Day two of Race 11 from Panama to New York saw the sailors of the Clipper 11-12 Round the world Yacht Race finding their sea legs again.
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - Race 11 from Panama to New York
“It is fast, exhilarating wet and slightly wild,” sums up Gold Coast Australia skipper Richard Hewson.
It’s been busy for all then 68-foot yacht entries currently at the south of Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea. Qingdao’s racing came to a brief halt, as a crew member attached by his safety line was washed overboard.
“It brought home to everyone the importance of the safety procedures we have to follow at all times, and showed the value of the Clipper Race training as the crew dealt with the situation perfectly. Luckily for us the worst outcome of the situation was that he lost a shoe,” says skipper Ian Conchie.
Throughout the fleet sail changes are back on the agenda, with the Clipper Race crew getting back into the routine of rough ocean racing, enduring up to 20 knots of wind. Drama continued elsewhere, with Singapore’s Yankee 1 ending up in the sea and crew working hard to recover the sail. Similarly on Derry-Londonderry skipper Mark Light describes his unlucky day starting with a Yankee 1 headsail making a break for freedom and ending with a bowl of cereal being thrown of him!
The fleet remains close together, with entries having overtaken each other during the night. Currently leading the fleet is De Lage Landen, closely followed by Gold Coast Australia and Singapore.
For now all ten Clipper Race entries remain focused on getting up to the Windward Passage, a strait between the island of Cuba and Hispaniola, the fastest to get the vital Scoring Gate points up for grabs.
