Clippers Fleet Arrives; Congressional Cup Continues

Having spent about 25 days crossing the North Pacific from Qingdao, China in Race 10 of the Clipper Round the World Race, the 12-boat fleet will begin crossing the finish line at the Golden Gate Bridge sometime after 6 p.m. tonight.

Henri Lloyd is leading the pack and expected to win line honors followed an hour or so later by GREAT Britain. Third to finish will likely be Invest Africa. The remainder of the fleet should arrive by late Friday night. You can watch their progress on the live tracker here.

There are a variety of public events scheduled between April 11 and 17 including recruitment presentations and open boat tours. You can get the latest ETAs and the public events schedule here.

Also under way is the 50th Long Beach Congressional Cup. This event invites the world’s top-ranked ISAF skippers to compete in a round-robin elimination series of match races. The week of racing began last Sunday with the Heritage Regatta, where past skippers were invited to join in fleet racing.

Stage One, an elimination series for the Congressional Cup, began on Monday, when six teams match raced for the Ficker Cup — named after Bill Ficker, the 1974 Congressional Cup winner and America’s Cup winner in 1970 aboard Intrepid. Phil Robertson, 26, of New Zealand is ranked fourth in the world and won the Ficker Cup after two series of match races Monday and Tuesday.

The top four finishers in Stage One continued on to Stage Two, which begins today. They will compete against six other ISAF-ranked skippers through Saturday, culminating with the final races on Sunday. Get all the latest news, details, pictures and live video here online.