Race 10 Day 27: Closing stages of Race 10 from Qingdao China, to San Francisco USA

It’s been an eventful 24 hours for the final teams as they prepare to complete the 5,600 miles race from Qingdao China, to San Francisco. With just 10 miles now separating Mission Performance and Jamaica Get All Right, who will be the first across the line in the closing stages of Race 10? 

With Mission Performance now just 10 miles ahead of Jamaica Get All Right, light winds have once again been forecast at the finish line into San Francisco which could hamper the progress of the final three teams. With an elapsed time of 36 hours, PSP Logistics remain upbeat with their sights firmly on beating Team Garmin to claim ninth place. Skipper Chris Hollis explains:

“It will be very hard to catch Mission Performance and Jamaica Get All Right with 300 miles to go. We need to focus on a speedy finish, which hopefully will see us just in front of Team Garmin on elapsed time and hopefully claim ninth place over all for this race.” 

Jamaica Get All Right put their Clipper Race training into action yesterday after Sea Cadet Volunteer and Leg 6 crew member Adam Montgomery fell overboard as he and his watch completed a sail change. Skipper Pete Stirling and team, who had practised the tethered MOB (man overboard) procedure many times before in preparation for such an incident, described the smooth recovery:  

“The boat bounced over a wave and sea cadet volunteer and Leg 6 crew Adam Montgomery bounced over the guard rail next to the forestay. Adam was clipped on, as is our safety policy when working anywhere on the deck, and so was dangling over the side to the extent of his safety lanyard.

“The blood curdling call that no skipper ever wants to hear 'Man Overboard' went up by all the crew and the team went to the various MOB stations as drilled countless times in training. I immediately heave to in order to stop the boat and Adam was hauled back on board by round the world crew Kris Slezak and Adam Byrtek along with Leg 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 crew Andy Ryan. Adam was a little battered and bruised and clearly shocked by his ordeal but otherwise OK.”

The latest ETAs into San Francisco will be updated here

Read the latest skipper reports here