Race 1: Day 3: Fleet battle thick fog and strong tides

It’s been another eventful 24 hours for the 12-strong fleet competing in Race 1 of the Clipper Race, as the fleet have battled poor visibility and strong tides to maintain, and better their positions within the race.

With the fleet now crossing the English Channel, the lack of wind overnight forced many of the yachts to anchor to avoid being swept away by strong tides.

Rich Gould, skipper of Invest Africa used the light wind conditions to get his team to try and test a tricky manoeuvre, hoisting the Light Weight Spinnaker while dropping the Medium Weight Spinnaker, proving that that practice makes perfect.

“With the crew quickly briefed we attempted our first 'peel' of the race (hoisting one spinnaker inside another before dropping the outside one). Peeling can go one of two ways, get it right and its one of the coolest manoeuvres you can do on a yacht, get it wrong and you end up in one hell of a mess.

“So how did it go? Well what can I say... these guys rock! Light Weight Spinnaker up and Medium Weight Spinnaker down without a single hitch, and this was the first time we had ever attempted this as a team.”

Read all the skipper reports by clicking here.

The start of the Clipper 13-14 Race was streamed live yesterday. If you missed the official Race Start or if you would like to watch it again, click here.

You can keep a close eye on the fleets’ position during the Clipper Race by checking the Race Viewer.