RACE 11 DAY 18: TIME TO REFLECT

With Race 11, the PSP Logistics Panama 100 Cup, now complete, some of the later teams to finish are reflecting on their performance as they join the rest of the fleet in motor sailing towards Panama ahead of transiting the Canal in its centenary year.

Vicky Ellis, skipper of Switzerland, said her team’s eighth position has been a bitter pill for the team to swallow after the dramatic denouement of the race from San Francisco.

“We feel like fallen angels today.  The final 120 miles of the race saw us drop like a stone through the rankings as the grip of the Doldrums took its toll.  Hope was raised then dashed more times in those last 120 miles than the whole race.  There has been lots of reflection time and I'm just so sorry we didn't manage a better place”, she said.

Vicky added finishing less than two minutes behind OneDLL was hard news to hear after having kept the team at bay for days. 

“A favourable wind shift saw Derry~Londonderry~Doire lay the finish line beautifully, robbing our secret hopes that they would need to tack up to the line and we could hold on to sixth.  The final few hours were spent in a light weight spinnaker gybing dual with OneDLL and although we managed to close the two or three mile lead they had taken on us in the last schedule, it just wasn't enough to keep seventh.”

Chris Hollis, skipper of PSP Logistics, also had to deal with disappointment on board in the closing stages, with the team finishing in tenth place.

“We tried everything to chase down Qingdao and after a painful day of fickle winds, the last burst of wind from the last cloud with 12 miles to the third gate was not enough unfortunately. Qingdao just managed to scrape over the line and we were left floundering 1.5 miles from the line with 4 knots of wind. This is the exact scenario we had at the crossing of the second gate, except the shoe was on the other foot,” he added.

Positions have now been consolidated on the leaderboard following the provisional results being posted, however penalty points from Legs 5 and 6 still need to be applied. Henri Lloyd is still at the top of the overall leaderboard after its second place in Race 11, with GREAT Britain leapfrogging OneDLLto move into second place overall following its Race 11 victory.

The whole fleet is headed to Golfito Bay in Costa Rica in order to refuel en route to Panama.

Arrivals into Flamenco Marina are expected between 9-11 May, ahead of the boats starting the transit of the Panama Canal.

To read all the skipper reports please click here