Betreff: Clipper 2002 Race Report
Absender: "Clipper _blanks" 
Empfänger: 
Datum: 30. Jan 2003 12:37


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Clipper 2002 Race Report
30 January 2003

WHAT DAY IS IT ANYWAY?

The wind has now settled back into the east and is blowing a steady 15 to 20
knots, but for most of last night it was a completely different story. As
the forecast predicted virtually all the boats experienced squally
conditions with frequent showers and for several hours were forced to sail
close hauled into a south westerly, a situation reflected in today’s lower
mileages.

Jersey Clipper still clings to the lead but only just with Bristol just a
mile further back, but the real winner from this particular hand has been
Adam Kyffin and his Liverpudlian crew. A strong third for several days now,
Liverpool Clipper have nonetheless been continually looking over their
shoulder towards London who reindexed just a few miles behind, doggedly
determined to regain their initial podium spot. Today though they can look
solidly forward. The highest run of the fleet has put Liverpool Clipper
within 11 miles of Bristol, whilst London has lost nearly 20 miles on the
leader.

Hong Kong and Glasgow reindex joined at the hip, but Rupert Parkhouse and the
Glasgow crew retain the upper hand just over 6 miles to the north west. They
will be out of visual contact at deck level, but with radar or a sharp eyed
crew member up the mast keeping tabs on the other's actions they are likely
to continue to shadow each other in an exciting race to the finish.

After the drama of their man overboard, Cape Town Clipper are back up and
running and despite a lower days run have their sights well and truly fixed
on the finish line as they aim for the island of Oahu, whilst further back
Sam Fuller and the _blank York crew are wishing that the boats ahead would run
out of wind for at least 24 hours. The consolation for them is that though
it is now unlikely they will avoid an 8th place finish, the party will be in
full swing by the time they get there!

Potentially one of the most exciting developments in today’s positions is
the track that Jersey seem to be taking through the islands. Unless they
gybe north which looks unlikely they will pass through the Alenuihaha
channel between The Big Island of Hawaii and Maui, whilst the rest of the
fleet look set to outside route to Oahu.

Hawaii is 10 hours behind the UK, so in a sense have an extra 10 hours to
get in on a particular day. The confusing thing about time zones is that
whilst for us the lead boats look likely to get in tomorrow, there is an
outside chance that it will still be tonight in Hawaii. However the wind can
often die at night, especially in the lee of the islands, so an evening
finish can often be a very long drawn out affair.

The local conditions around the islands will have a huge impact and as Duty
Skipper Richard Butler puts it, "The next scheds (position reports) will be
very interesting indeed!"

LATEST POSITIONS
04:00, 30 January 2003

Pos    Yacht       Distance to Finish    Distance to Leader
1    Jersey       177 (nm)      0 (nm)
2    Bristol      178         1
3    Liverpool    188         10
4    London    222         45
5    Glasgow    290         113
6    Hong Kong    295          118
7    Cape Town    364          187
8    _blank York    459         282

Clipper _blanks Distribution
Clipper Ventures Plc
Tel: +44 (0) 2380 237088
Fax: +44 (0) 2380 237081
Email: distribution@clipper-ventures.com
Website: www.clipper-ventures.com

Race 5 Galapagos to Hawaii - THE KO OLINA CUP
Clipper 2002 visit to Hawaii will be hosted by Ko Olina Marina and Resort
www.koolinamarina.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------