Early Finishers Expected Tonight

Pictured: Jolie Brise

Mir (Class A, Russia) has only 28 miles to go now and has edged ahead of her rival and sister-ship Dar Mlodziezy (Class A, Poland) but with only two miles separating them this could change and line honours in not certain for the majestic Russian ship.

Urania will need to do well to hold onto her third place on the water with the theoretically faster Ocean Spirit of Moray closing in on her to the east as she is just one mile further away from the finish and sailing fast. 

The Class C and D group behind them remain tightly bunched with all to play for and Fryderyk Chopin (Class A, Poland) is immediately astern of these theoretically faster yachts having put up a very strong performance.

Jolie Brise (UK) has moved up to first place on overall on corrected time as predicted and Morning Star of Revelation has moved into a strong second place on the water and on Corrected Time in Class B.

The sail training vessel from La Coruna, Juan de Langara, has benefitted from good early tactical decisions having taking the most westerly course and has now moved up into first place on Corrected Time in Class C, although this could change before they cross the finish line with Dar Szczecina and St Iv still in contention. 

Those vessels that were further back encountered strong gusty head winds when rounding Cape Finisterre but all is reported to be well, although Black Diamond of Durham, Hebe III and Moosk have decided to retire from race one and cruise onward to Lisbon to arrive on Wednesday or Thursday. 

Position by Class using corrected time: 

Class A: Fryderyk Chopin, Dar Mlodziezy, , Mir

Class B:, Jolie Brise, Morning Star, Maybe

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

Class D: Miles To Go, Urania, Akela 

To see the vessels cross the finish line tonight on live tracking (updated hourly) 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 Facebook