Betreff: Clipper 2002 Race Report
Absender: "Clipper _blanks" 
Empfänger: "Irvin Krumnacker" 
Datum: 14. Jul 2003 13:14


MODERN TECHNOLOGY IS A WONDERFUL THING

Modern technology is a wonderful thing. With it we can do things unthought
of only a few years ago. We can send emails to boats in mid ocean and if
that is not enough we can even pick up the phone... most of the time!

The system that the Clipper 2002 race fleet uses for their day-to-day
communications does not have total worldwide coverage. It's pretty good, but
in a couple of places in mid ocean there are short gaps and the yachts are
in one at the moment.

They have a secondary system that does give total coverage, but if the
skippers aren't completely on top of the communication system on an hourly
basis, they can potentially miss the point when they do go out range on the
first system. What has been happening over the last few days is that the
duty skippers have been sending messages in the usual fashion, only to be
surprised to find the message still in their outbox several hours later.

What has compounded the situation recently is the weather. The frequent and
destructive squalls have  ensured that the skippers are kept permanently on
their toes, worrying about keeping sails and crew intact and have less time
to spend on the niceties of I.T.

The good thing is that, possibly unlike the weather, the satellite gap only
lasts for a few hundred miles, so the position reports will be able to get
back to normal in a day or so.

Looking at the positions from yesterday afternoon, the round of squally
weather seems to be opening things up at both ends of the fleet. At one
point happy to avoid a position mid fleet, Bristol Clipper have now set
their sights firmly on first place. Ross Daniel and his _blank York crew are
indextaining their overall lead, but a margin of 53 miles is currently not
seeming that great.

This will be bad _blanks for Jersey Clipper, who risk relegation to second
overall if the Bristolians beat them by too many places. A first for Bristol
Clipper would be their worst-case scenario, especially from the back of the
fleet. But the Jersey crew have surprised us before and may well do so
again. With Liverpool Clipper now only 6 miles ahead of them, a climb up the
fleet is certainly possible.

It is interesting to see the change in tactics over the last few days. Cape
Town Clipper reindexs on a northern trajectory, despite being nearly on the
same latitude as Salvador. _blank York has levelled out and is now almost due
west of the rest of the fleet, effectively sitting between the finish and
their competitors; whilst Glasgow, Hong Kong and Liverpool seem to now be
the ones chasing Cape Town to the north.

This may prove to be the opening Jersey needs. There is little point just
following the others, so a break to the west could be their favoured option.
If anything, the break in communications is serving to heighten the tension
to see what happens next.

Clipper 2002 - Race 13 Positions
15:00, 13 July 2003

Pos     Yacht        Distance to Finish (nautical miles)
1    _blank York      876
2     Bristol         929
3     Cape Town      962
4     London      999
5     Glasgow     1,076
6     Hong Kong      1,102
7     Liverpool      1,115
8     Jersey          1,121

Clipper _blanks Distribution
Clipper Ventures plc
Tel SA: +27 (0) 214 213243
Tel UK: + 44 (0) 23 8023 7088
Fax UK: +44 (0) 23 8023 7081
Email: lspridgeon@clipper-ventures.com
Website: www.clipper-ventures.com

Clipper 2002 Round the World Yacht Race
Race 13 Cape Town to Salvador ETA 21/07/03