-16 - Race 2 Day 17
by Clipper Ventures 24 Oct 2015 03:46 PDT
24 October 2015
LMAX Exchange and Qingdao are sailing close hauled in the final 500 nautical miles to Cape Town, making good speed of 10.8 and 9.1 knots respectively on their very different routes to the finish.
Unicef has crossed the finish line this morning at 0816 UTC.
Igor Gotlibovych, Skipper of Qingdao, described the tactics deployed by it and LMAX Exchange.
"With less than 500 nautical miles to go, the wind isn't really following the forecast and we are sailing close-hauled where we were expecting to be hoisting the spinnaker.
"In our 'match race' with LMAX Exchange, we are now further apart than we are away from the finish - our final route into Cape Town couldn't be more different. Still everything to play for and watching the weather developments with curiosity."
As of 0700 UTC, 430 nautical miles remained until the finish for LMAX Exchange, and 490 nautical miles for Qingdao.
Estimating the overall race standings, Race Director Justin Taylor updates: "Based on average speed so far LMAX Exchange is currently in eighth place and Qingdao is tenth. Although Qingdao took a dive to the south in order to avoid the high pressure system, it has still encountered light and fickle winds last night. LMAX Exchange decided to bite the bullet and go for the more direct route to Cape Town and has inevitably hit the light winds of that high."
To follow LMAX Exchange and Qingdao's finish, see the Race Viewer here.
To follow updates on Unicef's finish, follow our Twitter feed.
View the race positions here
Clipper Race veteran British Skipper Matt Mitchell, 28 is to join ClipperTelemed+ in Cape Town, to lead the team for the remainder of the Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race following the resignation of its current Canadian Skipper, Diane Reid who is leaving for personal family considerations.
"We are very sorry to see Diane leave us, but respect and understand her decision," said Race Director Justin Taylor. "She has been a very popular skipper and has run a great race into Cape Town. We wish her well."
Matt Mitchell has over 120,000 nautical miles under his belt, not only having led a team in the previous edition of the Clipper Race, but in a long catalogue of races including two Fastnets, three RORC 600s, Antigua Sailing Week, St Martin Heineken Regatta, St Thomas Rolex Regatta, BVI Spring Regatta, Le Voiles de St Barths, Cowes Week, Round the Island Race, Hamble Winter Series and ARC.
Matt said: "I'm very excited to be getting back aboard a Clipper 70 and look forward to meeting the ClipperTelemed+ crew. Diane has done a great job and I look forward to working with the crew to build on their campaign."