The Garmin American Challenge underway: Clipper Race fleet depart Seattle
by Kathryn Foulkes 29 Apr 2018 22:19 PDT
29 April 2018
Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race 10: The Garmin American Challenge © Ben Solomon
The teams competing in Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race set sail from Seattle on Sundayas they embark on the race stage which takes them to Panama. The intense 4,000 nm Race 10: The Garmin American Challenge is one of two stages in Leg 7 and is expected to take the crews approximately 26 days to complete.
All eleven Clipper Race teams were given a heroes’ send off by loved ones and Seattle locals at The Port of Seattle’s Bell Harbor Marina. After a week in its home city, the Visit Seattle team had the honour of leading the Parade of Sail, with the boats showing off their team colours. This farewell celebration included a water cannon guard of honour by the Seattle Fire Department.
Going into Leg 7, the penultimate leg of the 2017-18 edition, Sanya Serenity Coast is leading the overall standings, and is followed by follow Chinese team entry, Qingdao, which is in second and Visit Seattle in third.
First placed Sanya Serenity Coast Skipper Wendy Tuck, from Sydney, Australia, is leading a team for her second consecutive Clipper Race. On departure, she said: “After the Mighty Pacific Leg, Race 10 might seem a little gentler but it can still be tough. We are still in the North Pacific so we can still get big low-pressure systems coming across, so conditions are likely to be very varied.”
On departure, all teams competed in a short inshore circuit in front of Seattle’s impressive skyline. After two laps around Elliott Bay, the winning team was, very fittingly, Visit Seattle. The results determined the starting order for Race 10’s Le Mans start which will take place on Sunday 29 April after the crews have passed through Puget Sound and into the North Pacific Ocean.
And that’s where things will start to get interesting, as Clipper Race Director Mark Light explains: “It’s going to get very tactical as the fleet heads south to Panama. If they stay inshore, there might be help from some tide and current but further offshore will generally will provide much stronger winds. Teams will need to think ahead - where do they want to be in three days’ time and how are they going to get there.”
The drysuits and thermal layers of earlier legs will gradually be replaced by sunscreen and shorts as the temperature rises near Mexico. The end of Race 10 will feature one of the highlights of the Clipper 2017-18 Race – the Panama Canal. Transiting this engineering masterpiece will be a once in a lifetime moment for the majority of the Clipper Race crew.
The fleet arrives into Panama between 23 and 27 May. After a short respite, the second race of Leg 7 will see the yachts travel North from the coast off Panama City, to New York City.
As well as competing in the race, the Visit Seattle yacht will also be engaging in pioneering scientific research after it was fitted with a special sensor for monitoring the effects of ocean acidification around the US Coast.
The Clipper Race is working with the Port of Seattle, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - an agency within the US Department of Commerce – as well as the University of Washington, Sunburst Sensors and Visit Seattle to raise public awareness of its Ocean Acidification Program, which studies changes in ocean chemistry in response to increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, associated with climate change.
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