UPDATE: Race 12 Course Extension

UPDATE 2230UTC SUNDAY 3 JULY 2016

Due to planned missile firing tests by the Navy the mark at St Kilda has been removed and a new one inserted at Rathlin Island. The final finish line will remain the same but the fleet will cross it from east to west. Race Director Justin Taylor said: "This will have the effect of shortening the course a little but with the dying breeze and lower boat speeds the fleet should still start to cross the finish line late on 5 July, with the first teams arriving in Derry-Londonderry on 6 July. The ETAs will be updated tomorrow (Monday 4 July).

The Race Viewer has been updated accordingly but please note that due to the close proximity of the inward and outward bound revised route around Rockall, the automatic distance to finish may not work accurately with waypoints so close.

ENDS

RACE 12 COURSE EXTENSION

The Clipper Race fleet has made fast progress in Race 12 ‘The LegenDerry Finale’ and has broken through the North Atlantic High (NAH) much quicker than anticipated following the experience of previous editions. This would result in a much earlier than estimated arrival in Derry-Londonderry.

After extensive consultation between the Clipper Race Office and the Derry City and Strabane District Council, the earliest we can bring forward the required infrastructure is Wednesday 6 July.

Therefore the Race Committee has agreed to adding an extension to the course of approximately 500 nautical miles from Tory Island (six miles off the north-west coast of Ireland), heading north-west around Rockall, east to Saint Kilda and then back to the original finish line off Shrove near Greencastle. Due to Tory Island being so close to the original route the current tactics crossing the North Atlantic will remain unchanged, and should not disadvantage any of the teams.

This will result in the arrival window in Derry-Londonderry opening a day earlier, with the earliest arrivals on the Foyle being from 6 July, and continuing through to 8 July, subject to the prevailing weather conditions.