Hong Kong arrival window and updated Qingdao ETAs

After Race 9 was halted yesterday as a precaution due to the failure of three of the forestay bottlescrews the fleet is now making steady progress to Hong Kong.

The first of the Clipper Race fleet is due to arrive in Hong Kong on Saturday 1 March, with the majority of the fleet expected to arrive on Sunday 2 March and the last few over the next couple of days. Jamaica Get All Right and OneDLL which were both forced to make a detour to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia are expected to arrive on 4 March.

Immediately after the remedial work is completed each yacht will re-start Race 9 to Qingdao as soon as they are ready. The race will run on the basis of elapsed time due to different times over the start line. This means the yachts will not start as a fleet but individually.  The quickest time to Qingdao will win and all the rankings will be in elapsed time order. This format is similar to the Ocean Sprints that we employ on each of the races where points are awarded for the fastest yacht to cross a specific distance. No positions or times will be carried forward from the first part of the race which was abandoned.

The fleet is now expected to arrive into Qingdao between 10-12 March and crew changeover day delayed to 11 March. Race start of Leg 6, the 5,800 mile Race 10 from Qingdao, China to San Francisco, USA will remain unaffected on 16 March.