Betreff: Clipper 2002 Race Report
Absender: "Clipper _blanks" 
Empfänger: "Irvin Krumnacker" 
Datum: 11. Aug 2003 12:44

Clipper 2002 Race Report
11 August 2003

SUNDAY HORRIBILIS

Serious upsets in the Clipper 2002 Race have seen a great weekend for some
and a Sunday horribilis for most of the others!

Golden boy Simon Rowell, skippering Jersey Clipper, has almost certainly
been enjoying three Shredded Wheat biscuits for breakfast. 24 hours ago his
Jersey team had a 27 miles lead on second placed Hong Kong, was 67 miles
clear of archrival Bristol and 91 miles ahead of London in eighth place. 24
hours later Simon had doubled his lead over Hong Kong, more than doubled his
lead over Bristol (now 145 miles) and made a massive 104 mile gain on the
back markers.

This is an amazing turn of events as both Jersey and Hong Kong have managed
to keep going, while all the other Clipper yachts have virtually stopped.
Although the weather maps show no significant reason for this, there is
clearly a small trough running through the area and Jersey and Hong Kong
were fortunate enough to scrape in just above it.

Hardest hit was Ross Daniel and his crew in _blank York Clipper, who have
managed just eight miles in the last 12 hours.

Liverpool's skipper, Adam Kyffin, will not be having a good start to his
birthday after losing a massive 51 miles to the leader but he will be
relieved that, after the gap between them and Bristol opened to three miles
yesterday afternoon, he has reeled Bristol back in again. He may however
need a bit of positive thinking to convince his crew this was a 'good
schedule.'

Rupert Parkhouse and the Glasgow crew will be wondering what they did wrong.
Having been tucked up a mere 16 miles behind Jersey three days ago their
world has slowly fallen apart. Their last 12-hour run of 28 miles means they
are now 147 miles astern of them and have been eased into 6th place.

Duty skipper, Rory Gillard on London, reports that, "what wind there is, is
all over the place. They feel they have exhausted all their means of
retaining sanity, including singing, and so for everyone's sake we hope they
have a better schedule next time."

Cape Town's brave move to the west ran out of steam yesterday but their
12-hour run of 55 miles was still a lot better than the others, bar the two
leading inky swots. This has meant they have taken _blank York's scalp and
moved into sixth place and are only 10 miles astern of third placed Bristol,
on a Distance-to-finish (DTF) basis.

The South Africans have got themselves well displaced to the west of the
others and if they get a good break they could have the last laugh. Roger
Steven-Jennings has worked hard over the last 10 months at getting the best
odds at the bookies and they must now be worth an each way bet.

Back in the English Channel there are 247 boats on the Fastnet race with a
good representation of ex-Clipper crews aboard. Many will be able to
identify with the conditions 3,500 miles to the southwest, as they have also
been becalmed as they head west. There is however a difference as when the
tidal stream pushes them backwards over the ground they can kedge (anchor).

The Clippers sailing in depths of 3,000 metres do not have this luxury and
sometimes you just have to watch the DTF increase on the GPS. Spare a
thought for at least six of the eight Clippers out there - there may never
be such a good time to send a message of support!

Clipper 2002 - Race 14 Positions
03:00, 11 August 2003

Pos     Yacht        Distance to Finish (nautical miles)
1     Jersey          1,782
2     Hong Kong     1,837
3     Bristol          1,926
4     Liverpool      1,927
5     Glasgow      1,929
6     Cape Town     1,934
7     _blank York      1,965
8     London      1,977

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 14 Salvador to _blank York ETA 22/08/03


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