14.07.2006
Halfway There/Still Halfway To Go
Friday, 14th July 2006 Photo by: Hotcapers
With the majority of the fleet now more than half way to Jersey it is easy to think of them as being “nearly there”. In many ways they are. With less than half of the last major ocean crossing to go, the crews who left Liverpool in September of last year can indeed think of themselves as “almost home”. Before they reach Jersey they will have crossed their outward track and become true “circumnavigators”. However it is important to put this into perspective.
For all those who joined in Jamaica this is their first major ocean crossing, and they still have half of it to go. Though the races from Jersey to Holyhead and Liverpool are short by comparison with the Southern Ocean or the North Pacific, they would still qualify as long offshore passages by the standards of most leisure sailors and the weather in the Western Approaches and the Irish Sea can be distinctly unfriendly. There is no room for complacency wherever one is sailing.
With 25 points still available (10 for the winner of the current race, 10 for Jersey to Holyhead and 5 for Holyhead to Liverpool) the race too is still far from over. New York’s 12-hour run of 122 miles has pushed them just ahead of Liverpool 08 and Victoria in this morning’s 0400 report. With equal points to Liverpool overall this could be a crucial day for the New York crew and give them an advantage they will fight hard to keep, whilst Liverpool 08 will be determined to win it back. Indeed the focus on every boat will be to indextain or increase the place difference between themselves and their nearest rivals, as well as the more routine desire to do well in the current race.
With that in mind today’s positions will be a cruel blow to the crew on Jersey who will not only be hoping to avoid a last place into their home port (the return of the “home port curse”* perhaps) but will also be desperate to put some places between themselves and Glasgow, only half a point ahead of them overall. Dropping down the leaderboard will do them no favours but will be exactly what the Glasgow crew were hoping for. The Glasgow team shouldn’t count their chickens though as Cardiff, now only 14 miles behind, had the highest days run covering 27 more miles than Glasgow. At that rate…..
Uniquely Singapore didn’t have the best of days, dropping 16 miles on the leader and widening the gap between themselves and Qingdao whose solid performance has kept them up in the forward half of the fleet. Whilst Durban will not be at all happy with their current position. Having sailed consistently well for virtually all of the recent races a finish in the bottom half of the fleet would be way off form and could cost them their first place overall. Nearest rivals westernaustralia.com will find this hard to mourn. Having recovered from their own personal dip in fortunes, the WA boat is once again delivering a consistently good performance. Just over 25 miles off the leading three a podium position is still well within their grasp. And this brings me back to my first point. With over a thousand miles still to sail, this race is still wide open.
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