London Business School receives time correction for medical diversion

Team London Business School has received a 5 hours 16minutes 28 seconds time correction following its diversion to Las Palmas.

Following a crew member on board becoming unwell, it was necessary for the yacht to divert to Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands. This required the team to motor 18 miles ahead, however, this route remained on course towards Punta del Este, Stage 2’s finish port.

This circumstance and how to correct the race timings for this, were reviewed by the Race Committee. The Race Committee has concluded that:

• The situation was highly unusual in that most cases a diversion hinders a vessel’s racing progress. Yet in this case, it meant motoring 18 miles ahead, on course towards Punta del Este, which was the most efficient way to get the crew member to medical assistance.

• The usual method of redress is to race to a point where the engine is switched on and then return to that exact point to resume racing, with anything in between a time loss. However, in was agreed that to return 18 miles north was counterproductive in the conditions.

Explaining how the time correction was concluded given these two points, Race Director Dale Smyth said: “The Race Committee felt that although London Business School gained nothing on the fleet, a time correction should be decided as if the yacht had returned to its motor point. Clipper Race weather expert, Simon Rowell, put a lot of work into using exact weather at the time and some accurate polars to simulate returning to the engine on point and continuing to race to where the engine was switched off.

“Based on this, the committee feels that the correct time correction for that is 5hrs 16min 28seconds. This will therefore be the time correction applied to the team’s overall finish time in Punta del Este. Over a 29 day race this should hopefully not impact its position too dramatically.”

Skipper of London Business School, Gav Rees, said: “We fully respect the process and accept the time correction. Once again, thank you to you all for your support to make the medical diversion as efficient as possible for all involved.”