Clipper Race: Henri Lloyd solidifies race lead

(May 30, 2014) – Henri Lloyd has secured the team’s fourth Ocean Sprint victory of the Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race during the current Grange Hotels Trophy from Jamaica to New York.

The skipper and team recorded completed the Ocean Sprint course with a time of 12 hours 56 minutes and 33 seconds, beating GREAT Britain and OneDLL to the two points, who recorded the second and third quickest times respectively.

The two race points gained look set to further strengthen Henri Lloyd’s hold on first place in the overall leaderboard as the team remains focused on adding maximum race points in the race to New York.

Henri Lloyd currently leads the Grange Hotels Trophy with Switzerland, GREAT Britain and OneDLL hoping to catch the overall leaders.

Due to the continued forecast for light winds, Race Director Justin Taylor has offered Invest Africa 12th place which the crew have accepted.

As this is not a retirement but an offer of a place they will get 1 point. Team Garmin has accepted 11th place, Qingdao 10th and Mission Performance 9th. They will be awarded the corresponding points – two points, three points and four points respectively. They will all now start to make best speed to New York through a combination of sailing and motoring, and are predicted to arrive on 2 June.

For the remaining eight boats still racing, the course has been shortened due to the weather forecast so the boats will finish at the second of two gates, the most northerly gate, the Norfolk Gate. This gate is approximately 240 miles from New York itself.

The original course instructions had two gates included for this purpose should the weather conditions seriously impede progress. The first yachts are expected to arrive on Monday 2 June.

The ETAs for the fleet’s arrival into Liberty Landing Marina in New Jersey are below.

The fleet will stay in New Jersey until 4 June when they will cross the Hudson River to North Cove Marina, New York.

NOTE: Mission Performance, Qingdao, Team Garmin and Invest Africa are no longer racing after the shortening of the course. More info here.

Henri Lloyd – Mon 2 June 0200 – 0600
Switzerland – Mon 2 June 0500 – 0900
GREAT Britain – Mon 2 June 0600 – 1000
OneDLL – Mon 2 June 0600 – 1000
Derry~Londonderry~Doire – Mon 2 June 1200 – 1600
Jamaica Get All Right – Mon 2 June 1800 – 2200
Old Pulteney – Mon 2 June 2000 – 0000
PSP Logistics – Mon 2 June 2000 – 0000

Below teams have finished racing Official finishing positions below. Now motoring to Liberty Landing Marina

Team Garmin – Mon 2 June 1200 – 1400
Invest Africa – Mon 2 June 1600 – 1800
Mission Performance – Mon 2 June 1900 – 2100
Qingdao – Mon 2 June 1900 – 2100

Report by event media.

Skipper reports: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/skipper-reports
Race tracker: http://yb.tl/clipper2013-race13
Race website: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com

Background:
The 40,000 mile Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race began in London, UK on September 1 for the fleet of twelve identical Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s.

The 12 teams began Race 13, the 1420 mile leg to New York City – The Grange Hotels Trophye – on May 24. The fleet is estimated to arrive into New York between 31 May and 1 June. The final leg resumes on 7 June and concludes with a spectacular homecoming in London on 12 July.

The race route includes Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; Albany, Sydney, Hobart and Brisbane, Australia; Singapore; Qingdao, China; San Francisco, USA; Panama; Jamaica; New York, USA; Derry-Londonderry, Ireland; and Den Helder, Netherlands before returning to London in July.