Clipper 09-10- Hull & Humber and Spirit of Australia rejoin the race

by Clipper Ventures PLC on 14 Mar 2010 Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. Leg 7 Qindgao to San Francisco Day 12.

It has been a day of good news for the Clipper 09-10 fleet.

Hull & Humber skipper, Piers Dudin, has arrived in hospital in Japan where he has received surgery on his broken leg. He is in good spirits and is even reported to be learning a few words of Japanese. This morning he spoke with his parents and Clipper Race Manager, Lizzie Nicholas, following his operation. Lizzie says, 'He immediately asked about his crew and how they are getting on.' Piers is likely to remain in hospital in Japan for several more days before his repatriation to the UK.

The Clipper team has been assisted by Iwao Mochizuki, a long-time supporter of the race since the fleet first enjoyed a stopover in Yokahama in 1997. He is now an Honorary Captain of the Clipper Race Yacht Club, one of many members of the strong international network of the Clipper Race alumni.

Team Finland's new mast has arrived in Qingdao and the team assembled there to step and rig it are confident that they will be able to send the crew on their way early next week to join the rest of the teams on their race across the Pacific to San Francisco. The sight of the Golden Gate Bridge at the end of their journey will never have been more welcome!

Work started immediately the lorry carrying the mast and rigging arrived at 0900 local time; it was unloaded by 1000 and the team has been busy ever since. The activity has attracted the attention of the residents of Qingdao who have been fascinated by the process.

Out on the water Hull & Humber and Spirit of Australia have rejoined the race and are heading, as are the other teams, for the scoring gate, about 800 miles ahead of leading team, Cape Breton Island.

Race Director, Joff Bailey, confirmed this morning that Cape Breton Island will not be applying for redress for the part they played in assisting Hull & Humber when Piers broke his leg.

Joff says, 'The Race Office instructed Cape Breton Island to divert and assist Hull & Humber as they were relatively close and they had two highly qualified medical people on board who gave advice to the Hull & Humber crew over the radio for the treatment of Piers. Jan confirmed this to me today in an email saying, 'After careful consideration and discussion with the crew, we feel that it would be unsportsmanlike to ask for redress.'

'I think this is a great testament to the crew on board Cape Breton Island and shows the true spirit and comradeship amongst the teams.'

Spirit of Australia's race was far more significantly affected by the incident and the Race Committee will consider their application for redress when they submit it.

On board Spirit of Australia highly qualified yachtsman and round the world crew member, Bob Bell, who has taken acting charge of the team says, 'After yesterday's successful and surprisingly emotional transfer of Brendan to Hull & Humber and Piers to the Japanese Coast Guard, our focus has been very much on getting settled back into our well established routines while recognising the very different circumstances that we face over the remaining 4,000 miles of the race. Even though Vice Admiral Hall is on the horizon and the other end of a VHF set, it does feel very strange to be sailing without him - we imagine it must feel even stranger to him to see his beloved Spirit of Australia on the horizon also.

'The feeling of having been mugged as far as the race is concerned hasn't entirely disappeared but everyone on board fully understands and supports the reason. There's a lot of good will on board towards Hull & Humber's crew and we all wish Piers a speedy recovery. We trust the Race Committee to take fully into account our position and hard fought progress when deciding on redress.

'The mood is very buoyant and positive about the new dimensions of the challenges ahead. Our priority is clear and is being taken very seriously - to get Spirit of Australia and her crew to San Francisco safely, intact and as quickly as possible. But we also intend to have some fun along the way, even though we now understand Hawaii may be out of the question! The support for me as the acting skipper has been tremendous and whatever the outcome, I look forward to what I am sure will be a great team achievement to get Spirit of Australia sailing under that iconic bridge in a few weeks' time.'

The two teams have been instructed to race closely together and a few miles away on Spirit of Australia, Brendan Hall has taken command of the English entry following his transfer yesterday, a manoeuvre the crews perfected during their comprehensive pre-race Clipper Training.

'Getting off Spirit of Australia and onto Hull & Humber was a daunting prospect. I was wearing a diving dry suit and my inflated life jacket. Hull & Humber heaved us a rope, I tied it to myself, jumped in and they pulled me and my kit bag over to their boat and winched me up on deck.

'Once on board, I was welcomed and taken below to see Piers who was lying in the saloon, wedged in with pillows and padding. He was his usual funny, irrepressible self, despite a very painful broken leg.

'After a few more hours, the Japanese Coastguard arrived and in a very professional and caring manner, transferred Piers onto a stretcher, strapped him in and transferred him into their little launch which drove back to their large patrol boat. My final sight was of Piers, with a wry smile on his face, was him giving us the thumbs up as the launch sped away. I was very sad to see him leave, as was the emotionally drained Hull & Humber crew.

'After a debrief, we set the sails and resumed sailing slowly overnight to allow the tired crew to all get some much needed sleep, with Spirit of Australia keeping pace behind us.

'This morning there is a very positive vibe on board. While everyone is still missing Piers's leadership and company, this very capable and fun-loving crew have set their sights on getting their orange steed safely and speedily to San Francisco, still 4,000nm away.'

The two teams, while dealing with the kind of exceptional circumstances ocean racing produces, are still racing and must cross the finish line to enable them to score points. Retirement for these competitive crews is not an option they care to entertain!

Cape Breton Island, despite diverting to assist in the incident, is leading the fleet with skipper, Jan Ridd, describing his mood today as 'content'.

'First of all we would all pass on our best wishes to Piers,' he says. 'We were all relieved to hear that he was safely air lifted to Japan and has received the urgent medical treatment he required. All our thoughts are with him and we all wish him a swift recovery.

