Hey ho, the Tall Ships go
Bergen cried rain today (Monday 28 July) as The Tall Ships fleet crossed the official start line for the race start – but the sun shone brightly as the fleet then sailed into the distance on their way to Esbjerg, Denmark.
Variable wind conditions provided a challenge for the Race Committee and the Tall Ships fleet for the start of Race Two.
The light winds backed to the south just as the Race Committee was setting the start line, leaving them no option but to postpone the start sequence by two hours this morning. An adverse tidal current of around one and a half knots from the south also confirmed the need to add an extra waypoint six miles to the north so the Tall Ships Race fleet had a down-wind and down-tide start and all Class A ships crossed the start line before the 15 minute time window closed.
Santa Maria Manuela (Portugal) was early for the start and incurred a standard time penalty (two hours 50 minutes) but for the first time for a long time all Class A vessels crossed the start line within their 15 minute window. Tenacious (UK) and Kapitan Glowacki (Poland0 crossed the start line within five seconds of the gun.
The fleet converged on the northerly waypoint, which created some close quarter tactics from the Captains and navigators, as the wind veered to the west – as well as a great spectacle for photographers.
This evening, with the north going current, the largest ships are likely to experience difficulties heading towards Esbjerg, which will allow the smaller vessels to take advantage.
The wind is forecast to steadily increase from the west over the next couple of days so the general rate of advance is due to increase and this will allow everyone to have a good sail to the finish line in Esbjerg.
The in-race placings will be published tomorrow morning at 07:30 UTC.
See a photo gallery of the race start on Facebook.
