Clipper 09-10 San Francisco to Panama – Day ten

by Clipper Ventures PLC on 30 Apr 2010 Some of the abiding and treasured memories many crew have taken away from their experiences on all seven editions of the Clipper Race, are of their encounters with wildlife in the vast expanses of the oceans.

This stage, through the waters of the Pacific, is providing a wonderfully rich variety of species. All of the teams have been reporting sightings today as they race along the Mexican coast.

Spirit of Australia still leads in their quest for a maximum haul of 13 points and it seems some of the locals are along for the ride.

Skipper, Brendan Hall says, 'Today I saw one thing which astounded me, something I have never seen before in all my years of sailing. We were sailing along and a bird was in the water ahead of us.”

“As we got closer, it appeared that the bird was standing on the surface of the water. As we got closer still, I saw it was actually standing on the shell of a large sea turtle as it swam along.”

'About two hours later some different birds decided to have a rest stop at the top of our mast. The problem was that one was sitting on top of the wind vane so we couldn't accurately tell the wind direction.”

“After shouting, banging on the mast with a winch handle, flicking the masthead light on and off and shaking various halyards, we managed to get them off the wind vane, but as far as I can see in the darkness, they are still up there.'

'The last few days have seen air temperatures rising dramatically with the midday sun now almost too hot to bear,' reports Pete Stirling, skipper of Jamaica Lightning Bolt. He and his team are keeping the heat on Team Finland and Qingdao in their push for the podium.

'Jamaica Lightning Bolt has donned her invisibility cloak and entered stealth mode. Why have we decided to enter stealth mode now rather than any other time you may ask? Well, the reason is we have entered a period of much calmer weather conditions with very light winds and flat seas.”

“These conditions can make for very slow and frustrating progress but seem to suit Jamaica Lightning Bolt very well. Since the start of the race back in Hull last September we have consistently done well in these conditions against the rest of the fleet.”

“So with this in mind we will hopefully have managed to gain a place or two by the time we reappear from Stealth Mode. We have got kind of used to finishing on the podium having managed five such positions out of seven races, so to not finish on the podium at the end of this race would be a big blow to crew morale. As they say in Jamaica, 'Once you go you know' - Irie Mon!'

Jamaica Lightning Bolt will re-emerge from stealth mode at 1800 GMT today.

In the meantime Qingdao has benefitted from some stronger winds in the last 24 hours and the crew have been enjoying some sublime sailing.

'It's such a great feeling to emerge from a light spell and hear the rush of water along the hull once again,' says Hannah Jenner, Cork's skipper who is temporarily in charge of Qingdao.

'As day dawned this morning we were sitting under a cloud, lightweight kite filled with a gentle breeze, when the wind began to increase and shift forwards. As the apparent built, the helm could no longer steer the required course so 'Agatha' was dropped and replaced by the Yankee one temporarily as we reached out from under the cloud.”

“Minutes later we were back under kite, this time the medium weight, setting the scene for a wonderful day's sailing packed with gybes and peels.”

'With a new forecast through, the next couple of days are supposed to be filled with reasonably fast paced sailing. However, GRIBS lie, so we shall wait with interest and see if we get our good speeds.”

'This evening I made the foolish mistake of announcing that the wind should hold out for a good 24 hours and that I was going to have a couple of hours sleep. Within ten minutes of lying down I was back on deck as we peeled, narrowly avoiding a wrap, gybed and tweaked the trim.”

“I returned down below to be informed that the generator would not start and the batteries were very low. A swift fuse change later and we are up and running. Still not had a chance to go to sleep though! All in a day's work I guess.'

The teams continue to make good progress and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital's skipper, Matt Pike sums it up simply, saying, 'It doesn't get better than this. The full moon, flat sea and a steady wind from the northwest; the medium weight is flying well and the watches are made up of helm changes, trimming and chafe check.”

“We haven't seen Cape Breton Island since first light. Rubbing down the coast is a real treat with lots of birds, dolphins and turtles. Great sailing, but the race is still on and we are pushing as hard as we can to catch the race leaders.'

The team representing Scotland's capital city slipped into stealth mode at 0600 GMT this morning, so their position will be hidden from us and from the rest of the teams until the same time tomorrow. Only the Race Office knows the location of the teams in stealth mode for safety's sake.

That could well be a frustration for Cape Breton Island who have been jockeying for position with the Scottish entry for the best part of a week now. Jan Ridd, skipper of the Canadian team says, 'It hasn't been the Blue Canoe's best 24 hours. After enjoying a close battle to get level with Edinburgh Inspiring Capital we struggled to get past them but slowly during the night hours we saw their white stern light turn to a red navigation light as we crept in front.”

“Satisfied that all was well in the world I went to my bunk. When I next came on deck it was with much surprise and despair that when I asked the on-watch what the sail on the horizon ahead of us was, they reported it was Edinburgh!”

'Well done to the crew of Edinburgh Inspiring Capital for spotting the wind shift and gybing at the right time, but be warned - we are back on the charge and we will not let you off so easily again!”

'We are continuing to struggle with our damaged pole track, we have come up with some different and interesting ways to gybe the spinnaker, some more effective than others, but we are getting lots of practise and getting slicker each time.”

