Clipper - Liverpool gamble with offshore move

by Clipper event media on 29 Apr 2008
Liverpool 08 continues her bold move offshore which, in the days to come, may pay off as she can maintain a better angle to the even lighter winds ahead. Meanwhile Hull & Humber are penalised and loose their overall lead position.

While the leading group of Hull & Humber, Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and New York are playing the middle of the race track and have several options open to them, westernaustralia2011.com and Durban 2010 and Beyond are now close to the coast and do not have many tactical options available other than to follow the coastline. 'For now the focus is simple - trim and speed, course can come later,' says Martin Silk, skipper of westernaustralia2011.com.

Hull & Humber penalised 4 points -

Hull & Humber, received a new medium weight spinnaker in Santa Cruz following damage sustained between Qingdao and Hawaii that put their existing spinnaker beyond economical repair. In accordance with the sailing instructions the Race Committee has awarded them four penalty points which will be deducted from their overall points total later today.

This will see them drop to second place overall and will make the top of the leaderboard even closer than it is at the moment. With six races still to go and 60 points up for grabs, the next couple of months will be very exciting as each team tries to gain an advantage over the other.

Liverpool Skipper Ben Galloway says, 'The wind is dropping off a bit now so we’re working hard keeping the lightweight spinnaker flying nicely and the boat moving. Every time it collapses it takes a long time to regain the speed you lost. Dip pole gybing is improving every time. Eagerly awaiting the next grib so we can make our decision when to make a big move east and hopefully gain some places in the scheds.'

Race Director Joff Bailey comments, 'Although they are more than 100 nautical miles behind the leading boats in terms of distance to the finish, if Ben and his team can keep a few extra knots of wind for a day or two longer they would see that deficit evaporate and they would leapfrog the rest of the fleet. This is a bit of a gamble as it could also work the other way and they could end up further behind.'

'The paranoia of light airs sailing sets in: is everyone else slowing down? Perhaps others have better breeze… The helm gets stared at every time the kite collapses – this could be a long 2000 miles,' reports Hannah Jenner, skipper of Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper.

Position - Team - Distance to finish at 18:00hrs 28 April 2008

1 Glasgow:Scotland with style - 2400
2 New York - 2405
3 Hull & Humber - 2414
4 Qingdao - 2425
5 Uniquely Singapore - 2435
6 Nova Scotia - 2443
7 Durban 2010 and Beyond - 2455
8 westernaustralia2011.com - 2465
9 Jamaica - 2475
10 Liverpool 08 - 2538


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