Vessels which crossed the start line yesterday (Wednesday 13 July) in Race One of The Tall Ships Races 2016 made good progress overnight.
At the time of publishing this report, five vessels have already passed waypoint one off Ushant situated 115 miles down the race course.
Ocean Spirit of Moray (UK) has headed the fleet for most of the race on the water but the mighty Mir from Russia has recently drawn level with her and is set to take the lead with Dar Mlodziezy (Poland) following closely behind.
The majority of the fleet has now crossed the Start Line leaving just 11 vessels to cross by 20:00 GMT/UTC tonight (Thursday 14 July) to make the extended designated Start Gate. The race placings on corrected time (the leaders on ‘handicap’) will start to be announced once the Start Gate has closed.
The north westerly winds are forecast to remain until tomorrow morning when they are likely to back to a less favourable south westerly direction and go lighter, particularly for the vessels still in the English Channel.
“Those vessels that will be clear of waypoint one off Ushant later today are likely to benefit from stronger north easterly winds and make a faster passage across the Bay of Biscay. This race could be a classic case of the ‘rich getting richer’ as those vessels out in front stretch their lead over the next couple of days.”
Paul Bishop, Race Director, Sail Training International.
Photo: Mir (Russia), Class A, crossing the Start Line of Race 1, The Tall Ships Races 2016.
