The gap that separates the ten internationally sponsored yachts
competing in the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race is slowly
expanding as the fleet against the rising temperature and light and
fluky airs.
With the current weather conditions dictating the fleet's course, it
will be interesting to see if it will be the yachts that have taken the
in-shore course or the off-shore course, that will benefit for a better
position on the leader board overall.
On board Derry-Londonderry, skipper Mark Light reports, “It is
probably the hottest day so far and with very little wind the
temperatures are soaring! We were greeted today to a magical sunrise
which gave way to a completely clear sky with absolutely no clouds at
all.
“The wind didn't get up past five knots of true breeze all day and we
worked very hard to keep our boat moving in any reasonable direction!!
The light weight spinnaker was gybed, sheeted in, eased, gybed again and
the mainsail eased out, sheeted hard in, barber hauled, prevented, etc.
We really tried everything to keep the boat moving.
“Once the wind dies off to this extent, it becomes very fickle and
sailing too far off the wind results in all apparent wind decreasing to
the point where the spinnaker cannot fill and sits drooping over the
side looking very sorry for itself and also risking damage. All we can
do is concentrate on sailing as good a course as possible and keeps the
boat physically moving in somewhere resembling the right direction.”
As the team’s endeavour to eke out extra miles and make gains on their rivals, Visit Finland skipper Olly Osborne is paying close attention to the game at hand.
“Today has been a real light airs challenge with what little breeze
there is coming from just about every pint of the compass. Trying to
keep the boat pointing in vaguely the right direction is fairly
demanding at times as we are almost constantly having to adjust or
change sail plans to keep up with the wind shifts.
“It is however very satisfying when we do get the boat going, and it is
a great opportunity to make up an extra mile or two. With the fleet
being spread both inshore and offshore at the moment it will also be
very interesting to see who prospers over the next couple of days as
this careful game of cat and mouse continues,” Olly adds.
On Qingdao, Ian Conchie said his team's progress has been slow in light airs and the Chinese entry is feeling the pressure.
“In the last 24 hours we have had very little wind and had to watch as
the rest of the fleet made ground away from us. All we can do is hope
for better wind soon to allow us to catch up.
“All the time we have been busy trimming or changing sails trying to
maximise our boat speed. It is very hard to gybe a spinnaker when it is
just hanging from the mast as it is all too easy to damage the sail
whilst rigging the second pole!”
On Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, skipper Flavio Zamboni is also reflecting on the current immobilising conditions at this stage in the race.
“Unfortunately yesterday's forecast has materialised and we went from sailing in very light airs to being completely becalmed.
“Now we can only hope the breeze will fill in before we lose too much
ground. It is very frustrating but there's nothing we can do about it at
the moment.”
The team on New York has been struggling to keep moving in low visibility and sailing with less than ten knots of true wind in the last 24 hours.
“After a night of drifting at sunrise we were in a fog bank and have
been all day, so a radar and AIS watch was set up for the day and we
have been lucky not to see any other vessels come close, but they would
have had to pass within a few hundred meters of us for us to see them
with our eyes,” skipper, Gareth Glover, explains.
“The wind has come and gone in the day with the most getting up to 10
knots for an hour and then nothing for the next few, the forecast over
the next few days still looks light and are only relief is that the
leaders to our south have had much of the same and have done about the
same miles we have over this time. The crew are still working hard even
in the little wind we have to get us closer to the rest of the fleet.”
In between trying to profit from any small breeze they have had,
Gareth reports that the crew have been finding innovative ways to keep
themselves occupied in the calm conditions.
“Richard Gould has been going over spinnaker trim and sail setting sat
in the shade on the foredeck. Stephan Larsson has been teaching
Celestial Navigation in the saloon and Raghu Gopalakrishnan is teaching
splicing to others, it’s been like a floating classroom most of the last
few days until the wind comes back.”
Meanwhile, on board Welcome to Yorkshire, patriotism is in the
air and skipper Rupert Dean explains how in the last 24 hours the
English entry has been sparing a thought for Queen and country on St.
Georges Day.
“With the Queen's birthday just past and her Jubilee and London
Olympics around the corner, now is the time to feel particularly proud
to be British. We are an amazing nation with some of the most
spectacular, varied countryside and coastline you will find anywhere.
Our Commonwealth spans the whole globe and while it may no longer be one
where the 'sun never sets', it continues to lead the world in so many
ways.
“As an island race the British people have always been intrigued as to
what lies around the corner. It is no surprise, therefore, that British
explorers colonised vast swathes of the world, often blazing new trails
in terms of human endurance. In a similar way, our inventors have led
the way in some of the most ground-breaking scientific and technological
developments. Quite fitting, therefore, that the Clipper Round the
World Yacht Race, the only one of its kind in the world, is British too.
Rupert adds, “When you think about it, the Clipper Race embraces
everything great about being British. A British company working with
international sponsors to generate new business relationships around the
world. Multi-national crews, brave tolerant people from all cultural
backgrounds, all with the common goal of exploring new frontiers, both
personally and geographically. Headed by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston,
regarded as quite a pioneer himself, it all stacks up nicely.
“It brings me great pleasure, therefore, on St George's Day, to be sending this to you from Welcome to Yorkshire.
