Round the Cape - Race News

Round the Cape

26 September 2007

The Clipper fleet has passed the Finisterre headland and has almost divided in two as some head south and others opt for a more westerly course on day 3 of Race 2 from La Rochelle to Salvador.

Hull & Humber, westernaustralia2011.com, Uniquely Singapore, Qingdao and Liverpool 08 are hugging the Portuguese coast while Durban 2010 and Beyond, New York, Nova Scotia and Jamaica are heading out to the west. Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper appears to be taking the middle ground so the next schedule will reveal more of the route they are planning to take.

Race Director Joff Bailey says, “The fleet hasn’t quite reached the steady trade winds that make this race so enjoyable and the forecast for later in the week shows that a low pressure system is developing in the area. They may escape the low pressure system but it will be a major headache for the tacticians on board and will see the fleet split even more. The crew who are taking on the roles of onboard navigators and tacticians will be looking at the weather reports and planning where they want to be 48 to 60 hours in the future. On the website we won’t see the result of any tactical decision now until two or three days’ time.”

Today’s early schedule from the yachts revealed that several of them have damaged equipment and sails overnight as they have encountered strong northerly winds down the coast. These winds will abate during the day and as they head south the fleet will encounter north easterlies of between 15 and 20 knots. This should give them some respite and time to make repairs and get used to life onboard.

Joff Bailey says, “It is very tempting to try to push the boat and crew hard to get short term gains but with more than 33,000 nautical miles still to sail, the skippers have to be very careful not to damage sails or equipment otherwise their performance will suffer later in the race.”

New York reports the crew are settling in to life on board and are learning even more new skills than they thought possible. “But now we have all settled into life on board, the strong smell of diesel is almost comforting as you try to sleep and since Gary “Big Bird” [Purdom] learnt to bake we are all eating well. Special mention to Gary there as he had no idea what a kitchen was two weeks ago, now with the galley leaning at 45 degrees it is an impressive sight to see the 6 foot 5 Washington man calmly pull a tray of brownies from the oven and pass them round the deck.”

On board Jamaica they have been celebrating a couple of birthdays. On Monday it was the turn of round the worlder Bernard Tissier and yesterday David Pugh became the oldest crew member on Clipper 07-08 as he celebrated his 72nd birthday. Happy birthday David!

According to the latest Jamaica blog: “At 72 he really is the elder statesman on board. Not that you would realise it from his gleeful cries of excitement on the helm. He likes to think of himself as ‘Toad of Toad Hall’: a reckless driver and always hogging the wheel. And he treated us today to a special viewing of his Crocs (bright yellow) with knee high socks.”