Clipper Fleet cross Equator

by PR on 16 Oct 2007 Following a tactical decision to move away from the Brazilian coast Nova Scotia has given away second place to Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper. There a chance the Scottish team will also have to tack away from the coast later today but it is possible that Nova Scotia has moved too far from the coast for the boat to regain second place.

Hannah Jenner, skipper of Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper reports, 'Yesterday proved that bad days don't go on forever. We bailed 30 litres of diesel out of the forward bilge, the wind direction forced us to put in a tack taking us away from our destination, the sink blocked in the galley and then the heads went down, but after much hard work and a few cheeky sail changes along the way we finally hunted down our prey... the black boat stole second place.'

Durban 2010 and Beyond has finally cleared the difficult stretch of the Brazilian coast that has been worrying skipper Ricky Chalmers for the last few days. The South Africans have now managed to take advantage of Nova Scotia’s tack away from the coast and extend their lead to 63 nautical miles.

Joff Bailey, Race Director, comments, 'It would appear as though Durban 2010 and Beyond has a clear run home to the finish in Salvador but the winds can be fickle and unpredictable when sailing close to the shore especially at night time and with more than 200 nautical miles still to cover the positions could change again.'

Liverpool 08’s tactics of staying further east have finally paid off as they moved ahead of Hull & Humber into fourth place. This lead should be consolidated over the next 24 hours as Liverpool 08 has a more favourable angle on the wind than Hull & Humber.

The entire fleet is now in the Southern Hemisphere. The final five boats crossed the Equator yesterday (Sunday 14 October) at the following times GMT:

westernaustralia2011.com 04:39
Uniquely Singapore 10:00
Qingdao 12:48
New York 15:30
Jamaica 15:43

Jamaica and New York both reported seeing each other last night as they battle away at the other end of the position table. Only two miles separated them at this morning’s position report and both crews will be trying all the tricks in the book to gain an advantage over the other.

According to Jamaica’s skipper, Simon Bradley, 'Everything is ok, we’re really enjoying the sailing and New York passed astern of us last night. It’s the first Clipper we’ve seen since leaving La Rochelle!'

One of Jamaica’s crew members for this race is leukaemia survivor Dan Monk who is being sponsored by the Ellen MacArthur Trust, the organisation set up by the round the world yachtswoman to help youngsters fighting life-threatening illnesses.

In a phone call to Olympic sailor, Shirley Robertson, a patron of the Ellen MacArthur Trust, Dan discussed how he felt as he crossed the Equator.

'It was unbelievable, such a big stepping stone for me,' he said. 'First to pass my Yachtmaster and then the dream of crossing the Atlantic, so to cross the Equator as well was unbelievable. Very good, Very exciting.'

Dan’s sacrifice to Neptune as he crossed the Equator was a copy of his mentor’s book. 'I reckon Ellen must be a good friend of Neptune by now so he should enjoy a good read!'

Clipper - Positions - DTF - DTL at 18:00 hrs 15 October 2007

1 Durban 2010 and Beyond 178 0
2 Glasgow:Scotland with style 242 64
3 Nova Scotia 280 102
4 Liverpool 08 365 187
5 Hull & Humber 421 243
6 westernaustralia2011.com 544 366
7 Uniquely Singapore 587 409
8 Qingdao 595 417
9 New York 621 443
10 Jamaica 622 444