Second leg, race 1 morning update, Istanbul to Varna

The forecast shows the wind is currently west to north-west Force 2-4, backing west to south-west this evening. However, those who have just finished have reported stronger winds on the race course.

The 18m yacht Hansa, Spain (Class D) was first to cross the finish line at 1832 UTC/GMT (2132 local) last night followed byAkela, Russia (Class D) at 0323 this morning (0623 local).

Fernando Gil the mate aboard Hansa, chatting this morning about the race said: äóìWe had a slow start and we were a bit worried about how long it would take. However, suddenly within one minute, in the middle of the night at 0300, the wind changed direction 180 degrees from south to the north and increased from virtually zero to 20kts. Consequently we had a lot of work to do to change sails because we had the No. 1genoa up. We passed the last waypoint doing 9kts, and maintained over 7kts of boatspeed to the finish.äó

Alexey Chergurov skipper on Akela, (pictured right, with fellow crewmate Mike) chatting from the dockside this morning just after he arrived said: äóìWe had a fantastic race from Istanbul. The wind really picked up and we had glorious sailing conditions. We are all very tired now so we’re just heading off for a sleep.äó

The next vessel scheduled to cross the line is Bodrum, Turkey.

The fresher wind conditions this morning means most of the fleet will arrive into the port of Varna, Bulgaria throughout the day.

A once daily position report will be published on the website fleet tracking each morning as the fleet sails the second leg of the race to Varna.

To track the fleet as they race click here. 

To view the current placings of the race click here. 

The Historical Seas Tall Ships Regatta is organised by Sail Training International.