The Times Clipper
2000 Round The World Yacht Race
San Fernando
(Philippines) to Singapore
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The Times Clipper
2000 Leg 4 Report Return to AsianYachting News & Views |
The Times Clipper
2000
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The Times
Clipper 2000 Ooooh - the agony of it all If you ever had sweet dreams of calm seas, sunny days and a relaxing sail in the romantic South China Sea – cherish them. What the yachts in the Clipper fleet are going through now is more like a nightmare. With temperatures of over 40’C the decks are so hot that they have to be cooled with buckets of water. Time in the sun has to be limited, life down below is hell and the common sense medical housekeeping becomes paramount in the endeavour to keep fit. But this is only part of it. Having been making steady progress to the south west at 5, sometimes 6 knots, the fleet has suddenly parked. They spent over 6 hours pointing in all directions with the fastest indicating just two knots. The slowest was 1 knot in the wrong direction whereas the lucky ones were just indicating great big polo mints. All good things may come to an end and hopefully all bad situations do as well. The latest poll has most of the boats just moving again. Jersey appears to have maintained her advantage in the front but is being hounded menacingly by London who is matching her at 2 knots. However Liverpool to the north is creaming along at two and a half time this speed and, if she holds on like this, will change the leader board at the next schedule. Leeds is still struggling at two knots but is ahead of Portsmouth, the most northerly boat. Bristol has not got the light breeze and is loosing ground along with Plymouth. Glasgow’s glory days are also taking a slight rest as she remains firmly parked in the south. The greatest obstacle for the crews at present is the mental challenge. It is all too easy to sit there and wait for the wind but that will not win this race. A boat coached up to 0.75 knots from 0.5 knots is going 50% faster, exactly the same way a boat going 9 knots is going 50% faster than one at 6 knots. The difference can be greater than the mere speed difference because when the breeze comes it reaches one boat before the others. Suddenly the lead boat is going 5 knots while the rest remain crawling. You may feel sorry for the boats left behind, and indeed there is always an element of luck in these conditions, however what I found the most bitter pill to swallow was that it was usually the same boats that ‘got lucky’. Maybe there is a message here. The Fleet will be keen to get through their first gate and have the confidence of some tangible indication that they are progressing down the course. Ed Green is the Duty race Skipper and reports that Bristol have seen some whales close by whereas Glasgow, who are allegedly running the nature programme, had a visit from a Philippine fishing boat that had apparently run out of Coke and was disappointed that they could not refill their bottles onboard. Leeds has been giving refuge to a Sparrow but the heat in the forepeak was too great and it has sadly gone to meet the other Sparrows in the great big Sparrow heaven. Snowfalls in Jersey today would be swapped
any time by the crews in the South China Sea. Return to AsianYachting News & Views |
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The Times
Clipper 2000 Arthritic and asthmatic ants with shopping trolleys Ed Green, the Duty Race Skipper and skipper of Glasgow not only helps Stratos Communications with the bottom line in their accounts but also makes headline writing easy. 12 hours ago when totally becalmed he writes ‘Absolutely diddly squat happening here. I have seen arthritic and asthmatic ants going up a steep hill with loaded shopping trolleys move further and faster than Glasgow Clipper has this afternoon.' Well the good times returned and last night they all set off again topping speeds up to 8 knots. Rupert Dean and his crew in Liverpool were there to take the early spoils and trucked down nicely from the north to gain a healthy lead on Jersey. As so often happens the rich got richer and the poor poorer. Plymouth and Glasgow will feel that they can do nothing right as they had to wait for the breeze to fill in from the west. This has had the effect of opening the fleet out. By 0300 GMT the first five boats had passed through the gate boarded by Waypoint B in the north and North Danger Reef 9 miles to the south. Crossing times, all on 21 April, were; 1 Liverpool 0004 GMT Portsmouth has subsequently crept past Leeds so there is a great battle developing there. Ed Green will be last through the gate and in respect to his ancillary job of running the Environmental programme assures he will shut it after him. The 7 knot south easterly wind is a God send and has meant the boats have been averaging up to 7 knots again. They are now focusing on Gate 2 which is a further 226 miles down the track. Once again the east side of the track has isolated reefs and islands including the London Reefs which we will not be mentioning again least Stuart Gibson feels he should explore them. Why are some boats always
