Clipper Race 6, Day 9: Weather front to bring faster conditions
Teams have been continuing their upwind slog as they tack up the Queensland coast, and positive thinking finally looks set to pay off as the latest weather forecast predicts a front will shortly pass over which should leave behind Southerly winds.
Clipper Race Meteorologist Simon Rowell has suggested that the first of the teams will be soon be experiencing the front which will pass over the whole fleet within twelve hours. After that, it should be a slightly faster and flatter race as the teams look to close the last 400nm of Race 6: The Wondrous Whitsundays Race.
Liverpool 2018 and Sanya Serenity Coast have been swapping the lead between them following some intense racing in close proximity.
The Wondrous Whitsundays Race has served up some of the most dramatic and mixed weather conditions of the Clipper 2017-18 Race so far. During an impressive electrical storm overnight, Qingdao, in ninth place ahead of Unicef in eighth, was hit by a lightning strike which has affected some of its electrical systems and instruments.
All crew are safe and well, the yacht is fully under control and the team is still racing. Qingdao is currently utilising battery powered navigation lights at night and is able to charge the boat batteries via the main engine in neutral, which does not contravene any race rules. It also has GPS functioning normally on the Garmin chart plotter for navigational use, and a handheld GPS as a backup, however it is unlikely that the crew or Skipper will be able to send back any blogs or emails for the remainder of this race.
