Race 8 Day 21: A battle to the finish line in Race 8 - The Old Pulteney Navigator Cup

Qingdao has successfully managed to hold onto its lead in Race 8 for another 24 hours, but the Chinese entry will need to do all it can to keep its nearest competitors at bay as GREAT Britain, Henri Lloyd and Jamaica Get All Right set their sights firmly on the finish line.

With the current forecast predicting the winds to stay in the north, north east and with the fleet continuing to battle the unusual head winds and light air, progress continues to be slow. However, as Henri Lloyd and Jamaica Get All Right steadily climb the ranks, Qingdao will need to work hard to maintain its current lead. Simon Talbot, skipper of GREAT Britain knows anything can happen at this late stage of the race.

“Looking at the fleet now, this wind hole has really caused everyone to bunch up, with the back markers standing a really good chance of being the front runners; it really is a lottery and a very frustrating lottery at that!”

Jamaica Get All Right had an extremely successful 24 hours moving into fourth place after finding a favourable current which helped boost the boats speed by an extra 2 knots. It was a different story for former leaders of the pack OneDLL, Old Pulteney and Derry~Londonderry~Doire after falling behind on the leaderboard into a frustrating mid-fleet position.

With so much to play for at this stage of the race and with only 100 miles separating the top ten teams, skipper of Switzerland, Vicky Ellis knows that the race won’t be decided until the finish line as one of the most challenging races in the 16 race series draws to a close.

“Whoever gets to the finish line first congratulations. It’s been a difficult leg. It’s not been the wettest or the windiest or the hottest or the most windless or the most tiring of the legs to date. What it has been though, to make it one of the toughest legs so far, has been a testing combination of all of those items, when you least wanted them!”

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