“So far this leg has proved very frustrating for the Big Blue Canoe, hampered by the damage to the pole track and also not seeming to find a stable wind. We keep being teased by a good breeze allowing us to trim the boat and get up to speed only to see it die away soon after and we are back struggling to keep the boat moving.”

“It is also very difficult to spot the subtle wind shifts when the apparent wind is so light. We have just gybed the boat and have been on a great course for an hour or so but the wind already is moving around a lot and dropping off.”

“Normally this would not be much of a problem, but gybing the boat with our jury rigged track and one pole becomes a major operation!'

On the plus side, the crew have enjoyed watching the spectacular marine life. 'We have seen some wildlife over the past few days,' says Ridd.

'Lots of the Pacific 'spinning' dolphins (spinning being a name we have given them as they are not content to just jump out of the water but have to show off by putting in a twist or even a somersault!) and the other day whilst we suffered a very light patch of wind with the boat hardly moving we saw a very large black dorsal fin slowly cruise past a few feet off our port side.”

“I estimate the shark must have been three metres long. Funnily enough no one has mentioned how nice it would be to stop for a swim since seeing it! Unfortunately, we have not seen one whale yet and we were warned that they could even be a navigation hazard on this leg.'

All of the teams are noting their sightings of whales and dolphins during the race and these will be reported back to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

The crew of Cape Breton Island will have the opportunity to see whales during their home stopover in the port of Sydney in June - more than 15 species of whales inhabit the waters surrounding Cape Breton Island, which has been voted one of the top three most beautiful islands in the world.

'We still have a long way to go on this race and the hardest part is ahead of us. Looking at the weather files, the last few hundred miles could see all the boats struggle with some areas of very light wind to cross.”

“There is a tropical depression below us which could stir up the 'normal' weather pattern, but from our experience of the race so far there is no such thing as a normal weather pattern. We are all thankful that we have been able to keep sailing so far on this leg.”

“We have endured some light winds but have managed to keep our boat moving the whole time. How long this will last we can only wait and see.'

The conditions thus far have allowed all of the team to maintain consistently decent speeds on this race from San Francisco to Panama. In previous editions of the event the winds have turned much lighter or faded away altogether far earlier in the piece and, with this in mind, the sailing instructions include provision for a number of different finish lines.

Race Director, Joff Bailey, explains, 'The selection of the finish line is dependent upon the winds and progress of the fleet as they head towards the Panama Canal. The additional finish lines are included as, historically, we know that the winds on this race can disappear for many days at a time, leaving the fleet drifting for days or weeks and we have a narrow window of arrival for the Canal which we need to try to keep to and which will ensure the overall race schedule is maintained.”

“The alternate finish lines are briefed to the skippers before the start and they are on the rhumb line of the race course so nobody is disadvantaged if the race is finished early.'

If the race is to be finished early the race director will make the decision and inform all of the teams simultaneously.

California has been sticking to the narrow ribbon of stronger winds close to the Mexican coast and skipper, Pete Rollason, says, 'We have made some gains on the boats ahead of us as our inshore position seems to have paid off so far. We had an issue last night when our generator would not run and therefore we were struggling to charge the boat's batteries.”

“The morning was spent in pretty hot conditions with heads and hands buried in small spaces effecting repairs, but by lunchtime everything was functioning normally again.”

“The crew have been in good humour and relishing the prospect of chasing down the boats ahead. Our first target is Cape Breton Island who earlier headed further offshore and we are hoping that our inshore position and routing will allow us to overtake them, before focusing on the next boat.”

“The plan is one at a time as always but with 1,500 miles to go, variable conditions ahead and only 150 miles separating the entire fleet, this truly could be anyone's race.'

Hull & Humber and Uniquely Singapore have clocked up the best of the latest 12-hour runs even though they are employing different sail plans.

Hull & Humber skipper, Justin Taylor says, 'We have had Uniquely Singapore in sight for 36 hours now and as the temperature hots up, so does our pursuit. We are all out trimming to catch them. It's a little baffling as to how they are sailing slightly faster and deeper than us. Our most plausible conclusion is that whilst we fly a lightweight spinnaker, their medium weight must be doing the business for them.'

In reality, Uniquely Singapore has had little option but to fly the medium weight since wrapping and ripping their lightweight kite yesterday. And while repairs continue the process hasn't been without incident, as skipper, Jim Dobie explains:

'The kite fixing has had a hiccup as the sewing machine has mysteriously broken down and we are struggling to find the cause of the issue, however Laura and her team almost have the sail back together and it should be flying again soon.”

'Meanwhile, having been offshore, we are now inshore and soon will be passing Acapulco as we steadily head towards Panama. We have had some good six hour runs and are once again slowly gaining on California. So fingers crossed the wind holds so we can keep our medium weight flying and keep up our speed, too.'

Positions at 0900 UTC, Friday 30 April

 

Boat	Distance to finish	Distance to leader
1 Spirit of Australia	1323nm
2 Qingdao	1359nm	36nm
3 Team Finland	1369nm	46nm
4 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital	1429nm	106nm (Stealth Mode: position at 0600, 30 April)
5 Cape Breton Island	1434nm	110nm
6 California	1452nm	129nm
7 Uniquely Singapore	1477nm	153nm
8 Hull & Humber	1481nm	158nm
9 Jamaica Lightning Bolt	1484nm	160nm (Stealth Mode: position at 1700, 29 April)
10 Cork	Did not start