Race 4 Day 21: The fight for valuable points continues as OneDLL prepare to claim third place

The fight to win the maximum points up for grabs rumbles on, as competitors’ continue to hunt its nearest prey in the closing days of the tightly contested 5,000 race from Cape Town, South Africa to Albany, western Australia.

With GREAT Britain claiming the line honours in Race 4 and the maximum 12 points, Henri Lloyd were just 27 minutes behind in second place after a tightly contested finish. However, the competition is still well underway with OneDLL doing all it can to complete the final few miles that separate the team from claiming third place and a valuable 10 points.

Skipper Olly Cotterell explained his frustration after a drop in wind just miles from the finish line: “We were going really well but in typical ocean crossing fashion the wind has died as we are about 40 miles from the pub. Hopefully it will not be too cruel and we will get in soon. Going at 5 knots, when you are used to going at 10 knots or above, is a bit of a shock to the system.”

With Invest Africa currently lying in fifth place its sights has been firmly set on catching up to its closest rival, Qingdao. However, with less than 60 miles left to the finish for the Chinese entry, Invest Africa remains upbeat and determined to ward off PSP Logistics, eager to challenge the team for fifth place.

“As much as I hate to admit it there is very, very little chance of us catching skipper of Qingdao Gareth Glover and his motley crew now.  We must concentrate on keeping skipper of PSP Logistics, Chris Hollis and his team at bay in the closing miles of this race. I'm hoping that the second move to the north that we made yesterday in order to give us a tighter wind angle (and therefor higher apparent wind speed) in these light airs will pay off.”Added skipper of Invest Africa, Rich Gould.

At 06.32.48 GMT GREAT Britain claimed the line honours of Race 4 crossing the line at 13.32:48 local time (UTC+8). Henri Lloyd crossed the finish line 27 minutes later in front of Albany Waterfront Marina at around 13:56 local time. For the latest estimated times of arrival for the rest of the fleet click here

For the Race 4 Race Viewer, click here

To read the skipper reports, click here