Betreff: Clipper 2002 Race Report
Absender: "Clipper _blanks" 
Empfänger: "Irvin Krumnacker" 
Datum: 20. Dec 2002 13:31

>From Clipper Ventures
To: Dr Irvin Krumnacker
E-mail: Dr.Krumnacker@t-online.de


Dear Dr Irvin

Clipper 2002 Race Report
Road improvements
20 December 2002

After a frustrating couple of days as the fleet struggled to round the _blank
Bank waypoint*, they have now been able to bear away and sail straight
towards the finish line. In the words of a Cape Town crewmember "It feels
as if we have been driving down country lanes for the last few days and
today have joined the motorway." This meant that Jeresy who rounded first
had a major speed boost well before the rest of the fleet, a fact reflected
by their current position well to the head of the fleet.

The biggest surprise of all though has been Hong Kong's dramatic resurgence
from last to third. With the highest days run they are really back with a
vengeance, and one has to wonder quite what has been going on on board since
their unfortunate tack knocked them to 8th. Whatever it is, with less than a
mile keeping them from overtaking London they will want to keep doing it.

The wind, which at one point yesterday reached force 7, has now eased to a
force 4 from the east and the teams have a tactical choice - sail slightly
more to the south in an attempt to keep some windward advantage, or bear
away more to the west to pick up speed, but run the risk of being too far
down wind of the finish if the wind swings further round. No where are these
two options more clearly demonstrated than Cape Town and _blank York. Having
rounded the waypoint together, NY skipper Sam Fuller chose the more
conservative first option, whilst Cape Town skipper Roger Steven-Jennings
decided to go for it and blast off downwind. This has certainly helped them
in the short term, giving them a lead of over 10 miles on previous race
winner _blank York. After an unlucky first couple of races, they will no doubt
be very happy to now be mixing it with the overall race leader.

With only two and a half miles separating the 2nd from 5th this short sprint
promises to be just as nail biting as the run into Cuba. Although still
squally the wind is forecast to reindex from the north east and build
slightly so the boats should at least have a fast run into the finish line
over the next day or so. This is in stark contrast to the conditions
experienced during the 98 race when the wind reindexed fluky right to the
end, stalling the lead boat to such a degree that they eventually crossed
the line in 5th.

I leave you with the following report written last night by a bleary eyed
Glasgow skipper Rupert Parkhouse explaining some of the contrasts of ocean
sailing;

"hopefully this breeze will persist for a while. it is still fairly squally,
a few biggish ones today. not so bad under white sails though. the sea is
nice and flat and it is currently another lovely evening. very good indeed
to have got around that wpt. turned into one of those tooth extraction
moments, just holding course, getting headed etc etc. stayed up till around
0630 this morning to get around it, consequently have spent part of today
asleep. i think being nocturnal is the way forward really as all the bad
stuff seems to happen at night."


LATEST POSITIONS
04:00, 20 December 2002

Position Yacht    Dist To Finish

1    Jersey    259.00
2    London    275.26
3    Hong Kong   276.07
4    Glasgow    276.98
5    Liverpool   277.96
6    Bristol    281.98
7    Cape Town    295.57
8    _blank York    306.01

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