Slow boat from China

Clipper fleet find little wind in South China Seas

The eight Clipper yachts continue to edge through the heat of the South China Sea in an agonisingly slow manner. Thankfully for the crews, the Clipper yachts are much better designed to cope with these conditions than many heavier yachts.

Apart from their relatively large rig (mast) the crews will be thankful for the large amount of headroom and volume below decks. The fully opening windows and hatches enable a reasonable amount of air to circulate around the cabin and keep the conditions more bearable than might otherwise be the case.

Bristol Clipper continues to show the way with a 3 mile lead. They are tending to go down the centre of the 40 miles wide channel, but have the old problem that those chasing are attacking on each side.

Jersey is on her own on the northern (right) flank and Glasgow and Hong Kong are on the southern edge of the channel (left flank). Skippers Justin Taylor and Rupert Parkhouse will be hoping the wind will get some encouragement from the land which is less than 30 miles to their SE. Liverpool Clipper still remains on her own in fourth place, but seems to be coming up well behind the southern pair.

The second race within the race is being keenly fought between Cape Town, London and New York. Roger Steven-Jennings in Cape Town writes about the agonies of dropping a place: "We had a terrible morning. London and New York were well astern as a great big cloud formed ahead of us. Once under this cloud, the wind dropped right away and then came from every direction at the same time. London managed to avoid the cloud and sailed past 500 metres to windward and were not affected. Then New York came within 200 metres of us and also got stuck. London is now over 3 miles ahead and New York one mile astern. Smoked far more than my ration of fags during the incident."

Although the speeds have been up and down the 24-hour runs have been averaging out at around 100 miles or four knots, so no need for them to get out and walk yet. The weather forecast does not show any great change in the immediate future. There is more wind behind them where they have been and not much ahead where they are trying to go. Only a cynic would suggest that they are taking their windless patch with them down the South China Sea and there is no room for cynics here! The crew will now be remembering the words at their interview when someone explained that this was one of the hardest races.

Funny to reflect that less than three weeks sailing ago, Peter Horwood in Cape Town was writing this: "The winds have increased dramatically and it's getting much colder. I wouldn't think it's much above freezing point now...the wind-chill factor doesn't help either. We console ourselves in the thought that there are only 3 days of sailing left and keep warm by piling on more layers of clothing so that with our oilies on, we look like Michelin Men."

The leaders now have their sights set at the first of the gates, which is 140 miles ahead and positioned off Sabah. After this the next gate is off the coat of Brunei, just over 300 miles ahead.

Clipper 2002 Race 9 Positions
03:00 UTC on 24 April 2003

Pos Yacht Distance to Finish (nautical miles)
1 Bristol 940.47
2 Jersey 943.66
3 Hong Kong 945.01
4 Glasgow 949.83
5 Liverpool 957.86
6 London 975.95
7 Cape Town 979.02
8 New York 981.58