Clipper 09-10 San Francisco to Panama – Day twelve

by Clipper Ventures PLC on 2 May 2010 'We are under the 1,000 mile mark and still going strong!' exclaims Cork's skipper, Hannah Jenner, who has taken temporary charge of Qingdao for race eight. 'The battle for the top three places is almost as fierce as the heat.'

With every day that passes the humidity levels are increasing as the mercury on the thermometer rises, and this is making life on-board uncomfortable for all the crews. Jenner reports that on Qingdao the nav station is now being referred to as the 'nav oven.'

'With two computers running and it being situated right next to the generator you don't linger too long for fear of coming out 'well done,' she says. 'Our Pacific Ocean drinking water is also warming up - oh how we dream of an iced drink.”

'The next couple of days are going to be hard work; a large wind hole is squeezing up from the south and threatens to stop us dead. We are all working on optimised routes to get through this patch but with extremely light airs, also comes that element of luck.”

“As many skippers have reported, conditions out here are very localised so we have everything crossed that the worst of the imminent wind hole does not have our name on it.'

Qingdao's crew will be keeping an eye on how the other teams position themselves as they head towards the wind hole, but unfortunately the team they are most interested in has chosen this key moment to go into stealth mode.

Skipper Brendan Hall and his crew on board Spirit of Australia will be hidden on the position reports and race viewer until midnight (GMT) this evening.

In his report to the race office this morning, Hall says, 'The evenings are providing some wonderful champagne sailing conditions, with a big moon above us lighting the deck and everyone enjoying the cool breeze.”

“During the day, the temperatures are increasing rapidly and the inside of the boat has become a smelly sauna. The Pacific Doldrums are looming ever closer and I can foresee an uncomfortable few days drifting in the heat ahead.'

California has also entered stealth mode, choosing to do so at 0600GMT. Although cloaked from most, the American team isn't entirely hidden from everyone as Uniquely Singapore's skipper, Jim Dobie, reports.

'After the disappointment of seeing Hull & Humber overtake us last night, we have now drawn up with them again and also have got California in sight too.”

“Knowing that Cape Breton Island isn't too far away has suddenly opened the race again and has made us get a burst of fresh energy.”

'As I write this, we have a big moon reflecting on the ocean, we can see the lights of Hull & Humber and California, and have a gentle breeze pushing us nicely along.”

“Fingers crossed the breeze holds on through the night. The lady (Uniquely Singapore) did us proud today and we are loving it, knowing the wind will lessen over the next day or so and bring very light conditions means this race is far from over.”

'It really is exhilarating pushing these boats fast but always being wary of sudden mishaps. This happened to us this afternoon when the clip on the guy which holds a corner of the kite gave way, but fortunately left the kite de-powered behind the main.”

“Luck was with us and we quickly had her down, the guy repaired and the kite back up again.'

Uniquely Singapore hasn't been the only team to have suffered with a broken guy over the past 24-hours. Edinburgh Inspiring Capital also lost one of theirs but in his report to the race office, skipper Matt Pike was full of praise about the way his crew have been handling the many spinnaker evolutions.

Pike says, 'After days of good downwind sailing there was little mystery left to kite gybes and spinnaker peels. There is no real need to be on deck as the watch, once the call had gone out, jump to their stations and a wonderful display of team work unfolds.”

“The pole secured to the new guy swings up and is locked in place and seconds later the old one swings back down onto the deck like clock work. Debriefs are held by the watch leaders Campbell and Campbell (Colin and Alan) as they discuss with their watches how to shave seconds off and be the fastest watch.'

As the teams break the 1,000 miles to finish mark and with a large wind hole approaching, their individual position relative to the opposition is becoming an ever growing concern.

According to Jamaica Lightning Bolt's skipper, Pete Stirling, 'sched fever' has now broken out on his boat as his crew become obsessed with the six hourly position reports.

'For most crew, the suspense of waiting to find out how we have fared against the competition over the previous six hours is almost too much too bear,' says Stirling.

'Invariably I will announce the positions and miles lost or gained to those on deck. Good results are always met with a cheer whilst poor results generate a grim determination to drive the boat harder still to make up the lost miles.”

'Of course there are many factors that determine how well we do against the other yachts, such as good choice of sail plan, good helming, fast efficient evolutions and good tactics.”

“Occasionally tactics see us going off on a different course to other yachts and losing considerable ground to them. This can be very demoralising at the time but is all part of a bigger game plan to ultimately gain places by finding better weather conditions elsewhere.”

“Weather forecasting however is not a precise art and sometimes you will sail extra miles for nothing when the weather doesn't pan out as predicted.”

'Some crew have natural aptitudes and strengths in certain areas which of course we try to capitalise on.”

“One of many things I have learnt during the course of this race however is that people can and have surprised me with strengths and abilities I wouldn't necessarily have credited them with beforehand.”

“On Jamaica therefore we try to let all crew have a go at everything in order to find out where there strengths lie. Very often they will surprise themselves with what they can do when pushed.”

“Sometimes you just need to step out of the box and try something different, which is exactly what these people have done by signing up to do the race.'

Positions at 0900 UTC, Sunday 2 May

Boat	Distance to finish	Distance to leader
1 Jamaica Lightning Bolt	949nm
2 Qingdao	952nm	2nm
3 Team Finland	973nm	23nm
4 Spirit of Australia	Stealth Mode
5 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital	1010nm	60nm
6 Cape Breton Island	1040nm	91nm
7 Hull & Humber	1048nm	99nm
8 Uniquely Singapore	1051nm	101nm
9 California	Stealth Mode
10 Cork	Did not start