Line Honours for Russia or Poland?

At the front of the fleet the battle between Mir (Class A, Russia) and Dar Mlodziezy (Class A, Poland) is coming to a climax with less than 90 miles to go to the finish line. Both ships are making around 7.5 knots at present and there is less than one mile separating them with Mir just ahead. It will be fascinating to see if Dar Mlodziezy’s more westerly course will pay off.

The Royal Netherlands Naval vessel Urania (Class D) has made her way up the fleet having taken a wide westerly course over the past days and is now in third place on the water and second in Class D on Corrected Time. Dar  Szczecina (Class C, Poland) has also benefited by this smart strategy and has also made good gains and has stretched her lead  on Corrected Time in Class C. The intense battle between the group of Class C and D vessels to their east continues but Ocean Spirit of Moray (Class C, UK) is beginning to pull ahead of this bunch.

Jolie Brise (UK) has also benefited from taking the more favourable westerly strategy and has stretched her lead on the water over Maybe (UK), Morning Star of Revelation (UK) and Rupel (Belgium). Jolie Brise has now commanded a dominant position in her class so has a very good chance of winning Class B on corrected time; as well as being the first Class B across the finish line.

Those vessels that were further back and did not manage to round Cape Finisterre before the strong SW winds kicked in are now having to tack to the NW away from the next mark of the course but the wind is forecast to veer to a more favourable direction on Saturday evening so they will be able to tack back and head south in good sailing conditions in due course.

Black Diamond of Durham  and Hebe III have both made technical stops (allowed for under Rule 25) but plan to re-join the race later today or tomorrow morning.  Lord Nelson and Moosk are now in La Coruna after a medical concern with the Mate of Moosk, who has now been discharged from hospital (for a statement please click here).

Position by Class using corrected time:

Class A: Dar Mlodziezy, Fryderyk Chopin, Mir

Class B: Maybe, Jolie Brise, Morning Star

Class C: Dar Szczecina, Juan de Langara, St Iv

Class D: Miles To Go, Urania, Akela

Register to Follow the Fleet for live tracking (updated hourly) or for a list of the official interim results which are updated twice a day, CLICK HERE

For the official race results please goto www.tallshipsraces.com/results

The Tall Ships Races 2012, Presented by Szczecin and organised by Sail Training International is taking place in the following host ports: 

St Malo – Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 July (race start Monday 9 July)

Lisbon – Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 July

Cadiz – Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 July

A Coruí±a – Friday 10 to Monday 13 August

Dublin – Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 August

Behind the scenes insights on Twitter @tallshipsraces and