Krakatoa welcomes the Clipper fleet to Indonesia

by Clipper event media on 11 Jan 2008
From the reports coming in from the Clipper fleet this morning the weather and the competition is as hot as it could be.

New York and Liverpool 08 have edged ahead of Nova Scotia as they go on different gybes with a light breeze coming from behind them. Watching the leading four boats is proving to be very exciting. With a new leader almost every schedule as they each try different tactics and are affected by the numerous rain clouds typical of the Monsoon trough.

'How close can it get!' asks Rob McInally, skipper of Nova Scotia. 'We’re under pressure from New York and Liverpool 08 as they came bounding over the horizon late yesterday morning. We spent all night inching our way in front of them through a gate into the Sunda Straight. Around a mark and hundreds of strangely-lit fishing boats in the dark dodged the many ferries and junks. Another gate and then, in daylight, another. The wind on and off giving the advantage to one yacht then the other but at least always a breath to fight for. We managed to stay in front a make the gate first. The tussle for second through continued as the wind died. We are now travelling at one knot sideways, conveniently on a course that will allow us through the numerous oil fields.'

He continues, 'There is not a lot left to give and nothing left to work with. We are on the right side of the wind, but there isn’t any, the right side of the track to the next gate and the right side of the tidal drift. Can it get any closer? Well, with it being 41 degrees in the shade and no breeze, not really.'

The area the fleet is racing through at the moment has many natural and manmade hazards. These range from shallow areas, reefs and volcanoes to a multitude of oil and gas drilling platforms. Hull & Humber skipper Danny Watson reported earlier today, 'Amazing day sailing thru the Sunda Straits under kite with the Son of Krakatoa sending up plumes of volcanic ash every 15 minutes… spectacular!' Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and westernaustralia2011.com have both had a ringside seat for this explosive demonstration of nature in the raw.

To ensure the safety of the fleet the Clipper Race Committee has included within the sailing instructions several safety gates that each boat must pass through to guide them around the various dangers and hazards. Clipper 07-08 Race Director, Joff Bailey, says, 'There are seven gates between the Sunda Straits and the finish. For the leading pack the next gate is well over to the east so in the next day we should see them move in that direction rather than directly to Singapore as may have been expected.'

At the other end of the fleet the crew of Qingdao are still working hard. They may have accepted that they will not get on the podium but as a crew they will be fighting to catch up with Jamaica and try to gain one extra point that could make a big difference to the overall results when the fleet arrives back in Liverpool on July 5. They have also had a little time for a bit of fun, according to skipper Marcus Cholerton-Brown’s email this morning. 'Keeping ourselves amused by inventing sea creatures for our cameraman to dash up on deck to try to capture on film. At the moment there is a shark sighting (not). Wonder if she will notice the jaws theme tune playing in the background?'

Joff says, 'The winds are dropping further across the fleet but we do not need to make a decision on shortening the course until the weekend at the earliest. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that the winds are kind to all the boats and the whole fleet can sail to the finish line in the Singapore Straits.'

The fleet is due to muster in Batam, Indonesia, on approximately 17 January, with a coordinated arrival at the new Marina at Keppel Bay in Singapore on Saturday 19 January.

Clipper - positions - DTF - DTL - 12hr run - 18:00hrs 10 January 2007

1 Liverpool 08 539 0 87
2 New York 545 6 80
3 westernaustralia2011.com 580 41 86
4 Hull & Humber 590 51 95
5 Durban 2010 and Beyond 591 52 53
6 Nova Scotia 595 56 36
7 Glasgow:Scotland with style 611 72 82
8 Uniquely Singapore 684 145 65
9 Jamaica 881 342 45
10 Qingdao 916 377 68