Race Update: Leg 5 Penalty Points

The Clipper Race Committee has finalised the list of penalty points that will be deducted from the teams following the assessment of damages and repairs needed after the Asia-Pacific Leg 5.

Leg 5 was made up of two races, the 4,300 nautical mile Race 6 from the Whitsundays in Australia to Sanya in China, and the 1,700nm Race 7 from Sanya to Qingdao in Northern China. Whilst the fleet as a whole has been congratulated for excellent seamanship, penalty points have been awarded as followes:

SAIL DAMAGE AND REPAIR:

As per the Sailing Instructions, two penalty points will be awarded to the relevant Yacht when the running total of sail repair and replacement costs exceeds £500 (or local equivalent at an agreed exchange rate) and a further two penalty points will be awarded for every subsequent £500 for the duration of the Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race. This applies to all sails and is cumulative.

After examining the level of sail damage and repairs needed at the conclusion of Leg 5, the Clipper Race Committee has issued penalty points to:

CV25 (Dare To Lead) 2 penalty points

The penalty points will be applied immediately and will result in the team dropping in the overall standings to sixth, with CV22 (Garmin) moving into fifth place.

All teams have been informed of this update by the Race Director Mark Light, who comments: “There have been significantly low sail repair costs this race and this is definitely due to good seamanship, and also the hard work and effort and many hours put in by the sail repair teams from each boat, who in turn are excellently supported by Hyde Sails.”

EQUIPMENT DAMAGE:

As per the Sailing Instructions, one penalty point will be issued when the running total for equipment damage exceeds £500, with a further one penalty point to be issued for every subsequent £500 on the running total.

Following Leg 5, Equipment Damage Penalty Points have been issued to:

CV20 (Liverpool 2018) 1 penalty point

CV26 (Visit Seattle) 1 penalty point

CV27 (Sanya Serenity Coast) 1 penalty point

All teams have been informed and whilst the penalty points issued for equipment damage won’t impact either CV27 (Sanya Serenity Coast) or CV26’s (Visit Seattle) position on the overall leaderboard, the one-point deduction will result in CV20 dropping to ninth place and CV21 (Unicef)moving up into eighth. To see the full overall standings, please see the Race Viewer on the Clipper Race website.

Mark Light says: “The cost of damages has been very low across the fleet thus far and definitely lower than at this stage in previous races so Skippers and Crews are doing a good job of looking after their boats and it is fairly natural to accrue some penalty points at this stage in the Race.

“We are very careful as to what gets charged to individual team accounts and nothing gets charged as a result of necessary actions taken in the event of an emergency situation or essential actions required or indeed, natural wear and tear.”

A full explanation of penalty points can be found in our Sailing Instructions and FAQ section (under ‘The Race’, subsection: ‘When and why are Penalty Points applied?’).