Day 7 brought an eventful 24 hours for the ten strong fleet of racing yachts participating in the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race. With a tropical storm threatening to obstruct the fleet’s progress in Race 13, it seems nothing will stand in the way of the teams’ individual determination to obtain that coveted podium position, and those vital extra points.
Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race
As reported yesterday tropical storm ‘Chris’ which has been the cause of some challenging conditions for some of the fleet in the past 48 hours, has now started to pass reports Clipper Race meteorologist, Simon Rowell, “Tropical storm ‘Chris’ should be starting to ease off now. Once that gets back to a normal Atlantic low the whole thing should slowly move off to the north east.”
While a tropical storm might deter the most seasoned of sailing professionals the Clipper Race fleet fought on and the Welcome to Yorkshire was the first entry to cross the Scoring Gate yesterday at 15:46 GMT winning three extra points. Geraldton Western Australia followed at 03:58 GMT and won two points. There is still one point up for grabs for the third place on this optional Scoring Gate in the race course. With just three points separating fourth place Singapore and fifth place Welcome to Yorkshire , the top of the overall leader board continues to get closer.
Qingdao is still making its way towards Newfoundland, following an incident yesterday morning, where crew member Lynn Harmer fell below deck and banged her head during unsettled weather conditions. Lynn, 61, from Hull, is still stable and her condition is unchanged. The yacht skipper is currently 24 hours away from shore and is in contact with the Falmouth Coast Guard and the Clipper Race Office. Further updates will be posted on the website.
The Clipper Race fleet is set to arrive into Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland between 29 June and 1 July.
