Tactics pay Uniquely Singapore & Nova Scotia

by Clipper Ventures Media on 13 Apr 2008 Uniquely Singapore's and Nova Scotia's tactical moves north have paid off and they stand to pull out a bigger lead over the rest of the Clipper fleet and benefit further from their gamble before the six yachts behind them get the same winds.

Race Director Joff Bailey says, 'North is best. The further north a team is the better off they will be. Uniquely Singapore could make bigger gains than Nova Scotia and we may see the Singaporean yacht taking the lead later.'

Uniquely Singapore's skipper, Mark Preedy, says, 'We're regretting not getting further north than we did as the wind just 100 miles to the north looks as it could have taken us to Santa Cruz without getting close hauled again. But we may have to. The crew have enjoyed being on a reach for the last few days and the kite runs have been a great reward for the brave move north. We want to take some more miles off the pack.'

The eight boats have now got to a point in this race at which they should be able to make a direct tack to Santa Cruz with the teams to the north having the advantage. This will not be good news to Qingdao who have been stranded in lighter winds further south and have not made good progress over the last two days.

Marcus Cholerton-Brown, skipper of Qingdao says, 'Always the busiest days in light winds, and we have plenty today. I suspect some of the more northerly boats will be in slightly better winds so we shall work even harder over the coming days to move up the position board. We're surprised by the amount of flotsam, including nets, in the Pacific around Qingdao. It's like we have sailed through a dumping area.'

The high pressure system has re-established itself and the winds should remain relatively stable in direction for the next few days.

westernaustralia2011.com and Durban 2010 and Beyond have made good progress since departing Hawaii but are now experiencing heavy headwinds which will continue for several days and slow down their progress

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