Redress awarded for Race 5 start line incident

An independent committee has reached a verdict today on protests from bothGREAT Britain and PSP Logistics following a start line incident at the beginning of Race 5, from Albany to Sydney, Australia in the 2013-14 edition of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

As the fleet converged on the first mark the two yachts collided: GREAT Britain lost its bowsprit and PSP Logistics sustained damage to its port wheel and rails. Both had to return to port for repairs, causing substantial delays in their departure to complete Race 5 of the 16 race global series.

The independent protest committee, convened at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, viewed all the evidence presented by the skippers of PSP Logistics and GREAT Britain this morning and reached a verdict.

PSP Logistics was awarded redress on the basis of its average points in the race to date which equates to 8.3 points for Race 5, moving it up to fourth place overall with 41.3 points, ahead of GREAT Britain by 0.3 of a point

Skipper Chris Hollis was very happy with the outcome: “I’m pleased that we’ve received redress, but it’s clearly a shame that the incident happened at all. I hope we can draw a line under it and move on.”

GREAT Britain is disqualified in Race 5 and will receive zero points, dropping to fifth place overall with 41 points.

GREAT Britain skipper Simon Talbot commented: “I’m understandably disappointed that we have not been successful but accept the Protest Committee’s decision. We need to focus on performing to the best of our ability in the races ahead now.”

This will not affect the line honours positions of the rest of the fleet for Race 5 but will reposition the overall leader board accordingly.

However, the Clipper Race Committee will now meet  to consider whether, under the Clipper Race Rules, any further penalty points, if any, will result from the incident for GREAT Britain. Due to the time difference with the UK this decision will follow tomorrow, 19 December 2013.

Race Director Justin Taylor thanked the CYCA for providing three very experienced international judges to hear the evidence: “I’d like to thank the Protest Committee convened by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) for hearing the protests and reaching what I feel is a fair decision based on the complete set of evidence from both parties.”

1 HENRI LLOYD 58
2 ONE DLL 51
3 QINGDAO 44
4 PSP LOGISTICS 41.3
5 GREAT BRITAIN 41
6 DERRY~LONDONDERRY~DOIRE 35
7 JAMAICA GET ALL RIGHT 34
8 SWITZERLAND 33
9 INVEST AFRICA 29
10 OLD PULTENEY 25
11 TEAM GARMIN 21
12 MISSION PERFORMANCE 14