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RORC Cowes - Madeira Race - Hard miles to Atlantic freedom

www.rorc.com @ Wed Aug 13 11:36:00 +0100 2008

The RORC fleet have had three days of near gale force conditions with several retirements in the race from Cowes to Madeira. Five yachts have now rounded Ushant and after about three days of beating into strong head winds, they have cracked off much to the relief of the crews on board. The reward for making it around Ushant, is some fantastic blue water sailing; the wind speed is still in the region of 30 knots gusting 35 but as they free off down the French coast, the air temperature will increase as will the boat speed as they head for Madeira.

The lead boat on the course is Dr D Thomsen’s Andrews 56, Norddeutsche Vermoegen Hamburg who are positioned at the edge of the Bay of Biscay, roughly paralell with La Rochelle on a heading for Cape Finisterre, on the North West corner of Spain.

Notes from the boats

A night not for the fainthearted, reported an exhausted Skipper, Philipe Phalle, from Puma Logic at 11pm last night. Puma was only 1 mile from Ushant and the seas were huge, sailing with No 4 heavy jib and storm trysail, and still going over 6 knots. Puma Logic was considering pulling in to the French port of Brest last night after rounding Ushant, to grab some rest and continue in daylight, but the tracker shows that they have soldiered on and are now doing really well.

During the night, Clipper Ventures, Jamaica looked to have given in to the whiff of pasties from Penzance, as they turned towards the South Coast of Cornwall but then turned back on a better angle to round Ushant and continue racing.

The Army Sailing Association’s, A40, British Soldier is having a great battle with Philippe Delaporte’s J/122 Pen Azen with the two barely apart for the first three day’s racing. At the moment, British Soldier seem to have stolen a march on Pen Azen over night as they had a better direct route around Ushant and gained valuable miles.

Mostly Harmless has turned back from the coast of France and is currently in Falmouth. Skipper, Tom Hayhoe, has reported that all are well on board. However a torn leach line on the mainsail was there undoing. They carried on under Code 4 headsail alone until about 30 miles from Ushant. Whilst crewman Neal Brewer did a fantastic repair job, they decided to run for cover to put the mainsail back up and get some rest after the off watch system became non-existent. The crew then made the decision to retire from racing and this morning went in search of the biggest breakfast Falmouth could offer.

For now the wind seems to have abated a little and is coming directly from the west. This respite from the very uncomfortable conditions yesterday will be met with open arms, but it is still gusty, and the sea state is very rough. The forecast suggests that it is still 5-7 occasionally gale force 8 at times, so even though the wind has died a little it is still pretty windy!

It is interesting to note here that Puma Logic is the smallest yacht left in the field now, and sailed by people who have never experienced anything like this before. “Although Brian (nicknamed ‘Shumey’) is our offshore racing protégé at the tender age of 68, all the crew are from normal walks of life. We have Alice, a 59 year old Bank Executive from London, who originally signed up to do the RORC Cowes-La Rochelle Race. We persuaded her that racing to Madeira would be much more fun….I am not really sure what she thinks of us now!”

RORC SEASON’S POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP 2008

The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Season’s Points Championship consists of a testing series of races which attracts an international and varied fleet. For the serious offshore sailor, trying to win the Season’s Points Championship is the real challenge. The Season’s Points Championship this year includes the tactically challenging BMW Round Ireland Race and a new addition to the RORC sailing programme, The Cowes Madeira Race which offers an exciting opportunity of a race to Madeira and back, some 1500 miles away in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. For those with less time, the programme also includes a race to the charming port of La Rochelle. For the full RORC racing programme go to:http://www.rorc.org

First Clipper 07-08 victory for Uniquely Singapore

@ Thu Apr 17 09:52:00 +0100 2008

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Terry Way/onEdition

Uniquely Singapore, has managed to steal line honours from Nova Scotia by crossing the finish line at 05:16 local (12:16 GMT) Wednesday morning at the end of Race 8 from Hawaii to Santa Cruz in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race. In a nail biting finish in light airs the Singaporean team managed to overtake Nova Scotia, the team representing the east coast province of Canada crossing less than an hour later at 05:51 local (12:51 GMT).

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Terry Way/onEdition

The victory for Uniquely Singapore, sponsored by Keppel Corporation with Singapore Tourism Board as Race Partner, marks their first win of the Clipper 07-08 Race series and their first podium position of the race so far.
Skipper Mark Preedy and his crew were clearly elated as they pulled alongside. “I’m over the moon!” exclaimed a delighted Mark. “It seemed like a lot of the crew had settled for second place at the end there until we started to see the lights of Nova Scotia on the final approach. So we kept going as we knew we had a good chance of getting closer and we kept pushing hard. We were the northerly boat so we had an advantage and when the wind died it was a bit of a free for all. They chose to fly the spinnaker whilst we went for the windseeker and the wind came round the right way for us and we took them just before the line.”

A tactical decision to head north paid off for Singaporean team as they achieved more favourable wind angles and avoided the wind holes that beset the rest of the fleet further south.

