Oceanracing - Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race

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

Friday, 26th May 2006
Fast and Furious
With speeds at last averaging above 10 knots for the entire fleet the sailing is fast and furious. Winds of up to 40 knots have given the crews plenty to concentrate on as individual boat speeds have reached up to 24 knots. But the last 12 hours has not been without its share of excitement as well with reports of broaches, ripped sails and lines snapping. Most of the boats have changed down to poled out No. 2 Yankee, but even so the forces exerted on the boats at these speeds are considerable.

New York suffered a dramatic “Chinese Gybe”
(when the wind slews the boat around down wind and pins it on its side – see their latest diary for a full description of their busy night), Victoria broached, loosing most of their headsail hanks in the process whilst Jersey wrote to say how the slightly lighter winds further offshore were enabling them to keep their heavy weight spinnaker flying, only hours before a guy snapped (one of the lines holding the spinnaker) and the sail ripped in the resulting battle to get it back under control. And of course typically most things happen at night.

New York macht Chinese Gybe

Downwind nach Mexico

For several days Jersey and Cardiff had been raking in the miles as the inshore boats languished in lighter winds from an unfavourable direction, but as the high pressure system developed this situation reversed. Now the place to be is close to the coast, away from the centre of the high where the winds are lighter, and Jersey’s track to the south east reflects this. Cardiff reindex well to the west , but as all the fleet track further south it is likely that paths will converge. Overtaking a boat directly ahead is remarkably difficult as one has to rely purely on superior boat speed, hard to achieve in a one-design fleet, and this has enabled Uniquely Singapore to reindex at the head of the fleet. For boats running side by side the situation is very different and we can expect to see much chopping and changing of position between both Durban and Liverpool, and westernaustralia.com, Victoria and New York as a gain of a mile or two could make a big difference on the leaderboard.

Unfortunately due to the fleet’s unexpectedly slow progress since leaving Victoria we have had to revise the expected arrival dates into Panama, Jamaica and New York. It is now unlikely that the fleet will arrive in Panama before the 10th June. Although totally in the hands of the Panama Canal authority we would hoe to be able to get them through to the Caribbean side in time for a re-start on the 15th which gives us an expected ETA in Port Antonio of the 18th. We are therefore now planning on departing Port Antonio on the 23rd which should give us an estimated arrival date in New York of the 30th June. We will then depart New York on the 4th July as planned. Once in New York we will now be berthed at North Cove Marina in downtown Manhattan. This is a very central location and should be wonderful for experiencing the sights and sounds of the Big Apple.