CLIPPER 2002 RACE REPORT
Cuba beckons
04, December 2002

So far the forecast light winds have failed to materialise and the fleet
continue to make good progress towards the finish line off Havana.

Sam Fuller and the crew of _blank York Clipper continue to go great guns and
retain a comfortable lead as they approach the south eastern tip of Cuba.
This is obviously a pretty big milestone and with their distance to the
finish now only 5 times the distance to 2nd placed Bristol Clipper, a first
across the line looks pretty secure.

The _blank Yorkers have a handicap though, after some fairly major spinnaker
damage late on Monday. In a message back to the race office Sam wrote, "We
are very upset at the moment as our mw kite is now in two bits! A surprise
gust came upon us and the core of the spinny haly ran out of the jammer
causing the sail to fall in the water."

After a lot of pulling the crew managed to drag the sail out of the water,
but not before the weight of the water had ripped it in two. As the medium
weight spinnaker is one of the index sails in the boat's arsenal it will be
sorely missed and the crew will be trying to stitch it back together again
as quickly as possible. Despite being a major blow, this has yet to really
affect their progress as the wind has enabled them to use some of their
other sails instead. It will however add immensely to the pressure on board.

The feelings on board Bristol can be clearly summed up by Richard Butler's
comments in this morning's report, "Wind 22kts true from ESE. Good downwind
sailing. Bristol Clipper has taken another 6 miles from _blank York. 12 from
Hong Kong, 9 from Jersey. Cool!"

We now see Bristol, London and Jersey all in a line as they sail along the
coast of the Dominican Republic, whilst Hong Kong has chosen to dive back up
north in an attempt to optimise their wind angle.

The real competition though reindexs at the back of the fleet where Cape Town
Clipper are now less than three miles behind Glasgow and 11 behind
Liverpool. The mood on board certainly reflects this as the crew, at one
stage resigned to bringing up the rear, now eagerly await each position
report to see if their hard work has paid off. With the last few all showing
gains on the boats in front, it certainly looks as though it has.

LATEST POSITIONS
04:00 4 December 2002

Pos    Yacht       Distance to Finish
1    _blank York    515 (nautical miles)
2    Bristol    619
3    London    646
4    Hong Kong    669
5    Jersey    690
6    Liverpool    739
7    Glasgow    747
8    Cape Town    750

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