Tauranga Bridge Marina has the full line up of the 10 boats taking part in the Clipper Round the World Race today, following arrivals over the weekend.
Gold Coast Australia was the first boat in at 3.36am Friday, and it was the sole race boat on A pier until the second boat, Visit Finland, crossed the line at A Beacon at 10.02pm Friday.
High winds on Friday and Saturday were a feature of the finish.
The clippers are berthed at Tauranga Bridge Marina.
With five miles to go, a brief wind hole stalled Visit Finland's progress, but moments later the crew was dropping sails as quickly as they could when the breeze filled in to 50 knots.
New York crossed the finish line at 5.14am Saturday on its third, third place. Derry-Londonderry crossed at 9.47am Saturday and De Lage Landen two minutes later.
Three miles from the finish De Lage Landen was in the lead until it ran out of wind.
Hobbled by a rip in its main, Derry London-Derry crossed behind and was pulling ahead until they too ran out of wind.
De Lage Landen's sails filled first, powering it towards the line between A Beacon and the Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat Club committee boat.
An error on the finish line meant they had to go round, Allowing Derry-Londonderry the fourth place.
Edinburgh Inspiring Capital crossed the finish line at 3.34am Sunday.
Geraldton West Australia finished at 2.26pm Sunday.
Welcome to Yorkshire, finished at 9.06pm Sunday.
Qindao, which arrived 11am Sunday, has already accepted second to last place in the leg.
They diverted to Hobart after a crew member injured herself in a fall on deck.
She was in considerable pain and skipper and crew made the decision to obtain medical attention.
The diversion caused the boat to drop more than 250 miles behind the back markers in the fleet.
When it became clear Qindao's arrival in Tauranga would be considerably delayed, the Race Committee offered Qindao ninth place to allow them to use the engine to get into port in time to rest and prepare themselves and their yacht for the next stage.
Singapore, which was forced to abandon the leg because of steering damage crossing the Australian Bight, also arrived Saturday.
Today the crews are completing arrival formalities – deep cleaning their boats, and surveying the sails.
Everything is taken out of the boats and they are scrubbed inside from top to bottom.
The 11 sails from every boat have to be laid out and checked for damage and the damage repaired.
Several of the boats including leg winner Gold Coast Australia ripped mainsails in the beat in high winds to the Tauranga finish.
2 comments
Yacht race 2011
Posted on 28-11-2011 14:34 | By Aster
A few years ago ,at the time of the Around Alone Yacht Race,there were a number of social activities centred around the single-handed craft that had a stopover in Tauranga. As I recall we had lots of fun down at the Marina. seems a pity that this time around, there are no such social events planned? Have we missed out on an opportunity to put Tauranga on the map, in a very positive way?
Boris
Posted on 29-11-2011 14:29 | By Boris
This is a differently structured event to Around Alone. Phil's place and The Cornerstone are full of 180 round the world racers having fun. Go and buy a beer and talk to them Aster. These guy's want to travel the area a bit, have a look around and spend $$$ They don't want a load of planed events. Full Race office at Tauranga Bridge Marina can give you some details.
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