Race 9 day 5: Leaders battle it out on westerly course

GREAT Britain, Henri Lloyd, Derry~Londonderry~Doire and Old Pulteney are still racing neck and neck in the battle to be first into China. 

GREAT Britain is currently leading the fleet having recently tacked off to the east, followed by Henri Lloyd and Derry~Londonderry~Doire in third, just six miles behind the leaders. 

Eric Holden, skipper of Henri Lloyd, said: “We have been racing against Old Pulteney all night and have just spotted Derry~Londonderry~Doire on the port bow, who I guess will be our next target to stay or get ahead of. What I thought was GREAT Britain yesterday turned out to have been Derry~Londonderry~Doire, so we haven't seen GREAT Britain since race start but they seem to be doing good things from the west side of the course.” 

Gareth Glover, skipper of Qingdao, in fifth place, said: “Well the wind has abated a little and we have now dropped out a few reefs.We are finding it hard to get the speed we had a few days ago and point up wind and keep any speed we have. 

“We were very close to some of the other yachts late last night. We crossed tacks with Old Pulteney and Henri Lloyd somehow got in front of us and sailed off into the night with us unable to match their speed or heading. The crew have been working on helming us along on our way north  whilst I have been going over the tactics in the navigation station trying to find any route that will get us back closer to the lead yachts.”

To read all the skipper reports click here 

To track the fleet’s progress on the official Race Viewer click here