Clipper 09-10 – Race nine – Panama to Jamaica – Day three

by Clipper Ventures PLC on 18 May 2010 Clipper 09-10, race nine sees just 15 miles separating the front five teams and only 35 to go to the finish line the next few hours will surely cause a few nail-biting moments for the crews racing towards Port Antonio, Jamaica.

Spirit of Australia, Hull & Humber and Cape Breton Island have been fighting it out through the night and, as they round the eastern side of Jamaica it's going to come down to who is the fastest on the sail evolutions - which team can tack and get their sails back up to optimum trim in the shortest time in order to gain the precious seconds that could make all the difference in this race.

Spirit of Australia skipper, Brendan Hall, says, "It's been another day of intense boat on boat action. As it becomes clear that we won't be able to clear the eastern corner of Jamaica in one go, we will have a close tacking match on our hands. It is all still to play for and we are certainly in amongst it. Today promises some spectacular racing, as we charge up the verdant Jamaican coastline towards the finish."

At the outset of this race, Hull & Humber's crew took the decision to race in a straight line all the way - no tactical flyers that may or may not work out. And the decision has proved to be a good one. They have been playing cat and mouse with the Australian team, at times taking the lead.

Skipper, Justin Taylor, says, "The crew are still very focused on a podium finish, if not their very first win. Spirit of Australia has a more favourable windward position to us but I think the deciding factor will be the short tacking duel to Morant Point on the easterly extreme of the island."

"For Jamaica Lightning Bolt this is the big one, the one above all the rest we really want to win as it is into our home port," says Pete Stirling. Just 15 miles behind the leaders there is still time for his team to gain some ground on them.

"This race is still wide open," he says. "Up to now it has been a drag race with small losses and gains being lost and made because of choice of sail plan, sail trim, helming and the speed of evolutions. At some point all the yachts will have to tack to the east in order to clear past Morant Point on the eastern end of Jamaica. After that we will bear away onto a reach then downwind to the finish line. This is when good tactics will come into play as well as good sailing skills but still there will probably be only be a few minutes between the first few yachts as we cross the line.”

"As we sail further and further round the world the distance separating yachts, even after several thousand miles of racing, is getting smaller and smaller. This is testament to the fact that all the teams are beginning to reach the highest level of ability of what is possible in terms of sailing skills. All the crews know exactly what they are doing and what is required of them and now it is largely down to which yacht has the crew with the best teamwork which decides race positions."

Chris Stanmore-Major is enjoying being back on board Qingdao. He says, "This is fantastic sailing for the Qingdao crew; the suffocating heat they experienced coming down from San Francisco has been replaced with a merely uncomfortably sweaty temperature below decks and the long windless days off the coast of Mexico are fading into memory as the strong trade winds propel the boat forwards relentlessly under the Caribbean sun.”

“For me, having missed the last leg due to the ash cloud in Europe my last memories of the boat are storm tossed weeks at sea in the northern Pacific with 70 knots of wind and waves the size of houses; how very different our world is now. Now the challenge is not the sea itself but the tactics at play in making our way around the island of Jamaica and into Port Antonio - tonight is crunch time for us and we will see if our wind veering dances have done the trick and provided us with the one tack escape we so desperately need to remain competitive in this race, or whether we are consigned to a slow beat around the point and a late arrival in Port Antonio."

The last 12 hours has seen California taking some good mileage out of the yachts ahead and closing the gap that had opened up while they tackled an issue with their steering gear.

Skipper, Pete Rollason, reports to the race office this morning, "After 36 hours of the dreaded gremlins invading California again we are back up to full race speed and chasing down the boats ahead. Firstly, yesterday our steering system broke which entailed a four-hour repair, only to have it fail again after only 30 minutes of use. A little head scratching, our best 'Macgyver' work and about six hours later it was up and running and so far so good.”

"We are definitely well placed to the east of the fleet and although we have lost quite a lot of miles due to the steering, we are confident we can pull some back over the remaining 100 miles."

California's easterly position may well enable them to clear Morant Point in a single tack. The winds are forecast to ease slightly and the final stretch of the race along the beautiful north coast of Jamaica should allow the teams to fly their spinnakers for the last few hours.

The first yachts are expected in Errol Flynn Marina, Port Antonio, after 1100 local time (1600 GMT) with the whole fleet arriving over the course of the next 24 hours.

Positions at 1200 UTC, Tuesday 18 May

 

Boat	Distance to finish	Distance to leader
1 Spirit of Australia	35nm
2 Hull & Humber	38nm	4nm
3 Cape Breton Island	38nm	4nm
4 Team Finland	44nm	10nm
5 Jamaica Lightning Bolt	50nm	15nm
6 Uniquely Singapore	55nm	20nm
7 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital	57nm	23nm
8 Qingdao	89nm	54nm
9 California	109nm	75nm
10 Cork	114nm	80nm