Astrid pleased with their race position

The Dutch vessel Astrid is on her way towards Trapani under motor after the race was finished early because of a lack of wind. Willem van der Wal has sent in the following update:

“At yesterday morning’s radio schedule, when all the ships give their position to race control, we heard that the decision had been made to finish the race at sea. If the weather forecast is such that the fleet will have problems to arrive in the next port on time the race committee can decide to let the fleet finish at sea. 

“At 0900 UTC the race was finished and 15 minutes later the finish positions were passed on to race control. The fleet placings were extra exciting for us, because we did not know how good the Oosterschelde, second in our class the day before, had sailed during a night with light winds for us. The night before we saw how different the wind can be even at a small distance, as we and Tenacious, sailing at about 4 knots, passed Kaliakra and Far Barcelona who were struggling to get their ship moving over a distance of only 5 miles! 

“Last night the preliminary results were announced and it is almost certain(but not yet definitive) that Astrid is 1st in Class A!  To my knowledge this is the very first time Astrid has won a Tall Ships Race, in 2008 we won the second prize in the Funchal Tall Ships Regatta, but we have never come first! 

“Yesterday afternoon the trainee crew started to stow the sails in a calm sea.

We are expecting to arrive in Trapani in the early morning of the 16th.”

To track the fleet as they race click here

To view the current placings in the race click here

The Garibaldi Tall Ships Regatta is organised by Sail Training International.