LATEST: LMAX Exchange – RACE of THE AMERICAS Start

UPDATED at 2300 UTC on Monday 30 May

Due to continued light wind the Race Office has decided to postpone the start of Race 11, The LMAX Exchange - RACE of THE AMERICAS until Tuesday 31 May at approximately 1100 UTC. The fleet will continue to motorsail overnight and start at first light.

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UPDATED at 2030 UTC on Monday 30 May

The start of Race 11, The LMAX Exchange – RACE of THE AMERICAS has been postponed due to a lack of wind necessary for a Le Mans start. The fleet had hoped to start racing at 2000 UTC but the Lead Skipper, Rich Gould on IchorCoal, reported to the Race Committee that at that time they had less than 5 knots of wind which would make a Le Mans start very difficult.

Skipper Rich has therefore decided to postpone the start and continue motor-sailing. He will advise the Race Committee when they have enough wind to get the race to New York underway.

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The Clipper Race teams will soon be back racing the in the Atlantic Ocean where their journey began nine months ago, as the fleet prepares to start The LMAX Exchange – RACE of THE AMERICAS from Panama to New York.

After a successful transit through the Panama Canal, in which the teams passed through in groups of three, the twelve Clipper Race yachts will be reuniting on the eastern side of the canal. PSP Logistics, Visit Seattle and Da Nang – Viet Nam are the final three teams to complete the transit and at 2200 local time (0300 UTC) the rest of the fleet will depart Shelter Bay Marina to join up with them.

The plan is that the fleet will then motor through the night towards the race start position, approximately 100 nautical miles away, in order to escape the heavy traffic close to the canal. The Le Mans start is expected to take place around 1500 local time (2000 UTC) on Monday 30 May.

This is the fourth time the fleet have employed the Le Mans start during this circumnavigation and the Lead Skipper this time is Rich Gould from IchorCoal.

The teams draw lots to decide the positioning of the starting line up but the Lead Skipper’s team will always be in the middle of the fleet in order to have a good view of what is going on across the fleet and making sure that every team keeps the line.

As the Lead Skipper, Rich will have overall control of the start procedure which has the standard countdown (of 10 minutes, 4 minutes, 1 minute) and then ensuring that all teams adhere to the rules and guidelines.

To read the full guidelines on the Le Mans start procedure, visit The Race section of the FAQs page on the website.

You can follow the fleet’s progress from Shelter Bay Marina on the Race Viewer.

Updates will be posted to Facebook and Twitter when the Race Start time has been set.

If you are inspired by our crew and their adventure, contact our Recruitment Team to find out how you could get on board for the Clipper 2017-18 Race by clicking here.