Clipper fleet leaves Halifax

by Clipper event media on 13 Jun 2008 Under blue skies and 12 knots of breeze, the Clipper 07-08 fleet set sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia this morning in the Democracy 250 Race to Sydney, Cape Breton Island.

The D250 Race is not an official stage of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race series, but is a ‘race within the race’ and one of the events to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of democracy in Nova Scotia, the oldest democracy in Canada.

As the hooter sounded at 0930 local time (1230 GMT) the first boat across the start line was, fittingly, the yacht that carries the name of the Province around the world, Nova Scotia. In glorious downwind conditions skipper Rob McInally made the decision to hoist the spinnaker and gave the crowds who had gathered along Halifax Waterfront to wave off the boats a view to remember of their yacht.

Qingdao was second across the start line, followed by New York, westernaustralia2011.com and Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper. By the time the yachts reached the first turning mark, Qingdao had moved up to take a two metre lead over westernaustralia2011.com while Nova Scotia’s lead was wiped out when they had to wait for a container ship to pass through the channel. Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper rounded the mark just ahead of Hull & Humber. Durban 2010 and Beyond turned in fifth place, ahead of Nova Scotia and New York. Jamaica moved up on the inside of Liverpool 08, overtaking them as they rounded the mark. Uniquely Singapore missed the turning mark and the Race Committee is considering a penalty for a rule infringement. The team risks disqualification from the Democracy 250 Race.

Sailing onboard Nova Scotia from Halifax to Sydney is Nova Scotia’s Tourism Minister, Bill Dooks, who first met the crew when he joined them for a short sail during the New York stopover last week.

Minister Dooks said, 'I fell in love with the whole idea of the race a while ago and last week they invited me to go for a sail when I visited them in New York. Nova Scotia’s a maritime province – it’s built on the water and I’m very proud that Nova Scotia’s the only province in Canada to have an entry in this race. I’m not expecting any special treatment – I don’t think I’m going to get any! I’ve been talking to the skipper about what I’ll be doing and on the water he’s the boss! I’m really happy to have this opportunity. It’s a fantastic idea and I’m excited – everyone in my family’s excited that I’ve got this opportunity to race on Nova Scotia.'

The two co-Chairmen of the Democracy 250 organisation, former Premiers of Nova Scotia Dr John Hamm and Russell MacLellan, were on the dockside to watch the fleet leave following a crew breakfast at Cable Wharf, where the yachts have been berthed since arriving in Halifax Waterfront on Sunday.

Explaining the significance of the race in the Democracy 250 celebrations, Dr Hamm said, 'People in Nova Scotia are anxious that people outside our Province know the tremendous contribution we made to Canadian democracy. And we have a tremendous sailing history in our Province so marrying up the two, the democracy celebrations with the Clipper Race is a natural. We also hope that those that follow the race will get the democracy message that we are featuring this year in Nova Scotia.'

That message is a vital one, according to Mr MacLellan. 'It’s a wonderful event because we’re very proud that this happened in Nova Scotia and the declining voting rate is a concern,' he said. 'In the last federal election in Canada 75 percent of the young people between 18 and 25 didn’t vote. That’s 1.2 million young people and that’s unfortunate. We fought two world wars for democracy, the Korean conflict and we’re now in Afghanistan preserving democracy – for other countries as well as ourselves – and what an ironic tragedy if we lose our democracy through apathy.'

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, founder and Chairman of the Clipper Race, first visited Halifax two years ago after his yacht hit a whale. He has made a return visit to the city this week and says, 'You only need to talk to the crews to see how much they have enjoyed the visit here. Their enthusiasm for the place is plain to see and I very much hope we come back here. We’re also very much looking forward to the second half of this Nova Scotia stopover in Sydney.'

The forecast for the race is for an offshore wind and, with relatively calm seas, the fleet should be able to make good progress towards the finish line 200 nautical miles away. The yachts are expected to arrive in Sydney between 8pm and midnight local time on Friday 13 June. (2300 GMT 13 June and 0300 GMT 14 June.)

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