Betreff: Clipper 2002 Race Report
Absender: "Clipper _blanks" 
Empfänger: "Irvin Krumnacker" 
Datum: 19. Jun 2003 11:22

FREE MILES ... FOR SOME

The conveyor belt is on! Bristol and Jersey have put on their afterburners
and have both done over 150 miles in the last 12 hours. With a strong NE
blowing and a 4-knot current they will be enjoying themselves somewhat more
than the rest of the Clipper 2002 fleet.

London Clipper's curve round to the North has worked and they have played a
blinder on _blank York as they collected their 'free miles' before the Yankee
doodles. Roger Steven-Jennings and his crew aboard Cape Town Clipper are
also benefiting by their more direct course to the current and have moved up
to fifth place.

Liverpool, Glasgow and Hong Kong all took the direct route and have lost out
as a result. Hong Kong Clipper, always one to try the extremes, was going
north but appears to have had a change of strategy and abandoned that
theory. This is a pity and they may be regretting this as they have now lost
the opportunity to 'do a London' on the boats in front.

As each boat hits the current, the gaps immediately open up which accounts
for a remarkable set of figures on the leaderboard table. Hong Kong's 24
hour run of 133 represents much lost drinking time in Cape Town when
compared with Jersey's 258 miles.

We were always expecting the boats to become spread out on this race. Not
only does the current have the effect of stringing them out, but there are
lots of major tactical decisions to make in the varied and sometimes
unpredictable conditions. The interesting thing is that both Jersey's Simon
Rowell and Bristol's Richard Butler will admit to where they got it wrong -
yet their success is down to making more good calls than the others.

As they fight out the last 450 miles in almost a match racing scenario,
Simon will still have nightmares of his northern attack on Madagascar which
put them in a seemingly hopeless seventh place. Richard Butler, who now
accepts that everyone affectionately calls him Binks, will not be happy in
his middling course after Madagascar, which allowed the Jersey crew to stage
their miraculous 112 mile recovery.

The others in the fleet meanwhile will have to reflect that whatever
improvement these two leaders could have made to their game plan that they
are being shown the way home this time.

Cape Town is preparing to welcome the yachts, with friends and families
already starting to arrive. Visit notes will be published at
www.clipper-ventures.com shortly. The weather window at present looks
reasonable for the next few days, but the weather fronts come though very
fast and we are going to see many more excitements on the run in to this
quite amazing race.

Clipper 2002 - Race 12 Positions
03:00, 19 June 2003

Pos     Yacht        Distance to Finish (nautical miles)
1     Bristol          450.6
2     Jersey          451
3     London      608
4     _blank York     617
5     Cape Town    636
6     Liverpool    650
7     Glasgow      653
8     Hong Kong     685

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

Clipper 2002 Round the World Yacht Race
Race 12 Mauritius to Cape Town ETA 21/06/03