9:30 PM Fri 8 Jan 2010 GMT
Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht race. Race 5, Geraldton WA to Singapore.
'Today is a decision day for many in the fleet,' explains Qingdao's skipper, Chris Stanmore-Major.
'The scoring gate is within reach now but will seriously compromise the routing of those boats that choose to go for it. As they attempt to make their way into the Sunda Straits and having scored their points, their progress will be hampered by light
tail winds which will slow them considerably. For those who are happy that they have no chance of making the gate the opportunity exists to go now; move out to the west, take a sizeable hit in their fleet position but set up a quick dive across those same light winds into the straits.'
Hull & Humber's skipper Piers Dudin agrees with Chris, saying, 'The best thing about the scoring gate is that it will distract the leading five boats and allow the remaining five to, hopefully, sail round the west of them in better breeze. Having worked the left hand side of the course we came back to the centre line and now we're working west again.'
Currently the most westerly boat in the fleet, it is clear that the team on board Jamaica Lightning Bolt has also decided to sacrifice scoring gate points in favour of a race win.
'The rest of the fleet has been gybing back and forth down the course line which, on the face of it, makes it appear they have done much better than us,' explains the skipper of the Caribbean entry, Pete Stirling. 'If the weather forecast proves correct then our master plan will stand us in good stead and we should re-gain quite a few of the
lost places over the next few days.'
Conversely, Richie Fearon and his team on board Cork are heading straight for the gate and the Derry skipper is confident of securing maximum points by being the first to cross. 'We had a boost this morning when the midnight schedule came through to show that our hard work had paid off and we are in first place,' says Richie. 'We still have just less than 200 nautical miles to go to the gate and with the angle we have and the wind ahead we are confident of getting three points.'
Determined to beat them over the line and with nothing separating the two teams at the midday schedule is the team on board Spirit of Australia. 'We are sailing the angles we feel will give us the biggest advantage,' explains skipper Brendan Hall. 'It's great sailing weather and fortunately there is still enough wind to keep us moving and prevent the deck from getting too hot underfoot.'
Clearly the scoring gate points are far from being decided and Cape Breton Island's skipper, Jan Ridd, is fully aware that it only takes a small mishap to lose the advantage. Having led during the early part of the race, the Canadian team is currently lying in fifth place.
'Since leaving Geraldton we have had three snap shackles fail on us,' explains Jan. 'Last night one gave way on the guy causing the spinnaker to fly out of control. In a very variable wind it quickly tangled itself in the rigging and prevented us from dropping it quickly. So, the painful process of trying to drop our biggest sail whilst it is firmly
tangled started and it took us about an hour to get it down. During this time we were sailing at less than half the speed which has cost us dearly in miles lost to our competitors.'
Uniquely Singapore's Jim Dobie is also rueing the loss of miles to the front runners and reports a night of frustrating conditions.
'With the wind shifting direction and speed, we were down to a crawl at some stages,' he says. 'We did our best to play the angles as much as possible but it was disappointing to see we had lost miles to a few boats.'
Edinburgh Inspiring Capital's excellent run yesterday has also come to an end as skipper, Matt Pike, and his team find themselves in a large wind hole just south of Christmas Island. 'Concentration is now key,' says Matt. 'As we play the light and variable winds to keep the boat moving forward, we can only hope the little wind we have holds.'
Adding insult to injury Matt also reports that the deck has become too hot to stand on in the midday sun and humidity below deck has become unbearable.
Things have also been hotting up on board Team Finland and skipper, Rob McInally, knows that working the wind angles is the only way of securing points at the gate. As the winds turn light and temperatures soar keeping the lightweight spinnaker filled has become a major challenge for the Finnish team.
'We have a man on the foredeck at all times lifting the foot of our mammoth spinnaker to avoid it catching under our pulpit,' explains Rob. 'Hans was enthusiastically fending off the mass of cloth when suddenly he shouted, 'Rock! Rock!' We were all confused and went to the edge of the boat to see the item one metre below the surface. Someone then shouted in a laughing tone, 'That's not a rock, it's a ray!' This ray was the size of a Mirror sailing dinghy and as it moved aside for us we discovered that 'Roch' is in fact the Dutch translation for Ray.'
Whilst Team Finland opts for their lightweight spinnaker to maximise their speed to the scoring gate, California has pretty much exhausted their sail wardrobe as the team makes every effort to get every ounce of speed the boat.
'It was disappointing to see that Cork and Spirit of Australia have pulled away a little,' admits skipper Pete Rollason. 'But we have made gains on every other boat at the last schedule. Morale is therefore good and the regular sight of other boats keeps us all fired up and driving as hard as we can.'
Positions at 1200 UTC, Friday 08 January
Boat DTF* DTL*
1 Spirit of Australia 1143nm
2 Cork 1144nm 0nm
3 Uniquely Singapore 1155nm 11nm
4 California 1161nm 18nm
5 Cape Breton Island 1164nm 21nm
6 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital 1179nm 36nm
7 Hull & Humber 1185nm 42nm
8 Team Finland 1189nm 46nm
9 Qingdao 1194nm 50nm
10 Jamaica Lightning Bolt 1213nm 70nm
(*DTF = Distance to Finish, *DTL = Distance to Leader) Full positions are updated every three hours and can be found at
www.clipperroundtheworld.com
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by Clipper Ventures
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Manly, QLD
