Oceanracing - Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race

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

Tuesday, 14th March 2006
westernaustralia.com Skipper David Pryce has announced his resignation
from the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race citing his doubts that the race organisers can meet the race re-start date of 25th March and the subsequent revised race programme.

Pryce, who returned to his native Australia following the discovery of keel problems on the Dubois 68 fleet, said he would not be returning to Subic Bay in the Philippines to sail back to Liverpool.

Although some vessels in the fleet experienced problems with their keels, westernaustralia.com was not one of them, though she was diverted to Subic Bay with the rest of the yachts for full investigation.

Photo by: Clipper

Clipper 05-06 Race Director Tim Hedges said: ‘David was an excellent skipper and will be missed by his crew and the other skippers in the race.
‘We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the boats are ready to go on 25th March and are sad to lose David in these circumstances,’ he said.
‘We are currently speaking to several highly qualified candidates and hope to be able to announce the new skipper for westernaustralia.com be over the coming days,’ he added.

Work is progressing well on the fleet in Subic Bay following the discovery of a problem with the connection between the outer skin of the hull and the keel. The team working on the ten yachts is being overseen by experts flown in from UK, Hong Kong, China and Singapore. All ten yachts will be trialled and undergo a full independent safety survey before they set sail for Qingdao in China on 25th March.