An eventful start to the Round Britain and Ireland Race has continued through the night. At one point in the early hours, Visit Malta Puma were 2nd overall in the race and Playing Around Logic was biting their heels in 3rd place overall, absolutely amazing considering that the majority of team in the race are professional sailors……go teams go!!!
The weather has continued to act as forecasted, with conditions at the moment 25 knots westerly which means that the yachts are now reaching, and will either have their Jip tops up or gennakers. Playing Around Logic called in this morning to say that all was very well onboard and everyone really enjoying the very close racing, They had Incisor of Wight off their starboard side and could see at least 4 other yachts around them, including Puma. At 8.20am they had sailed 170 miles from the start which means they have averaged 9.5 knots over the course to date, which is very good. Mate Graeme has the speed record for surfing downwind at 15.3 knots, and were rolling along at 11 knots of boat speed. They unfortunately are not going to be able to repair the torn A Sail from the start yesterday, but Skipper Peter is confident that it will not affect their overall performance!
Visit Malta Puma have emailed this morning to say all is well and wow, what a start that was!! They have been sailing very well and steady overnight and although the overall ranking positions are changing at every new schedule, they have been persistently ahead of their closest rivals, British Soldier since the start yesterday, a very encouraging sign. However the Army boys are tough cookies and it is only very early days yet!
News of the rest of the fleet…..the leading yacht on the water is the Volvo 70 Telefonica Azul skippered by Iker Martinez. They are well into the North Sea adjacent to Newcastle at the moment. Although they are well ahead on the water, they are not leading on handicap which is held by the TP 52 John Merricks.
The forecast for today is that the wind will start to ease and become a lot more variable, which means the top speeds that the yachts have been experiencing since the start will start diminishing, and the wind will start moving Northerly which means the yachts will have to harden up onto the wind and start beating to windward, the most uncomfortable point of sail for the crews.
News from ICAP Leoaprd is that she broke her gooseneck fitting which attaches the boom (horizontal spar) to the mast (vertical spar) . With this broken, unfortunately retirement is inevitable as it is not a normal spare that can be carried aboard.
Allie Smith
