​Race 3 Day 5: What a Difference a Day Makes

After a testing day on Friday, the Clipper Race fleet has enjoyed a more settled 24 hours in champagne sailing conditions that have allowed teams to recuperate and reset as they head towards the end of the first week at sea. However, it has also been a day of big changes on the leaderbaord as weather systems pass through and the fleet’s previous split converges.

Sanya Serenity Coast is still leading the fleet, more than doubling its advantage over its competitors, and is nearly 120 nautical miles ahead of PSP Logistics which has returned to second place today. Sanya Serenity Coast is making some impressive ground on its rivals sailing some 108 nautical miles in the last twelve hours compared to PSP Logistics’ 88 nautical miles. Despite its big lead, Sanya Serenity Coast Skipper Wendy Tuck explains that the team are putting welfare first. She said: “I just want to say how cool my crew are, only a couple of sea sickies but they manage to push through all but the worst of it.

“Everyone is just looking out for each other during the big blow, and looking after me. I’m constantly getting asked how much sleep did I get, thank you crew.”

The favourable sailing conditions have certainly worked in favour of Liverpool 2018 which is in third place, jumping up the leaderboard from sixth place yesterday. In contrast, Garmin has slipped from second place to eighth today after slowing to complete some routine maintenance. Garmin Skipper Gaetan Thomas says: “We did lose some positions but later on we will have a decent angle with the next gale coming, and we will keep pushing the same”

Good progress is continued to be made throughout the fleet. In fourth place, Qingdao has had a productive 24 hours with Skipper Chris Kobusch reporting: “we had a great day sailing with steady winds and we covered a decent mileage.”

On board fifth placed Dare To Lead, Skipper Dale Smyth comments: “Last 24 hrs have been in complete contrast to the previous 24. We have been slipping along on a flattish sea under spinnaker, closely bunched up with Visit Seattle and PSP Logistics.”

Crew welfare is similarly at the forefront of minds on board Visit Seattle which sits in sixth place. Speaking from on board, Skipper Nikki Henderson explains: “We often go around the team and each share one word to describe how we are feeling. Benno's word stood out to me (*words); "born again". It almost feels like that!

“Yesterday we put everything back together again with a complete deep clean of the boat, re-flaking of the sails, fixing a few things on deck. Whenever I've been through bad weather in the past, you always end up having these days - it's sort of a therapeutic necessity.”

Following Visit Settle is GREAT Britain in seventh place and Unicef in ninth, and on board tenth placed Nasdaq, Skipper Rob Graham sends his well wishes to diverted HotelPlanner.com. Speaking from on board, he says: “I hope HotelPlanner.com got into Port Elizabeth safely and the medevac and crew transfer went well.

“Our thoughts and best wishes go out to the wider Clipper Race family - although we are all competing, we only want the best possible outcome for the Greenings and HotelPlanner.com teams.”

Meanwhile eleventh placed HotelPlanner.com has successfully medevaced its injured crew member in Port Elizabeth and welcomed six new honorary HotelPlanner.com crew members, formally of team Greenings, on board for Race 3 as it continues on its way to Fremantle this morning.

To follow the progress of the Clipper Race Fleet during Race 3: The Dell Latitude Rugged Race, keep an eye on the Race Viewer. All positions were correct at time of publishing.

Visit the Team Pages to read the Skipper Blogs in full and to see what the crew are writing about in the Crew Blogs.