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Sail-World.com : FfreeFire 52 leading Vietnam fleet

FfreeFire 52 leading Vietnam fleet

34 hours into the VinaCapital Hong Kong-Vietnam Race, and there are two pieces of news:

Ho Ho Ho, Jeff McLellan’s much-modified X-99, has a broken rudder stock and is making her way towards Sanya, Hainan, 100 nm away (1900 hrs HKT) and motoring at 4 kts in 2-3m seas. All aboard are safe and well, and the main concern was to improve the emergency steering system so that she could make better speed for less fuel consumption. At the time, Ho Ho Ho was steering with a drogue, but has been advised to try rigging up a trailing spinnaker pole controlled by guy lines.

A great deal further down the track, and Sam Chan’s TP52, FfreeFire 52, appears to be leading the fleet - some 260 nm from Nha Trang. Having sustained mast damage and been forced to limp to the finish of the 2006 Vietnam Race, FfreeFire 52 definitely has a point to prove here. There are a couple of gaps in the tracking information, with Fortis Mandrake and Hi Fi displaying “old” information, so this is an interpolated position using data from the last time all boats were polled by the system.

Weather forecasts from HKO (Hong Kong Observatory) are calling “more of the same”, force 6-7 ENE all the way down to the finish. Previous forecasts predicted a fall-off in breeze towards the finish, but even if the wind strength holds FfreeFire 52 is not expected in Nha Trang before earliest 1600 hrs local time tomorrow (and would need to be here at 0500 hrs to break Skandia’s 2004 record).

The RHKYC Race Management team arrived in Nha Trang this evening, and are looking forward to one night’s unbroken sleep before the Finish Line Watches start tomorrow.

SaigonTourist will be holding an official welcome party for all members of the racing fleet at 1800 hrs on Saturday, and there will be a crew party at Bao Dai Beach at 2000 hrs.

Sunday’s ‘Beach Race’ starts at 1300 hrs, with the closing party and prizegiving at Nha Trang Sailing Club at 1800 hrs.

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 4:34 PM Thu 16 Oct 2008 GMT

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