CLIPPER 2002 RACE REPORT
All change at the top!
17, December 2002
As the fleet form into three distinct groups, it's all change at the top.
Having been a close second behind front-runner Liverpool Clipper, Jersey
took the lead yesterday afternoon albeit by the slimmest of margins. Jersey
Clipper's _blank skipper, Simon Rowell, and his crew will be pleased to see
that this morning's position reports show them still at the front of the
fleet.
London Clipper also did well, overtaking Hong Kong to move into third place.
The surprise however is that despite London's third place, Hong Kong are
back up to second this morning, a mere 4 and a half miles behind Jersey.
This has been brought about by an unfortunate run from Liverpool Clipper,
which has seen them fall 3 places to 5th.
The boats have all been reaching in a straight line in similar winds; mostly
with white sails up as the wind is a little far forward for spinnakers.
Richard Butler and the Bristol crew tried to gain a speed advantage by
hoisting their spinnaker for a while, but with little success and eventually
dropping it when the sail, flown as low and tight as possible to avoid
sailing too far off the wind, caught a passing wave which apparently caused
the snap shackle (the hook which holds the sail) on the guy to release. This
was actually quite a lucky break as the alternative would have been for the
sail to rip...
In these conditions the fleet are very evenly matched and it is very hard to
gain, or lose, a speed advantage. Although we have heard nothing yet, we can
only speculate that Liverpool may have suffered some damage to fall so far
back, especially when one compares their 24-hour run with those nearest.
Overall however the distances between the Clipper yachts are minimal and on
this length of race, with little in the way of tactical options, boat speed
becomes all important. At most boats have a 4 mile gap in distance to finish
and with the yachts in each "group" sailing within sight of each other, it
is likely that the racing will reindex intense.
What little strategic advantage there is will depend very much on the wind
strength over the next 24 hours as the yachts approach the first mark of the
course. Given the current situation with winds around the force 5 mark,
Jersey and Hong Kong should be well placed with a 20 mile windward
advantage. This means that they can sail slightly less close to the wind
than the others, so should have faster speeds. If the wind swings more to
the east, which looks likely, they will have an even bigger advantage.
However, the whole fleet is heading into an area where not only is the wind
forecast to ease considerably, but where the conditions can be very
localised, with a mile or so giving potentially very different winds.
As we saw on the final approach to Cuba, this combination of calms and
localised breezes can cause some major position changes. Watch this space!!
LATEST POSITIONS
04:00, 17 December 2002
Pos Yacht Distance to Finish
1 Jersey 608.04 (nautical miles)
2 Hong Kong 612.61
3 London 616.82
4 Bristol 618.89
5 Liverpool 621.67
6 Glasgow 622.33
7 _blank York 632.04
8 Cape Town 632.75
LATEST POSITION tableS
04:00, 17 December 2002
Pos Yacht Lat Long Dist
To
Finish Dist
To
Leader DTL
Change
12 Hrs 24 Hour
Run Prev
Place Place
Change ETA
1 Jersey 18 38 N 80 49 W 608.04 0 0 211.25 1 0
2 Hong Kong 18 40 N 80 54 W 612.61 4.57 +0.73 207.03 4 +2
3 London 18 28 N 81 14 W 616.82 8.78 +5.56 205.68 3 0
4 Bristol 18 30 N 81 15 W 618.89 10.86 +5.58 205.66 5 +1
5 Liverpool 18 33 N 81 16 W 621.67 13.63 +11.02 196.06 2 -3
6 Glasgow 18 32 N 81 18 W 622.33 14.29 +3.48 203.65 6 0
7 _blank York 18 42 N 81 22 W 632.04 24.01 +6.87 196.68 7 0
8 Cape Town 18 43 N 81 22 W 632.75 24.71 +6.96 199.36 8 0
Clipper _blanks Distribution
Clipper Ventures Plc
Tel: +44 (0) 2380 237088
Fax: +44 (0) 2380 237081
Email: distribution@clipper-ventures.com
Web: www.clipper-ventures.com
|
