Race 8 Day 17: Conditions improve as the fleet makes progress to the Sarangani way point

It’s been an eventful 24 hours for the Clipper Race fleet as the more moderate conditions that were forecast arrived, offering a much needed break from the heavy upwind beating conditions that have hampered the fleet’s progress in Race 8.

With conditions moderating the crew have been enjoying the cooler temperatures which have made living and sleeping conditions far more bearable. Skipper of Derry~Londonderry~Doire, Sean McCarter and team enjoyed, ‘a much more reasonable heel angle, blue skies and warm sunshine’ as OneDLL took advantage of the calmer sea and opened the hatches below decks allowing for much cooler living conditions.

Skipper of GREAT Britain Simon Talbot shares his relief as the wind abated offering some well-deserved rest from life at an angle:

“Finally the wind has abated enough to allow some well-deserved quality sleep to be had by most crew; the sun is back out, the sea state is moderating and the mood on board is immediately lifting. Looking at the weather forecast, we should now be in for a few days of lighter weather, albeit still from an inconvenient direction meaning that we are going to have to beat most of the rest of the way to the finish, but at least it should be a marginally more comfortable beat!”

After a late start to Race 8 Mission Performance continues to make steady progress and is now just 35 miles behind Invest Africa. Matt Mitchell, skipper of Mission Performance, describes the teams next move:

“In the early hours of this morning the wind started to abate somewhat, and now we are wafting gently along with our largest Yankee, stay sail and full mainsail.

“By all accounts the wind will decrease further over the course of tonight, and then start to build and swing around to the east which is what we have been aiming for. I am hoping that we will then be able to make some fast downwind progress towards our waypoint off the southern island of the Philippines.”

To keep an eye on the fleets progress and to view the Official Race Viewer click here

To read all the skipper reports click here