in front? Right now it is Jersey that has been on a roll but this has to be balanced by her disappointing start to the race. Why has she been doing well recently? First of all it is not just boat speed. She may be sailing fast but so are most of the others. She won her leg into Hong Kong after making a good tactical move at the waypoint south of Taiwan. This was not a mere stoke of luck but the result of thorough research on the web and in other places by the crew before they left Okinawa. It only takes one or two crew members to bury themselves in the task to top up the knowledge bank. Their reward was one good decision that won them the race. Again Jersey did their homework in Hong Kong and studied the tracks of all the preceding San Fernando races and quizzed those that had done it before. The race had never been won by going north of the rhum line. They stayed south and they won. In Race 10 the choice of routes with the gates is much more limiting but that does not excuse crews from doing the homework before the race and on all the information that can be gleamed from onboard. When Jersey got in front they knew they were vulnerable from the chasing boats on either wing. Liverpool has now overtaken them but this is no disaster as they remain very much in touch in second place. Plymouth on the other hand is not presently enjoying much success but they have been a star performer and they will bounce back. Matt Baker has taken a leaf out of Spud Spedding’s book, Skipper of Blackadder (now Portsmouth) in Clipper 96, when he claimed victory because he had a straight run of 8 different finishing positions. Spud claimed that in Poker this beat 5-of-a-kind and that this should be the basis of scoring for Clipper. Matt and Plymouth have achieved the amazing feat of a perfect straight of 8 different places in just 9 races. The only repetition being two first places which makes it the highest possible straight in 9 races. I suspect this will be one for the record books. What odds would Ladbrokes have put on that! Colin de Mowbray Return to AsianYachting News & Views |
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The
Times Clipper 2000 First Three within Two Miles The temperature is not the only thing hot in the South China Sea at present. After Liverpool’s clever manoeuvre in the north to take a significant 5 mile lead they have had to wait and watch as Jersey has reeled back the advantage. She is now 6 miles to the south of Liverpool and only has two miles further to run to the next gate. The big surprise is that London has moved out of her trailing position astern of Jersey were they had been playing a patient waiting game for the last 4 days. Stuart Gibson and his London crew are now a further 6 miles to the south of Jersey and have edged into second place by a mile. Three boats within 2 miles vying for the lead makes this exciting for the followers but the crews onboard have other things to worry about. The heat continues to rise still further. Remarks such as ‘Hotter than the hottest ever hot dog’ and ‘Hotter than hell’ rather indicate to me that The South China Sea is, indeed, a trifle warm today. The crews have no alternative other than to cope with the heat and they have become inventive in rigging shade wherever they can. Spare a thought for the guys in both Plymouth and Portsmouth who have been working in the generator rooms over the last few days. The times of exposing flesh to the sun in order to strive for the perfect bronzed body have given way to people wearing long sleeves and long trousers. In Clipper 96 Gay Webb, who was one of my crew, produced her husband’s pyjamas much to the merriment of the rest of us. After a week in the South China Sea we were not laughing at gay any more! Behind the first two yachts there is a 15 mile gap to Portsmouth and Leeds. After swapping places several times Portsmouth seem to have pulled away and now hold a 5 mile advantage. 5 miles further back Bristol has made a storming run (well all things are relative) and closed up 12 miles. Yesterday London could see Bristol 5 miles astern when they fell into a wind hole; they were then 20 miles astern on the next radio schedule. Plymouth and Glasgow continue slowly down the track while racking their brains to think of some cunning way to make up their lost ground. Gate number 2 was just over 90 miles from the leaders at 0300 GMT and everyone will be focussed on this objective. Speeds vary from spurts up to 7 knots to slow, slow stretches at 3 knots. The wind remains light from the SE and it is a brave person who comes up with a forecast in this area. The weather charts show the wind remaining for a time but the influences of one’s own personal cloud tend to have more significance than some beautifully drawn weather map. The Clipper Fleet is not alone in this patch of the ocean. There are occasional fishing boats and small coasters and at night the yachts have had to dodge the fishing nets and lines that are laid out in front of them. The major event in the fleet appears to be Jersey Sarah’s Birthday. This will be her third, 21st birthday and it appears that it is being celebrated in great style in Jersey. Colin de Mowbray Return to AsianYachting News & Views |
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The
