Clipper Round the World Race - Edinburgh Inspiring Capital turns south

by Heather Ewing on 18 Sep 2011 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 2011-2012, at over 40,000 miles, is the the world's longest ocean race. Leg two, from Rio De Janeiro to Cape Town, is currently underway.

Race Viewer addicts can’t have failed to notice the very clear move south in Edinburgh Inspiring Capital’s trail and resulting drop in Distance Made Good overnight. All is well on board – skipper, Gordon Reid, took the decision to turn towards the south in order to give themselves some respite from the pounding they have been taking in the heavy conditions while he and his crew sorted out some ropes that had been broken during a particularly fierce squall.

Safety is always the number one priority on board a Clipper Race yacht – safety and good seamanship is drilled into those who sign up for the challenge of a lifetime from day one of their Clipper Training programme – so, when Gordon needed to go to the top of the 89-foot (27-metre) mast to effect the repairs, the sensible thing to do was to turn away from the wind for a while.

Now they are back on course and their Distance Made Good – that is, ground covered in the correct direction towards the Cape Town finish line – is picking up again.

As well as the physical strain of constant sail changes and keeping warm on deck, down below the effort required is just as great.

Mark Light, Derry-Londonderry’s skipper explains, 'The whole boat crashes off waves every 60 seconds and the sound below is deafening. Great care has to be taken with every move above and below decks. The boat is heeled at a constant 35 degrees and life below is difficult but, in a strange sort of way, kind of fun. It is definitely a spectator sport watching somebody attempt the treacherous passage between the saloon and galley to collect a bowl of food or, even more risky, a drink. We have rigged up webbing straps as extra hand holds all over the saloon to facilitate moving around and sometimes the crew resemble a troop of monkeys (this place is nuts!) swinging from one hand hold to the next in order to get around the boat! Just don't feed the animals...'

It’s the animals on deck they have had to worry about on Geraldton Western Australia. Waves have been crashing over the deck for the last few days and yesterday’s had an added element as round the world crew member, Ian Geraghty, who was on the helm at the time, was smacked in the face by a flying squid that had been thrown up from the ocean with the wall of water.

Skipper Juan Coetzer says, 'It is now that you start to see what people are made of. Being on the same tack for over a week in challenging conditions above deck and below is tough mentally and physically. Simple tasks like getting your foul weather gear on takes longer as it is still damp/wet and cold and you yourself have just managed to get dry and warmed up. It is not a pleasant experience.

The Geraldton Western Australia crew are amazing, they just get on and do their watch and give it their best.'

On Singapore, where yesterday Ben Bowley reported that they were not happy with the eighth place they were in 24 hours ago, will find some cheer in the fact they’ve moved up ahead of De Lage Landen to fourth place and are now just 16 miles behind the leading trio. It has been a difficult day on board with the physical and mental effort required starting to take its toll emotionally.

Skipper Ben has had little sleep and says, 'I am hoping that exhaustion takes over soon so that I may get some rest and stop being so grumpy.

'This game sadly does not have a pause button,' he explains. 'There is no respite whatsoever from the monotony of slam crash bang whoosh as another ton of freezing cold south Atlantic sweeps across the deck, down the hatch and in through various leaks throughout the yacht. The cold and wet is becoming quite tiresome now and the boat's motion is not exactly conducive to sleep. The whole crew is worn out and we have had a few little emotional outbreaks as some people really start to feel the strain. The southerly winds have brought freezing conditions at night and crew on deck are managing not more than half an hour before needing to swap with the other half of their watch below deck in an effort to remain mobile and lucid.

'Life over the last 24 hours has been a constant cycle of get up wet and cold, put on wet and cold clothes and waterproofs, eat food (hot and welcome) go on deck and get more wet and cold, come below, get undressed (15-minute operation) get thrown across boat and land on wet and cold cushions, get into wet and cold bunk... repeat.

'I would like to say that spirits and morale are high but that would be a terrible lie. Instead there is an attitude of grim determination to get through these next few days until the weather moderates and there is some hope of drying out the washing machine, I mean boat.'

'You know it’s windy when you think that you are sailing through a lull and you look down and see that the wind strength is still 28 knots,' reports Gold Coast Australia’s skipper Richard Hewson. He and his team have had steady winds of 30 to 40 knots (up to 75 kilometres per hour) for the last 24 hours and one gust snapped one of the wind instruments off the top of the mast.

'To the boat’s credit, Gold Coast Australia is handling the conditions extremely well and I am very impressed with her sea-keeping ability and speed in such conditions,' continues Richard.

Gold Coast Australia crew member, Richard Firth, is a former butcher who taught himself to paint with a painting-by-numbers kit and is now one of the world’s leading marine artists. He is taking part in the race to improve his technical knowledge of the sport in order to make his stunning paintings even more realistic. He commented that he at least now knows how to paint a picture that looks cold!

While still leading the fleet, Gold Coast Australia is the furthest yacht to the south and closest to the developing high pressure area that will bring lighter winds, consequently they are likely to be the first team to slow down.

This could spell good news for Olly Osborne and the Visit Finland team and the English entry, led by Rupert Dean who confesses, it has been 'a difficult night on Welcome to Yorkshire.'

He says, 'The wind, forecast to be a steady 25 knots from the south east, has varied from 16 to 35 knots, frequently backing to the west. This, allied to intense squalls, heavy rain showers, a confused sea and waves breaking over the boat, makes for challenging and thoroughly unpleasant conditions on deck, with brutal living conditions below. The changeable conditions make keeping the boat stable and happy for any period of time: very demanding for the active watch. This is not helped by several crew members being incapacitated through seasickness or minor injuries. Quite a change from the exhilarating downwind sailing conditions of a few days ago.'

The varying wind strengths have kept the crew busy on Qingdao as well, reports Ian Conchie, telling the Race Office, 'This morning finds us under a deeply reefed mainsail ( to make it small) and our smallest head sail the storm jib. And, Sod’s Law, now the wind has dropped again!

'But the crew are definitely becoming hardened to the conditions with no qualms about going up to the foredeck in 40 knots of wind and crashing waves to retrieve the Yankee 3 and rig the storm jib! I think even Sir Robin would be proud of the good seaman ship displayed by the crew, which is a testament to the Clipper Training.'

Qingdao and New York are still matching each other mile for mile but Gareth Glover, skipper of the American team, thinks his middle-ground position will be the better one.

'Over the next 48 hours, once the North Atlantic high forms over the fleet, we will see whose plans pan out. We are sure that our plans will see us in Cape Town before a lot of the other Clipper Race yachts as, like us, they have been heading east as the high forms over the Tristan da Cunha islands which we plan to head towards before the wind moves from the south. The yachts to the south of us may find a big wind hole and the fleet north of us may be forced to tack to get a good course to Cape Town.'

Positions at 0900 UTC, Sunday 18 September
Boat - DTF*
1 Gold Coast Australia - 1,787
2 Visit Finland - 1,806 (DTL** 19nm)
3 Welcome to Yorkshire - 1,822 (+36nm)
4 Singapore - 1,839 (+52nm)
5 De Lage Landen - 1,845 (+58nm)
6 Derry-Londonderry - 1,851 (+64nm)
7 Qingdao - 1,862 (+75nm)
8 New York - 1,864 (+77nm)
9 Geraldton Western Australia - 1,897 (+85nm)
10 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital - 2,026 (+239nm)

DTF* = Distance to Finish. DTL** = Distance to Leader. Full positions are updated every three hours and can be found here.

www.clipperroundtheworld.com" target="_blank">Clipper Round the World Yacht Race website