Nova Scotia and Jamaica arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii at the end of a 4,400-mile race across the Pacific from Qingdao, China, bringing the number of Clipper yachts in the Ala Wai harbour to nine. Originally expecting a weeklong stopover, the teams arrived to the news that the race restart had been delayed by a number of days whilst rig repairs are undertaken.

The decision to delay the start of Race 8 from Hawaii to Santa Cruz has been made by the Clipper Race Team in order to ensure that new rigging parts are fitted across the fleet as a precautionary measure in light of the dismasting of westernaustralia2011.com and Durban 2010 and Beyond.

Westernaustralia2011.com lost half her 81ft mast when a rig fitting failed. This was followed only a week later by Durban 2010 and Beyond losing her entire rig at deck level.

The replacement fittings are being manufactured to order in Germany and will not arrive in time to be fitted for the fleet to restart Race 8 on 26 March as planned. It is currently anticipated that parts will arrive by the end of the month.

Clipper Chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said: “It must be assumed that by the time these new parts arrive in Hawaii and are fitted, we could be looking at an 8 to 10 day delay to the race restart.”

“It is unfortunate that we have to delay the start of the race from Hawaii but safety is paramount when operating a round the world yacht race and we will not cut any corners in getting the fleet back racing safely again as soon as possible,” Sir Robin added.

In order to make up for the delay it is likely that stopover times in Santa Cruz and Jamaica will be reduced, with the aim of being back on schedule by the time the fleet visits New York in early June.