Tracking the race progress

After the first check, the Pagasus is lying 4th in class. With little wind, progress is very slow. The engine cannot be used during the race itself. They report a speed of 2.08 knots. We were running up to 6 knots with the engine during the voyage out; she can do up to 11 knots with a good wind.

You can follow the race progress using the links below. The explanation is from Caroline (Caz) White of the Ocean Youth Trust. Their boat is the John Laing.

"Positions on handicap are here:
http://www.tallshipsraces.com/balticresults/.
I suggest you choose "Sort order - position by class" as the Class B's are generally the slowest in the fleet so they come an awful long way down the overall list. Pegasus is actually doing well in class. Though the handicapping system doesn't really give a fair reflection of performance for all of us anyway - it takes into account things such as length overall, biggest headsail size and vessel age, but doesn't include vessel weight. So John Laing - being steel and weighing 55 tonnes - actually has to give time to modern composite vessels of the same size which may weigh 20 tonnes less. You may imagine that in light winds this is pretty disastrous for us, hence currently 29th in class and 72nd overall!

The other page to look at is http://www.tallshipsraces.com/baltic/, which shows position on the water. It's a bit unclear at the moment as the fleet is pretty bunched up, but it gets easier as people spread out; and, again, you can select a vessel or a class to look at.

Both pages get updated twice a day - the radio schedules are normally at 0500 and 1700 but they say to allow 3 hours to do the calculations and put things on the web so you have to wait a bit."