Times Clipper 2000 Battle Stations at Spratly As so often happens in a race like this, one small decision early on can make all the difference in the world. Three days ago Plymouth fell victim of a wind hole and got detached a few miles from the leading pack. They have since been in different conditions and are now a massive 82 miles behind the leading pack. Likewise Glasgow’s seemingly successful charge on the southern flank, which took her into second place, has backfired badly and they have ended up 13 miles astern of Plymouth. There is no justice out there and The South China Sea is taking no prisoners as the crews ‘melt in their own lard’. The promise of a good place for Leeds looks a wee bit fragile also. Having been a front runner they lost ground in the north while, just ahead of them, Liverpool strode away into the distance. Ras Turner had a look at the southern flank but that has not worked either and he has seen Portsmouth pull away. What is more galling for both these boats is that Bristol, once 31 miles astern and in sixth place, has found its own private breeze and passed them both to take forth place. This is a remarkable recovery from a position that looked pretty hopeless 48 hours ago – so anything is still possible. The battle at the front between Liverpool, London and Jersey continues fiercely. Nineteen minutes separated Jersey and Liverpool when they passed through the 9 mile wide gate at midnight GMT last night. The leader was, once again, Paul De La Haye and his pedigree herd in Jersey Clipper but they will not be ruminating as London was a mere 6 minutes behind the scousers and chasing hard. These three are going to be locked in close combat all the way and I am sure the positions will continue to change. The south easterly wind has backed to the east and is around 6 - 8 knots. The yachts are generally making good 6 knots with increases when there is a puff from the edge of a cloud and decreases when a cloud takes all the wind away. Reading these clouds is one of the most difficult things and I can honestly say that, after an 11 month circumnavigation, I do not think I was any the wiser on reading the clouds. Often you do not have the boat speed to move to the best part of an oncoming cloud so you have to take what you are given. It is also very difficult to determine which way the clouds are travelling. It is not like a steady air-stream in the northern Atlantic with fluffy clouds being awfully decent and always going from left to right. Ed Green describes one of his most amazing sunsets ever last night with a giant cumulus nimbus towering up to 30,000ft with down drafts of rain below it making it look like an explosion from an atom bomb. The nights offer a blessed relief to the crews. The temperatures are bearable and the sights can produce lifelong memories. Last night Glasgow had a fantastic pod of, what they describe as, ‘circus dolphins’ doing amazing tricks. Ed says that there was no doubt that that they were putting on a show purely for their benefit. How could they have possibly known Glasgow keep the fleet’s environmental and wild life sighting records? The shame is that apparently they don’t do matinees so all we end up having is just some dubious stories about their tricks and how they wore the crews’ tam-o-shanters without the slightest bit of photographic evidence. The southern end of Gate 2 is marked by the small island of Ladd Reef which is close to the Spratly Island. This is an immensely interesting area as the island is claimed by all the neighbouring countries and is a constant source of international friction. I am told that there are now sixteen claims currently outstanding on this football pitch sized island. The interest is caused, I understand, by the potential oil deposits (not football). Four years ago we saw the large white Chinese fort on Spratly Island which looked more like a block of condos at Bexhill that an occupied fort. I am sure there will be readers with interesting tales of this area and I would welcome comments. The yachts now have 377 miles to sail to the next gate. This is going to be an even greater test as the winds become even more unreliable and the South China Sea will become more like a sea of hot treacle. The Times Diaries Colin de Mowbray Return to AsianYachting News & Views |
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The
Times Clipper 2000 Shocking Major Daisy The racing in the South China sea continues to be extremely close and exciting. There are three main groups that are involved in their private battles within the main race. The leading trio of Jersey, London and Liverpool keep surprising each other by surging forward and then dropping back as their fluky wind disappears. Stuart Gibson in London says that they were helpless yesterday after being within striking distance of Jersey and Liverpool and then just seeing them sail away. Rupert Dean in Liverpool is still trying to get round the top of Paul De La Haye in Jersey and he is within a gnat’s whisker of achieving this. Presently they are five miles north of Jersey but only one mile further from Way Point D which marks the northern point of Gate 3. The chasing group of Portsmouth, Leeds and Bristol are 40 miles astern of the leaders and have closed up as a group with only 3 miles separating them on the water. This will be a great scrap to watch as they move to the southwest in the light easterly winds. Plymouth and Glasgow at least have each other to keep themselves company. Ed Green in Glasgow will continue being Duty Skipper for the whole of this race. Yesterday they were looking forward to crossing and closing gate 2 when they got becalmed for 20 minutes actually straddling the gate. In Clipper 