As the English skipper of the English boat, representing the great
county of Yorkshire, I am very proud to be writing this today. My crew
are proudly flying the flag on the nation's behalf, striving to lead the
way into Panama. Wish us well.”
Sailing under the cloak of invisibility is Singapore has
played its first Stealth Mode card in this race and will emerge at 1200
UTC today after a period of 24 hours. In Race 10, the teams are able to
use two periods of Stealth Mode, or they can combine them to make one
period of 48 hours.
While in Stealth Mode, the team's position is not reported to the fleet
or on the website for the period of 24 hours, or in some cases during
this race 48 hours, however the Race Office still tracks the team
positions every hour.
As the fleet lie relatively becalmed, skipper Ben Bowley reports,
“Tedious would be one way to describe the last 12 hours aboard Singapore.
“We did manage to make a little decent progress in the early part of
the day but as afternoon turned to night we have well and truly parked.
We have dropped the kite to prevent it from damaging itself against the
rigging and I have not seen in excess of 2.5 knots of wind in the last
four hours. The sea is so glassy that we are bobbing on a mirror image
of the night sky; which although beautiful to look at is not conducive
to eating up the distance to finish. We have the wind seeker up but
will the Windex doing laps at the top of the mast, there is not even
enough wind to keep the pitifully small sail filled.
“Throughout the day we have caught glimpses of various yachts in the
fleet on the AIS and take a little comfort in seeing that we are all in
the same predicament for much of the time. We did have a moment of
hilarity after lunch today however. A large red footed boobie landed on
the masthead and started attacking our delicate Windex. With little
else to do, Willy Iliffe volunteered to ascend rig and shoo away the
avian intruder.
“I have the wonderful moment on video where, upon reaching the top of
the rig, a Mexican stand-off ensued between said bird and our fearless
mast climber. Willy practically had to man-handle the bird from the rig
top much to the amusement of those on deck! His reward for a
successful mission was a return trip down the forestay at full
professional bowman speed. I am now going to retire to my bunk and pray
to the wind gods for just six knots of wind to get our ‘Big Red Bus’
moving again!”
On board Geraldton Western Australia, skipper Juan Coetzer
echoes the Singaporean entries plight as the team continue to make slow
progress towards the Ocean Sprint Start Gate.
“Another day of light fickle winds, the sea was a mirror and the skies
clear. Its night time now and we can see the reflection of the stars and
kite in the water.
“Today we saw a bird sitting on a turtle getting a free ride, lucky for
him. His mate decided to land on our binnacle and check out what Hannah
Richards was up too, as she has decided to take on a new task,
designing summer clothes for the crew. Lunch had a Mexican twist to it
and it was Nachos day today.”
The Race Viewer on the Clipper Race website shows the teams are rapidly
approaching the start gate for the Ocean Sprint. The tight racing shows
how closely matched these teams are after eight months of their
40,000-mile circumnavigation and it will make this Ocean Sprint an
interesting one.
All of the teams have the chance to pick up a bonus point for the
shortest elapsed time between the latitude 17.5 degrees north and 16
degrees north - approximately 90 miles.
With less than 20 miles to enter the Ocean Sprint and keen to maintain its current position, Gold Coast Australia has had a busy 24 hours of wildlife spotting in the placid surrounding ocean.
Skipper Richard Hewson, explains, “An amazing day in and around Gold Coast Australia
today with more wildlife than Australia Zoo. Whilst for the majority
of the day we sat becalmed in the Pacific Ocean off the Mexican coast,
in between puffs of wind we were entertained by Mother Nature who put on
a spectacular show.
“Three turtle species were identified today, including one rare leather
back turtle and another turtle with a brown boobie hitching on its
shell.
“The most spectacular of all shows was put on by two different pods of
what we believe to be Pygmy Killer Whales. The first pod swam to the
boat and surrounded us, jumping, breaching and playing. They were quite
inquisitive of Gold Coast Australia and swam with us for over
an hour. As we cheered for an encore, another pod approached that was
even bigger than the first and really put on a show for us. I got some
fantastic footage of these beautiful creatures and felt honoured to have
witnessed such a performance.
Richard concludes, “The wind carried us east, south east at reasonable
speed until the early evening until the wind died out completely. Gold Coast Australia
was left to drift in a mill pond until only just recently when we began
to experience what appears to be a light land breeze from the cooling
land in the east, bringing with it some sea mist. With so little wind
in the area over the next few days it doesn’t really matter where the
wind comes from or how it is generated, all is appreciated as Gold Coast Australia defends its current position leading the fleet.”
The first teams are expected to reach Panama between 9 and 10 May.
- Amy Martindale, Clipper Ventures
Positions at 0900 UTC, Tuesday 24 April 2012
Boat DTF*
1 Gold Coast Australia 1571nm
2 De Lage Landen 1577nm (+6nm DTL**)
3 Welcome to Yorkshire 1579nm (+7nm)
4 Visit Finland 1580nm (+8nm)
5 Geraldton Western Australia 1612nm (+41nm)
6 Derry-Londonderry 1630nm (+59nm)Position at 0600 UTC on 24 April 2012
7Qingdao 1633nm (+61nm)
8 New York 1636nm (+66nm)
9 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital 1651nm (+79nm)
10 Singapore 1679nm (+108nm) Stealth Mode: position at 1200 UTC 23 April 2012
*DTF = Distance to Finish, **DTL = Distance to Leader
