Oceanracing - Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race

Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race
www.clipper-ventures.com - Übersicht

Tuesday, 10th January 2006
Photo by: Jersey Clipper
Clipper HQ Media Team Newsletter
Wind in the North

The one really good thing about this part of the ocean is the natural beauty of it all. The fleet has reported lots of animal activity, both above and under the water, and also some beautiful colours, as illustrated by the fantastic sunset shot sent in by Jersey Clipper. The boats have had to think of ways of keeping the concentration going, and, funnily enough, one of the best ways of doing this is by deliberately breaking concentration for a short time every now and again.

Südseeromantik pur

westernaustralia.com are taking this route, and today’s diary tells of this evening’s planned Christmas Island Party, complete with “fruit punch, hors d'ouvres and fancy dress”, according to Belinda Buckley, their diarist. There is a rumour that she has a plastic geranium on board for fruit decoration purposes. They had Christmas Island in sight earlier on, which is the last time any of them will glimpse Australia for a little while at least. The island is a fascinating place, and the site of an unscheduled Clipper Fleet stopover in the 2000 race, when the eight-strong fleet stopped off on the way to Mauritius. They stayed 4 days and were bowled over by the hospitality of the islanders, and beaten narrowly in a game of soccer. The island is home to a couple of thousand people, and about 60 million red crabs – it is somewhat out of the way, but well worth a visit if you happen to be sailing by. And this is what the fleet heartily wishes it could do!

There is better news weatherwise, though. The more northern boats are benefiting from increased breeze, as can be seen by Durban’s and westernaustralia.com’s good runs over the last twelve hours. New York, Victoria, Liverpool and Singapore have done near enough 50 miles (a massively heartening increase!) whereas Qingdao, Jersey Glasgow and Cardiff still have to get to the better wind. This is a classic case of the rich getting richer, which is directly due to the leading boats spending more time in better breeze, and hence getting further ahead. Cardiff’s good run has slowed right down now, and she has been forced off to the west by the wind direction.

For those of you planning on visiting the London Boat show, the Clipper Stand is at B710, and the Guinness tent will undoubtedly hold many crew past, present and future, regaling each other with tales of derring-do. Especially, it seems, from Jersey Clipper, with meetings and meals planned combining the 2000, 2002 and 2005 crews.