Light airs force shortened Clipper course - Race 9

by Event media on 6 May 2008 The movers and shakers overnight appear to be Hull & Humber, Nova Scotia and Qingdao. All three have posted better than average 12-hour runs and it makes the top half of the table extremely open for any of the top five or six teams to challenge for the podium places. With the generally light winds across the area these three benefited from a very narrow band of slightly stronger wind that only lasted a short period of time but gave them another ten miles towards the finish.

Qingdao’s skipper, Marcus Cholerton-Brown says, 'The race is set for the next sprint to the gate, and we are in hot battle with Nova Scotia. All day we have been at each other in very light and variable winds, but by nightfall we had gained the upper hand. Hull & Humber seems to be the next target, but we can rest assured Nova Scotia will keep coming at us.'

The team on Hull & Humber know they are in the other crews’ sights and skipper Danny Watson says, 'We’re doing all we can to keep Hull & Humber moving in light winds to the revised finish line at the second gate.'

It just shows how fickle the winds are becoming as Jamaica, who have taken the middle road, and were less than 100 nautical miles away from the lead group have not benefitted from this additional pressure and have had a terrible 12 hours, making only 17 miles towards the finish.

Many of the skippers are reporting massive wind holes that appear to grab hold of the boat and trap them for hours with no boat speed before a slight increase in wind allows the very smallest of boat speed to be generated.

Durban 2010 and Beyond appears to have benefitted slightly overnight from their inshore route but this is probably too little too late and they will struggle to make any impact on the top half of the table. Meanwhile Liverpool 08, although still in last place, continues with her offshore route and is always threatening the back of the fleet.

Skipper Ben Galloway says, 'Only a couple of hundred miles to the finish and although the scheds show us in tenth we know we are closer to the gate than at least one other boat and it’s not impossible to catch another or two and get some points. So, as usual we are at the mercy of the wind gods and remain optimistic.'

It would only take a few hours of steady wind for Ben and his team to leapfrog several of the yachts ahead of them.

The course for Race 9 has been shortened due to the lighter than expected winds en route to Panama City, threatening the fleet’s scheduled transit through the Panama Canal. With the fleet currently logging 12-hour runs of between just 17 and 48 nautical miles and the winds forecast to remain light before building as headwinds, the Race Committee has decided to utilise the pre-determined Gate Angel, approximately 140 nautical miles ahead of the lead boats, to finish the race that started 13 days ago in Santa Cruz.

Gate Angel is one of several intermediate gates contained within the Sailing Instructions for Race 9 that allow the Race Committee to shorten the course and finish the race early in case of abnormal weather conditions that seriously affect the safety of the fleet or the overall programme for the race. Most of the fleet crossed the first gate yesterday off the coast of Acapulco.

Race Director Joff Bailey said, 'The Race Committee has been studying the forecasted winds for the next seven days and monitoring the fleet’s slower than expected progress towards Panama City due to the lighter than expected winds since the start in Santa Cruz. In order to ensure a smooth transit through the Panama Canal, the fleet has been informed that the Race Committee has opted to shorten the course and finish the race at Gate Angel.'

It is expected that the first teams will finish during Wednesday with the remaining teams finishing over the following 24 – 36 hour period. After finishing, each of the teams will motor sail to Panama with the first boats expected to arrive in Panama City on 13 May.

POSITIONS AT 0600 GMT 6 MAY 2008

1. Hull & Humber: Distance to Finish (DTF) 1266
2. New York: DTF 1283 (Distance to Leader 17)
3. Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper: DTF 1285 (+19)
4. Qingdao: DTF 1286 (+ 20)
5. Nova Scotia: DTF 1286 (+20)
6. Uniquely Singapore: DTF 1297 (+31)
7. westernaustralia2011.com: DTF 1342 (+76)
8. Jamaica: DTF 1370 (+104)
9. Durban 2010 and Beyond: DTF 1378 (+112)
10. Liverpool 08: DTF 1414 (+148)

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