1:42 AM Fri 8 Jan 2010 GMT
'There's nowhere in the world I'd rather be right now,' says Spirit of Australia's skipper Brendan Hall. 'We have absolutely glorious sailing conditions and some close competition to keep things exciting. We are being challenged by four other boats at the moment and the pressure is on but we meet pressure with pressure of our own and have so far managed to keep our nose in front of Cork - just.'
As Brendan says, Cork, Ireland is not the only team putting pressure on them at the moment. Uniquely Singapore, bidding to be the first team in this edition of the Clipper Race to win a stage to their home port, is neck and neck with the Australian entry, still reaping the benefits of their gybe east to get a better wind angle.
Skipper Jim Dobie reported this morning, 'Cork and Spirit of Australia have popped up over the horizon, as they have gybed and are heading east. It looks like we will pass ahead of Cork and behind Spirit of Australia. It's been an exciting 24 hours as we have seen the miles being made on the other yachts. It's never without drama though! At about 10 o'clock last night I heard shouting on deck and as I appeared saw our kite in the water and the head still up the mast. Somehow it had torn right across, maybe having caught on the spreader. Craig was sent up to retrieve the head and we got the next kite up quickly. The whole episode didn't take long to recover from and, with much sewing going on through the night, our kite is packed and ready to go. Once again it looks like the race to the gate will be just as exciting and tactics will play a massive part. Will yachts try and sail straight to the gate or will they gybe to get more boat speed? The next two days will be very interesting.'
Cape Breton Island's tactical move west has yet to prove itself fully but they have already seen some benefit. With the fleet so closely packed - just six miles between the top five boats - even the tiniest gain or loss can have a big effect on the leader board.
Skipper of the Canadian entry, Jan Ridd, says, 'We were concerned that the gybe we put in 24 hours ago would end up costing us a lot of places. In the end it saw us drop down to fourth but put us in a stronger tactical position. We have since overtaken one yacht and seen another pass behind us after gybing onto the other tack as we had done earlier, and that saw us climb to second position. This morning we noticed that the tape reinforcing the luff of our medium weight spinnaker had come undone so we quickly peeled to the lightweight and dropped the medium weight so that our master sail repairer (Katherine) could work her magic and get the sail fit to be hoisted again, all done with her normal efficiency. We are keenly observing the wind so that we can react to any shifts.'
California is with the leading pack, and the sight of three other yachts close by is firing up the team. Skipper Pete Rollason says, 'At daybreak this morning we were greeted with the sight of Spirit of Australia, Cork and Cape Breton Island all around us. This confirmed that we had made some good miles overnight and had closed in on the leaders. It gave added incentive to the crew who feverishly worked to gain a few more tenths of a knot of boat speed to ensure that we could gain a position or two.
'From the looks of the courses being sailed by Cork and Spirit of Australia we are hopeful that the next sched will show this to be the case. With only approximately 380 miles to the scoring gate it is 100 percent focus for 24 hours a day. Although we also have to be ever mindful that it is only a few miles back to the chasing boats. 'Onward and upward' is now the quote for the day and although the winds are light we are making good course and speed under medium weight spinnaker towards the gate and onto Sunda.'
Edinburgh Inspiring Capital has had an excellent 24 hours, shooting up through the fleet thanks to their early decision to take an easterly course, which has allowed them to maintain 12-hour runs in excess of 100nm.
Skipper Matt Pike says, 'We've had a good 24-hour run up the east side of the Indian Ocean. It always looked favourable and the wind has blown steadily, swinging south south easterly to south south west, and blowing 15 to 18 knots. Gybing to keep it on the right quarter we have maintained a steady pace as we head north for the Straits, closing in on the leaders mile by mile. We may even be in time to pick up a point at the gate - something that has escaped us so far - but in the light, unsettled winds ahead anyone could pick up a little wind river and move in front of the pack. As the fleet closes up and the distances get closer it becomes harder and harder to gain any advantage.'
Everyone is feeling the heat now as the fleet draws nearer to the Equator.
'The crew's concentration suffers during the day we all long for the cooler moonlit nights,' says Matt.
Hull & Humber, Cork and Qingdao have all made a move east to position themselves for the assault on the scoring gate and the race for the Sunda Straits further ahead.
Hull & Humber's crew have had an additional challenge overnight when the steering cable snapped as they raced along under medium weight spinnaker. Skipper Piers Dudin takes up the story: 'I was just by the helm at the time and was able to confirm Brett's call of, 'The steering's gone!' For the next few seconds Hull & Humber continued on her course before she started to round up. Job one- get the main centralised; job two - rig up secondary steering; job three - get the kite down; job four - change cable for spare one.
'The first three we managed in about five minutes. The changing of the broken cable took a little longer but Brett (Crawford) and Mike (Burton) worked through the task whilst Arthur (Bowers) held us solidly on course. All in all we reckon we lost about 12 miles. But other boats have had mishaps and I guess they all average out over time.'
'Another hot, humid day dawned this morning with Hull & Humber on the horizon at approximately six miles distance on our port beam,' reports Jamaica Lightning Bolt's skipper, Peter Stirling. 'They were on the opposite tack to us and within a couple of hours had crossed a mile in front of us and disappeared over the horizon to starboard. Other than that we haven't seen any other vessels or any wildlife for the last couple of days. We have light winds, flat seas and a sail plan of full mainsail and medium weight spinnaker, none of which has changed for the last 24 hours. Our course has been taking us further west than the rest of the fleet and to those watching on the race viewer it must seem like a strange tactic. However we have a game plan which will hopefully work to our advantage in the end.'
Jamaica Lightning Bolt's tactics have served them extremely well so far - the team is sitting in third place overall in Clipper 09-10.
Team Finland's crew are in great spirits according to watch leader, Mark Cole. He says, 'Five days out and here we are. Very hot, very smelly and very happy. The weather is lovely, the sailing is amazing. Very unpredictable but this challenge is one of the reasons we are here.
'We have been Team Finland afloat for long enough to see how we all work. We are a little way off fully understanding our new team dynamics, although we do show great promise. We have many characters and cultures and ages and backgrounds, break it all down and what do you find? Well, in the main, we are all proud, adventurous and determined. Once strong lines of communication are maintained we are very compatible. Learning this and learning about each other has cost us some yacht miles but only in the short term. In the long term we will be better for it.
'Any team with a change of management has obstacles to overcome, more importantly mistakes must be made so that we can learn from them and become a more efficient stronger team. Meanwhile, more sunshine, more sailing, more learning and you will see how much character and ability we have as we battle our way to Singapore, Qingdao and beyond.'
The fleet will arrive in Singapore to a colourful welcome ceremony at Marina at Keppel Bay on Saturday 23 January.
Positions At 1200 UTC, Thursday 7 January
(DTF = Distance to Finish, DTL = Distance to Leader)
1 Spirit of Australia DTF 1300
2 Uniquely Singapore DTF 1301 DTL +1
3 Cork DTF 1304 DTL +4
4 Cape Breton Island DTF 1304 DTL +4
5 California DTF 1306 DTL +6
6 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital DTF 1316 DTL +16
7 Hull & Humber DTF 1329 DTL +29
8 Jamaica Lightning Bolt DTF 1333 DTL +33
9 Qingdao DTF 1336 DTL +36
10 Team Finland DTF 1336 DTL +36
www.clipperroundtheworld.com
by Clipper Ventures Media
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Manly, QLD