98 crafty Alex Thompson (winning skipper in Ariel) knowing that the GPS aerial was on the transom would use his portable GPS in the pulpit to gain 60 ft on such occasions. Unfortunately for Ed this loop hole has been closed and so the aerial at the stern has to cross the line or pass through the gate. The clouds in the area are now becoming even more dramatic. The great big dark cumulus nimbus produce violent lightening storms with deafening claps of thunder. Strong gusts and waterspouts are becoming more common and all is not as calm and orderly as you might expect from the slow progress. The next gate is marked on the south side by a lighthouse on the small island of Subi Besar whereas the northern point is a nominated waypoint. The gate is actually crossed on a given bearing of the waypoint. This sounds all a bit abstract but having a virtual point in this case is in fact a better option that a physical one. When researching exact Latitude and longitudes the UKHO advised me what the positions were from their master electronic charts, on which our ARCS electronic charts are based. The actual positions of some lights in areas where surveys have not been updated is sometimes in question and further complicated by different chart datums. A designated waypoint with a specified chart datum on the other hand eliminates all this debate and precludes differences between visual bearings and bearing shown on the GPS. The use of virtual racing marks, as opposed to the traditional navigational buoys, is becoming increasingly popular for ocean and coastal racing as it enables the Race Committee to set marks in the optimum position for racing. With modern tracking devises the boats can be accurately tracked and monitored and so this is now a practical alternative. The Race Office at Raffles It is now realistic to expect the yachts
to arrive in raffles Marina on Saturday PM. Return to AsianYachting News & Views |
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The
Times Clipper 2000 Front runners race on like snails The 0300 GMT report this morning told of another blood stained twelve hour period of racing. Leeds and Portsmouth only managed 24 miles, whereas Bristol and Liverpool could not crack 30 miles. The speedster amongst the pack was Plymouth with 47 miles in twelve hours chased all the way by Glasgow with 43 miles. Due to the wide displacement of the fleet, intentions were passed to the eight yachts yesterday by the race Committee that the race would finish at Gate 3 and that there would be a time limit of 0300 GMT 26 Apr. Any boats that had not passed through Gate 3 by the cut off time would have their positions from Waypoint D (north end of gate 3) taken and given their place accordingly. Also in order to bring the fleet together for the passage into Singapore it was stated that any yachts that had more than 168 miles to run to Waypoint D would finish at 0300 GMT 25 April and have their positions calculated accordingly. This would enable them to catch up and share fuel resources etc. In the event conditions caused Bristol, Portsmouth and Leeds to slow right down and they all failed to achieve the required distance from Gate 3. As a result they have been declared as finishers along with Plymouth and Glasgow and positions determined by their 0300 GMT positions on 25 April. Jersey, Liverpool and London continue to race as the others start on the long slog of catching up. Liverpool had edged 300 yards ahead of Jersey yesterday afternoon but this morning Jersey have managed to pull out a useful 5 mile lead. London trails 16 miles astern of Jersey but stranger things have happened before. Paul De La Haye reports that they have been having very thundery weather with squalls of wind up to 20 knots followed by 3 or 4 hours when the wind drops to two or three knots. When all the boats finish racing at 0300 tomorrow morning thoughts will then turn to the passage to Singapore and the arrival at Raffles Marina. It is 338 miles from the finish to Raffles Marina and this will take in the order of 48 hours for the yachts. Fuel will be a major consideration as these distances are on the extreme range for the yachts. One significant modification made after the first race was changing the self feathering propellers to Brunson Autoprops. These propellers give the yachts about two extra knots speed and about a 20% increase in fuel economy. This means a far greater range which, at times like this, will be most welcome. The plan is that, if there are no hold ups, all the yachts should arrive by 1100 GMT (1900 Local Time) on Saturday 28 April. A brief description and some photographs
of Raffles marina is on the web and other details can be found at www.rafflesmarina.com Return to AsianYachting News & Views |
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The
