New York steals Clipper lead from Qingdao

by Event Media on 6 Nov 2007
After doggedly holding on to the lead for the last eight days Qingdao has been overtaken by New York. The US team, led by Skipper Duggie Gillespie who took over from Jerry Crew in Salvador, now has a slim eleven-mile lead over the Chinese entry backed by the Sailing Sub-committee of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Race Director Joff Bailey comments: 'Yesterday evening it looked like New York had lost several miles by going south earlier than Qingdao but that tactic appears to have paid off on this morning’s position reports.

In fact, the race viewer shows that the first seven boats are all trying to make significant moves south after spending most of last week pushing in a more easterly direction. This may be to the advantage of Nova Scotia, Jamaica and westernaustralia2011.com who all made their move south last week.'

Clipper - Positions - DTF - DTL at 18:00hrs 5 November

1 New York 1978 0
2 Qingdao 1989 11
3 Hull & Humber 2018 40
4 Liverpool 08 2068 90
5 Glasgow:Scotland with style 2076 98
6 Durban 2010 and Beyond 2094 116
7 Uniquely Singapore 2114 136
8 westernaustralia2011.com 2191 213
9 Nova Scotia 2366 388
10 Jamaica 2370 392

Hull & Humber and Liverpool 08 look very well placed to take advantage of whatever changes the weather gods may have planned for the fleet The two boats are positioned to the south of the lead pair but have not lost as much ground to the west as Nova Scotia and Jamaica.

The Hull & Humber team has been waiting to see if the Clipper Race Committee would penalise them for not returning to the point at which they started their engine prior to resuming the race after the medical evacuation of crew member Sam Willis two days after leaving Salvador.

Race Director Joff Bailey said: 'The Race Committee has agreed that there was a breach of the racing rules and sailing instructions and have awarded a four-hour time penalty. This will be added to their finish time and may affect their finishing position of Race 3.' Hull & Humber has staged a great comeback since the diversion, with Danny and his team clawing their way up into 3rd place.

In the middle of the pack Uniquely Singapore, Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and Durban 2010 and Beyond appear to be having a close race with only a few miles separating them from each other as they occupy almost the same piece of ocean. Because they are so close they will all be getting the same winds so it will be down to the crews trimming the sails and precision helming to generate best boat speed. Durban 2010 and Beyond Skipper Ricky Chalmers said that although the winds have been shifting around they have finally settled at a good angle so that these boats can make fast progress towards the finish.

'We’re charging upwind, straight at the waypoint. After another afternoon having to choose between ENE or SSW, the wind finally backed to the North and we spent the night blasting towards the waypoint. We should see the spinny back up this afternoon'.

Jamaica and Nova Scotia are having a ding dong battle at the back of the fleet. Although each of these teams will be hoping that their ‘go south early’ tactics will still pay off, they will also be realistic and understand that their opportunity to gain the 400 nautical miles they need between now and Cape Agulhas is slipping away fast. Race Director Joff Bailey said that none of the teams will be giving up regardless of current positions as every point on the overall leader board counts.

'In Clipper 05-06 the final overall podium position was decided by 1.5 points so each of the skippers will be pushing hard to gain any points that they can,' he said. According to Jamaica Skipper Simon Bradley, his team is still changing sails to try and scratch out any advantage they can from the boats around them 'Sail change after sail change, don’t we just love it! The voice of encouragement echoing from the helm as the troops muster on the foredeck for another round of aquabactics with the Yankee 2'.