Betreff: Clipper 2002 Race Report
Absender: "lspridgeon" 
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Datum: 25. Aug 2003 20:23

Clipper 2002 Race Report
25 August 2003

MORE TWISTS AND TURNS

The amazing battle on Race 14 of the Clipper 2002 Series is now finally
in its closing stages, but not without further interests.

Hong Kong Clipper's fine second place was the focus of everyone's
attention at the Intrepid Museum yesterday evening. In the most
beautiful conditions imaginable, Justin Taylor proudly brought his crew
up the Hudson River, past the Statue of Liberty, along the famous
Manhattan waterfront and into the dock behind the vast aircraft carrier
USS Intrepid.

Meanwhile, out at sea things were not so marvellous. The boats were
beating against a 25 to 30 knot head wind trying to close the last
reindexing miles. Bristol Skipper, Richard Butler lamented that if this
was not bad enough, they had found one of the swirling Gulf Stream
eddies which gave them an adverse current of up to 4 knots at one time.


The NW winds are now slackening and as the next high pressure comes, the
calms will return.

With these conditions the arrival times for those sailing at the rear of
the fleet, such as Glasgow and Liverpool, were starting to slip even
further. At 03:00 GMT today Rupert Parkhouse in Glasgow Clipper, as the
last placed racing boat, applied to take 'Racing Retirement,' which
meant that for operational reasons they could retire and keep their
fifth place.

Although a great disappointment not to reach the final furlong this was
a very practical decision and had the total support from everyone. His
decision was then followed by Adam Kyffin in Liverpool who was some 20
miles ahead of Glasgow but had no prospect of catching Bristol.

Liverpool Clipper therefore retains their fourth place and is now also
heading towards New York under power.

Bristol clipper's position was better than that of both Glasgow and
Liverpool, so they will continue to race to the finish. Skipper Binks
predicts that they will cross the Race 14 finish line off Ambrose
Light-tower at 17:20 GMT today, which will see them dock alongside the
mighty USS intrepid at about 17:00 local NY time after motoring up the
Hudson River.

Clipper 2002 - Race 14 Positions
15:00, 25 August 2003

Pos     Yacht          Dist To Finish (Nautical Miles)
1     Jersey          FINISHED 23/08/03 at 15:45 GMT
2     Hong Kong      FINISHED 24/08/03 at 18:24 GMT
3     Bristol          15
P4     Liverpool      75
P5     Glasgow      74
P6     New York      7
P7     London      7
P8     Cape Town      155

P = Provisional result following racing retirement.

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Clipper 2002 Round the World Yacht Race
New York Fleet Visit 23/08/03 - 02/09/03