Times Clipper 2000 Three beauties for Jersey As far as Jersey was concerned the excitement of the clock sticking 6 bells (0300 GMT) was considerable more exciting than the sailing they were doing. They had been completely stationary for several hours just doing their time until the race finally finished at 0300 this morning (1100 local time). They still had over 40 miles to the final gate which 48 hours ago had seemed an easy target. It was not to be and so the time limit became the governing factor and the race stopped at 0300 GMT. Further back way over the horizon however there was definite excitement on the water. Liverpool, who had been challenging Jersey for the lead for over seven days, had fallen into one of the biggest wind holes in the area. 36 hours ago she had nosed into a 300 yard lead to take first place. How the great and good can fall. In the last 12 hours all they could manage was 21 miles. London managed 25 which was enough to give her second place by a 3 mile margin. One’s heart goes out to Rupert Dean and his crew as they had been on the pace all the race but their third place is a great achievement and now they really are nibbling at the heels of the boats ahead and another performance like this will see them move up from their current sixth place. What a great comeback this crew has had and how deserved. Stuart Gibson and his crew are predictably delighted with their second place. After some poor results and a last place into Hong Kong they have now collected two second places in a row and have consolidated their third place overall. Surely one time they will manage to get a coveted yellow pennant for first. So Race 10, probably the one the crew will remember as one of the most demanding, is finally over. The next race however is already under way, namely the long run into Raffles Marina. The eight yachts have been converging on the three boats that have just finished. Plymouth and Glasgow have joined up and the fun is about to start. The 400 mile passage will be made with the boats motor sailing when ever possible and also towing each other, an evolution that can save up to 40% of the fuel. If all goes well they will be in Raffles before closing time on Saturday night. That’s something to race for! PROVISIONAL Finishing
places Race 10 PROVISIONAL Overall places/points Around Alone Clipper Ventures announced yesterday that they had purchased the famous Around Alone race. Unlike the Vendée Globe, which is the other major single handed round the world yacht race, the Around Alone is a 'stopping' race. The sailors will compete in up to five long-distance race legs, each approximately 6,000 nautical miles long. The next Around Alone starts in the Autumn of 2002 and full details can be found on the Clipper Ventures website www.clipper-ventures.com Raffles Marina A brief description and some photographs of Raffles Marina is on the web and other details can be found at www.rafflesmarina.com Finally Congratulations
to all the crews on Race 10. They are now old salts of the South China
Sea. Return to AsianYachting News & Views |
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THE TIMES
CLIPPER 2000 BRISTOL CLIPPER DOCKED TWO POINTS AFTER PROTEST BY LONDON CLIPPER UPHELD A racing incident occurred between London Clipper and Bristol Clipper as both boats approached the vicinity of the first waypoint shortly after the start of Race 10 from San Fernando to Singapore on 17 April. Bristol Clipper 's spinnaker touched London Clipper's rigging thereby constituting a collision. Although it was still light, the incident happened after sunset and therefore the yachts were racing under the Rules for Prevention of Collision at Sea as opposed to the Racing Rules which only operate between sunrise and sunset. A Protest Committee was convened at Raffles Marina in Singapore on 28th April to investigate the protest. After hearing all the evidence from both parties the Protest Committee found that at the time of the incident Bristol Clipper had been the 'overtaking boat' and therefore had a duty to keep clear under the rules. The Protest Committee forwarded their findings to The Times Clipper 2000 Race Committee, which includes Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Janet Grosvenor from the Royal Ocean Racing Club, amongst others. The Times Clipper 2000 Race Committee has accepted the findings of the Protest Committee and has stated that Bristol Clipper is to be penalised 2 points. The points will be deducted from her overall points total in the race. Prior to the protest Bristol Clipper was leading The Times Clipper 2000 by two points from Jersey Clipper. The two point penalty puts both Jersey and Bristol on 59 points and so the rule to determine which boat is ahead when points are equal has to be applied. This rule states that the leading boat is the one with the highest places in the various races that make up the event. Both boats have a most enviable record but Jersey now has won four races as opposed to Bristol's three victories. Jersey therefore will take first place as a result of the penalty. Points standing from 1 May are therefore
as follows: Setting sail from Singapore on Friday 4th
May 2001, the fourth leg of The Times Clipper 2000 will conclude in Mauritius
on 26th May 2001, where a number of crew changes will take place. Crews
competing aboard the yachts (namely Bristol, Glasgow, Jersey, Leeds, Liverpool,
London, Plymouth and Portsmouth) will then race to Cape Town, otherwise
known as the Tavern of the Seas, before embarking on the crossing of the
Southern Atlantic to the port of Salvador in Brazil. Leaving Salvador,
the final leg of The Times Clipper 2000 sees the yachts head north to
a newly introduced stopover in New York. To ensure a close and exciting
finish, they will also enjoy a high-profile 3-day race stopover in Jersey,
Channel Islands, before the final sprint to the homecoming celebrations
in Portsmouth on 21st September 2001. Return to AsianYachting News & Views |