'It has been a busy 24 hours on board the Big Blue Canoe. After coming through the very heavy weather unscathed with no damage to the boat, I was awoken last night to be told we had a tear in our mainsail. It was a pretty bad one and how it happened I have no idea as we were in very light wind (under 10 knots). We quickly took the main off below the second reef and set about repairing the damage. Katharine, our sail repair expert, organised everyone and she embarked on a six-hour sewing marathon. She was against the clock as we all knew that the wind was due to build again.

'With help from the watches coming on and off she effected a very good repair and as the sun rose this morning we proudly hoisted our mainsail, and all were desperately looking forward to going to their bunks to get some well earned sleep. But the weather shows no mercy and at that moment the wind built sharply requiring us to change our largest headsail to a smaller one. The crew set about the task and within 20 minutes the new sail was flying and the Yankee 1 was perfectly flaked in its bag and safely down below.

'Today we have been enjoying great sailing weather with blue skies and sunshine, the wind a brisk Force 5 just behind the beam and the boat speed above 10 knots. All the crew agree that they have earned a great sailing day after what they have endured over the past few days. It is amazing what the good conditions do to the mood onboard; everyone is upbeat, joking and laughing.

'It looks like we will have favourable winds all the way to the scoring gate so hopefully we will be able to maintain or improve our boat speed over the next few days.'

Edinburgh Inspiring Capital's crew spent yesterday investigating a problem with one of their spreaders and even though they have been sailing conservatively have managed to maintain their position towards the front of the pack.

Uniquely Singapore has slipped into second place, hoping to claim those all-important scoring gate points, but the long term goal could change those plans.

Skipper Jim Dobie reports, 'We are experiencing perfect sailing conditions at the moment with the wind on the beam. We are making good speed to the gate and had the bonus of overtaking Jamaica Lightning Bolt and California during the night. Our next target is Cape Breton Island but with such a big lead at the moment we will have to work very hard to chip away the miles and get closer to them. We are now paying even more attention to the GRIB files to see what our course will be over the next few days. Clearly the gate is our short term target but we can't lose sight of the whole race so our positioning is still vital.'

'Progress has been steady over the last 24 hours though slower than we would have hoped for,' says Jamaica Lightning Bolt's skipper, Pete Stirling. 'The wind gradually started to build after sunset last night and we were soon making good speed with full mainsail, staysail and Yankee 1. At around midnight the apparent wind was gusting to 20 knots plus so we reluctantly changed down to the Yankee 2. The weather has proven to be very changeable in this part of the world and I have learnt that it normally pays to be a little cautious with the sail plan, particularly at night. However, on this occasion, as soon as we had changed the headsails the wind eased off and we were a little underpowered with the Yankee 2. Not wanting to literally throw caution to the wind we stuck with what we had and had a bit of a slow night's sailing. By first light we had the worst conditions, a sloppy sea and very little wind. Even though there was enough breeze to sail with, the rolling of the boat makes it impossible to keep the sails filled. After a frustrating morning of sail changes between the windseeker and Yankee 1 the wind has now built up nicely from the south west and we are making good speed.

'Cape Breton Island has built up a good lead over the rest of the fleet but, with 850 miles to go to the scoring gate, their position at the front of the fleet is far from safe. We are hungry for those points and are chasing down the Big Blue Canoe.'

California had a bit of slow night as well, according to skipper, Pete Rollason, who reports, 'After a night and early morning of light winds and lost miles California is charging once again. We have Jamaica Lightning Bolt in our sights only a few miles off our port side and gradually getting larger. Nothing short of three points at the gate and ten points in San Francisco will be accepted by me or the crew. We do not believe in this 'home port curse' nonsense!'

Only two teams in the history of the Clipper Race have ever won the race to their home port: Victoria in Clipper 05-06 and New York in Clipper 07-08.

Pete continues, 'The wind has filled in nicely and we are making great speed under full main, Yankee 1 and staysail. We have had a fantastic day of cleaning, drying and maintaining everything that moves - and some that don't - so we should be well set when the wind picks up tonight and tomorrow. The crew is totally focussed on sail trim and good helming which are the two things that will win or lose this race. As it is so close though there could be some tactics coming into play and it will be interesting to see how those unfold over the next 3,900 miles.'

Despite ongoing work on their mainsail Qingdao's crew are not slipping too far behind the pace. Skipper Chris Stanmore-Major says, 'With the gate now under a thousand miles ahead there is an uphill struggle ahead for the Dragon Wagon if we are to get points. In light of Piers's recent injury though, such things seem a little unimportant right now and myself and my crew find ourselves reassessing safety above and below decks in order to avoid such accidents ever occurring on board Qingdao. Work continues on our mainsail which is still inside the boat being rebuilt by our sail team. Forty-eight hours down but we are not out yet. This is a long race and we intend to finish firstly whole and then wholly first if at all possible.'

POSITIONS AT 1200 UTC, SATURDAY 13 MARCH 2010

1 Cape Breton Island DTF 3771
2 Uniquely Singapore DTF 3834 DTL +62
3 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital DTF 3845 DTL +74
4 Jamaica Lightning Bolt DTF 3857 DTL +85
5 California DTF 3872 DTL +100
6 Qingdao DTF 3908 DTL +137
7 Hull & Humber DTF 3930 DTL +158
8 Spirit of Australia DTF 3933 DTL +161
9 Team Finland DTF 5612 DTL +1840
10 Cork Did not start

(DTF = Distance to Finish, DTL = Distance to Leader)
Full positions are updated every three hours and can be found at www.clipperroundtheworld.com.