Oceanracing - Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race

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

2006-03-21
STOP PRESS: ALL 10 BACK IN THE WATER

At 1150 local (0350 GMT) on Tuesday westernaustralia.com was lowered into the water, the final boat in the ten-strong Clipper fleet to be re-launched after rectification work in the Philippines.

Tuesday morning saw the final trio of westernaustralia.com, Cardiff and Jersey, hauled back into the water to join the seven boats already afloat.

Eight boats now have their rigs back in, with just Jersey and westernaustralia.com waiting for their masts to be stepped at the other side of Subic Bay where a crane and the rigging team is on standby. The race was on this morning to get as many rigs back in before the afternoon breeze kicked in, and the team overseen by Simon Rowell managed to get Liverpool 08, Uniquely Singapore, Durban’s rigs back in by lunchtime after a 0600 start.

Photo by: Clipper

Now, with the predicted breeze filling in, the two professional riggers, Tim and Harry from The Rig Shop in Southampton have moved on to tuning rigs. If the breeze subsides later, the final two masts will be stepped later today.

Finishing touches are being made onboard Qingdao, the first boat to be re-launched, and she will be ready to sail later today or tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, back at the Yacht Club itself, crews are busy getting kit ready to stow back on their newly-launched boats. Various crew meetings are underway, as skippers brief their returning crews on what has been happening back at Subic Bay and what lies ahead for them over the coming days.

Crews will be assisted by local workers as they prepare their boats over the coming days and skippers are allocating jobs to their crews to ensure that everything is in order for the race re-start on Saturday.

A mass crew briefing will be held at 1800 local (1000 GMT) today at the Subic Bay Yacht Club to update crew on the pre race preperations. Mark Preedy, westernaustralia.com's new skipper, is ariving in Subic Bay later tonight.