REGATTA GEAR

As the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 2013-14 enters Race 8 Day 9, we have seen One DLL and Henri Lloyd pull ahead of Derry~Londonderry~Doire which has been leading much of the past races. With 8 more races to go, we expect the race to remain extremely close. As of this writing, there remains roughly a 1-point difference between One DLL and Henri Lloyd for first place, while Great Britain and Switzerland are quite literally neck and neck for 4^th place.  

The crews in this year’s race have so far experienced faulty sailing gear, men overboard, fickle winds, and now extreme weather temperatures. Chris Paxton aboard Team Switzerland commented that he started out with 24 items of sailing apparel to combat the cold in late December, but as they move across the Equator the crews are now stripping down and consistently worried about dehydration.

It has been interesting to see how the different crews are handling the extreme temperatures and weak winds, as the conditions are resulting in a number of different routes and directions. The various crews had to decide between routes with greater distances but potentially stronger winds, or routes with shorter distances but weaker winds. Although a few teams—fed up with the weak wind already prevalent earlier in the race—chose to avoid the weak winds at all costs, other teams like Invest Africa saw the weak winds as a great opportunity, also citing the relatively smooth water levels as an advantage for swifter progress.

All of us at Regatta Gear will continue keeping up with the race. Readers, what team are you rooting for?