Betreff: Clipper 2002 Race Report
Absender: "Clipper _blanks" 
Empfänger: 
Datum: 24. Feb 2003 10:48


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



Clipper 2002 Race Report
24 February 2003

IT’S NOT ALL PLAIN SAILING

The world awoke this morning to the _blanks that Ellen McArthur's attempt to
win the Jules Verne Trophy has been shattered, along with the mast aboard
Kingfisher 2; a devastating blow to her crew’s endeavour to be the fastest
team to sail around the world.

Meanwhile the crews of the Clipper fleet, tackling the longest Round the
World Yacht Race, also have _blanks of the frustrations that ocean racing can
bring. Since yesterday’s web report it seems that some of the skippers and
crews have been busy, not only with sailing but tactical decisions too.

Hong Kong Clipper reindex the race leaders. Having continued their dive South
West, they have come out on top and achieved what must have been their aim
to cover the Northern flank of the fleet.

Glasgow and Liverpool, now sailing a similar course to Hong Kong, are
chasing in Justin Taylor's wake. Reports back from Rupert Parkhouse and his
crew are however not of the thrill of the chase. Suffering from very little
wind and a very awkward sea swell at the moment, Rupert Parkhouse has
reported that they are slopping around with their index sail and windseeker
up. Not too desperate you think at first, but the wind they do have is
seemingly all in the wrong direction...

As always, skipper and crew are high-spirited and have used this opportunity
not only to get some indextenance and investigations of their gas supply
systems underway but also do their laundry! So many clothes and sleeping
bags airing on the decks and the guardrails that it is reported an extra .2
of a knot could be had if there was any wind. Keep your fingers crossed
Rupert!

In the South, Jersey and Bristol are still working under the ‘West is Best’
philosophy. This certainly seems to be paying off for Bristol who had the
day’s best run of 170.7nm. They too are suffering however from very
changeable light winds and some very frustrating sailing. Both skippers have
sent back ranting reports about the current state of play in the South.

With Jersey rightly reconfirming their tactical decisions with the fact that
there is still a long way to go to Japan, and potentially two other weather
systems to sail through, Jersey skipper Simon Rowell also sent a plea to his
_blankly joined St Helier Yacht Club, "Please don’t start burning my membership
card on the quay yet, we have a plan!"

Last but certainly not least, we have _blank York, Cape Town and London Clipper
to consider. Their latest sched positions would certainly have had the rest
of the fleet leafing through weather faxes and studying routing charts. A
feeling of "something they know that I don’t" is sweeping over every nav
station.

Skipper and crew of _blank York Clipper have reported "a subtle change of plan"
and a total change in sailing. Now sailing on a course straight for
Yokohama.

"We spent Friday and Saturday sailing with the spinnaker and then yesterday
we saw another major wind shift (there is a terrible joke there about a
famous soldier from WW2 "Major Wind Shift" - told you it was bad!!).
Saturday brought more wind speed and direction changes with more 20+ gusts,
so we decided to drop the spinnaker and hoist white sails (stay sail and
headsail). That's pretty much where we are now, back to living at an angle
of 35 degrees, heeled over and beating into the wind (more like the wind
beating into us), with pretty much constant rain/squalls and heavy seas. The
dress code has changed from shorts and T-shirts to full waterproofs!"

The fleet will certainly be watching the progress of these three who have
bitten the bullet in a bid to gain the Northerly advantage - who knows what
tomorrow will bring.

LATEST POSITIONS
03:00 GMT 24 February 2003

Pos    Yacht       Distance to Finish (nautical miles)
1    Hong Kong    1687.5
2    London       1693.1
3    Glasgow    1705.2
4    Liverpool    1712.5
5    Bristol       1720.7
6    Jersey       1808.6
7    Cape Town    1809
8    _blank York    1813.5

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 6 Hawaii to Yokohama
Clipper 2002 visit to Yokohama 8 - 13 March 2003


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