As a number of vessels are approaching the finish line in the first race of The Tall Ships’ Races 2008, it is clear that many of them are pulling out all the stops to beat their rivals. Christian Radich (Norway) retains the lead overall on corrected time, but now Alexander von Humboldt (Germany) has moved up to second place with Statsraad Lehmkuhl (Norway) in third. On the water, Alba Explorer remains likely to take line honours with an expected finish time of around midnight tonight.

Class B continues to be led by Stina Mari (Norway) on corrected time with Jolie Brise (UK) now in second and Far Barcelona (Spain) back up into third place. Behind Alba Explorer in Class C is Black Diamond of Durham (UK) who are making a run for the line and Spaniel (Latvia) in third, who are always keen to be in the winning line up. Lietuva (Lithuania) has now taken over the lead in Class D, pushing Rona II back into second place and Urania (Netherlands) remaining in third.

The fleet tracking shows that some of the fleet decided to go further north, while others kept a more southerly course. Strategically Statsraad Lehmkuhl may have an advantage over Christian Radich as she is slightly more up wind which may help her close the gap.

Winds remain fresh for much of the fleet but as the vessels approach the Norwegian coast, winds will become light and variable, which may extend the calculated ETAs for many of the vessels.

Sail Training International