Boston to La Rochelle

Leg five of the Global challenge

Leg five of the Global Challenge set sail from Boston, USA this afternoon at 13.00 (local time) on their 3000nm race to La Rochelle, which is expected to last between 13 and 17 days.

Team Stelmar was approaching the start too soon at the far end of the line and despite attempts to reduce boat speed, they had the tide with them and were carried over three seconds early. Their OCS breech meant they had to perform two 720-degree penalty turns after exiting the Boston Harbour Precautionary Area.

As a result, BP Explorer was the first team to cross the line legally and soon overtook Team Stelmar, clearly eager to get a good start. They were penalised three points by the International Jury at the Protest Hearing in Boston and subsequently knocked off the top of the overall table so they will be particularly keen to stay ahead of first overall, BG SPIRIT and Spirit of Sark, who share second place overall with BP Explorer.

BP Explorer was followed by Samsung, then SAIC La Jolla, Me to You and Imagine It. Barclays Adventurer chose to take the middle ground, crossing the start line in clean air and making good speed. It looked as though they would take an early advantage as a result but were subsequently headed. They moved inshore to try and keep the speed up but eventually slipped to ninth on the way out of Boston Harbour.

The fleet had around 8-10 knots from the northeast, so it was a shy reach on the start line before the teams made their way from the inner harbour down the narrow channel between the airport and the mainland towards Deer Island and then out to sea. Just over an hour after race start the wind started to ease before dropping to a frustrating 3 knots making progress slow. Positions were changing regularly as teams crossed tacks but it was VAIO leading the way two hours into the race, if only by a matter of metres.