Team Garmin leads start of Clipper Race 11

Team Garmin made the most of skipper Jan Ridd’s tactical expertise at the start of Race 11, the PSP Logistics Panama 100 Cup, from San Francisco to Panama. San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge provided the perfect backdrop for the start, as the 12-strong fleet of identical matched 70-foot boats set off from Golden Gate Yacht Club and raced under the bridge towards the Pacific Ocean for the 3350 mile sprint to Panama.

This is the 11th race in a series of 16 in the Clipper Race series.  All 12 yachts are equipped with Garmin electronics, and now crew on board Team Garmin are also using Vivofit to record their daily activities and sleep patterns.

The fleet arrived in San Francisco last week after a gruelling 5,600 miles nonstop leg across the northern Pacific from China. This current leg is a coast-to-coast challenge to New York consisting of three races via Panama and Jamaica.

Team Garmin skipper Jan Ridd said his experience of the Clipper 2009-2010 race meant that he is focussing on getting the race tactics right.  “In the 2009-2010 race I made the mistake of not heading east early enough and then the wind got lighter I struggled to get back towards the coast, so this time my plan is not to get too far offshore and stay as close as possible to the rhumb line which is the shortest distance.”

Ridd will be using the race tactics features on his Garmin chartplotter to help him pick the best times to tack, keeping as close to the rhumb line as possible but making the most of the changing wind conditions.  To follow Team Garmin go to www.clipperroundtheworld.com