Uniquely Singapore crew member Xinmei Zheng said, “I’m really, really happy that we finished this because we were actually lagging behind Nova Scotia for a while. It was really at the last minute that we pushed through and not giving up is really the point because we were just inching and it was light winds and we inched our way in. It was great, really great!”

Uniquely Singapore was the first of the ten internationally-sponsored yachts competing in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race to arrive in Santa Cruz at the end of the latest 2,080-mile stage from Honolulu. They were closely followed into Santa Cruz Harbour by second placed Nova Scotia and both teams were greeted by a group of local volunteers and representatives from the Santa Cruz Yacht Club, who welcomed the crews and skippers to the Californian port.

The majority of the fleet are expected to arrive over the next couple of days with the US entry, New York, expected to take the final podium position and arrive in Santa Cruz Harbour later today. Durban 2010 and Beyond and westernaustralia2011.com will complete the fleet by arriving in Santa Cruz early next week. The two southern hemisphere teams were delayed leaving Hawaii due to essential mast refit work as a result the dramatic dismasting of both yachts during Race 7 from Qingdao, China.

Clipper 07-08 is the sixth edition of the biennial Clipper Race and the Santa Cruz stopover marks the first time the race has visited a port on the west coast of the United States. During the teams’ short visit the fleet is being hosted by the Santa Cruz Yacht Club who will also host the prizegiving ceremony on Monday 21 April.
SCYC Commodore Bret Grippenstraw said, “It was great to see the boats arrive this morning and we’re really excited about being involved in the stopover. It’s a great thing for Santa Cruz and the harbour and we’re really happy to have the Clipper yachts here.”

The Clipper Race is the only round the world yacht race for non-professional sailors and the amateur crews, representing 27 different nationalities across the ten teams, are each led by a professional skipper. As well as performing the routine maintenance required to keep their ocean racing yachts in top performance condition and shopping for food for the next race, the crews will also have some time to enjoy the sights, sounds and flavours of California during the stopover.

The Californian stopover of Clipper 07-08 has also been timed to coincide with the Strictly Sail Pacific boat show, which begins today at Jack London Square, Oakland, California. The Clipper Race will be exhibiting at the show today and this coming weekend and Crew Recruitment Manager David Cusworth will be on hand explain how prospective crew members can get onboard and take on the challenge of a lifetime.

To find out more about the race and how to become a crew member on Clipper 09-10 please contact David Cusworth on +1 (831) 239 5116, or email oceanracer@clipperroundtheworld.com <mailto:oceanracer@clipperroundtheworld.com> .


Hull & Humber, winner of Race 7 of Clipper 07-08 arrives in Hawaii

Clipper Ventures plc @ Wed Mar 19 09:46:00 +0000 2008

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Hull & Humber, winner of Race 7 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race, arrived in Ala Wai harbour, Honolulu, at 0745 (1745 GMT) on Tuesday 18 March. She was followed ten minutes later by New York, who finished second in the 4,400-mile race across the Pacific from Qingdao, China, to Hawaii.

Skipper Danny Watson said, “It’s good to get a podium, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? We had first place in La Rochelle, then line honours in Durban and went down to fourth and we seem to have been consistently fourth since then. But great for us to get in. The guys have always believed that one of the objectives is to strive for a podium position, so it’s nice to get it. It really has been some time.”

Round the world crew member, Quentin Thompson from Beverley, East Yorkshire, said, “It’s excellent, it was well deserved and we’ve fought hard all the way. For all the race was cut short, it didn’t detract from that and it was really hard.”

A beaming Thea Clifford, one of the members of the ten-strong ONE Hull Tag Team sailing on Hull & Humber, said, “It was a lot harder than I expected it to be, I wasn’t expecting it to be easy by any measure but I’m really proud I’ve got through it without kicking anyone or crying or even shouting at Danny and the crew has really helped push me up. I can’t believe I’ve done it. It’s been absolutely brilliant.”

Rachel Axcell, another round the worlder from Caistor, Lincolnshire, said, “The best thing was the variety of the sailing. We anchored, we had snowball fights and now we’re here in the sunshine.”

The yacht, representing the Hull and Humber area of the north east of England, is crewed by amateur sailors and led by a professional skipper and is the first of ten internationally-backed yachts competing in the race to arrive in Hawaii. The other nine yachts, including the US entry and the two that were dismasted during the rigorous Pacific crossing, will arrive during
today and tomorrow, with the final entry, westernaustralia2011.com expected at the weekend. She left Midway Island yesterday afternoon following a short pitstop to allow the crew to take on more fuel and provisions for the final 1,000-miles of their journey.

Durban 2010 and Beyond is expected in the marina at 1600 local (0200 GMT Wednesday 18 March) following her dismasting last Thursday. The crew includes Hull university lecturer Mandy Brown from Pocklington.

The Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race is a 35,000-mile circumnavigation which began in Liverpool, England on 16 September 2007 and will finish there on 5 July this year. More than 400 crew drawn from all walks of life and representing 27 nationalities, including the United States, will compete during the race, approximately a quarter of them competing in the entire circuit of the globe.

The Clipper Race is made up of 14 individual races. Points are awarded for each race and the winner is the team which has accumulated the most points when the fleet of 68-foot ocean racing yachts arrives back in Liverpool in July. With half of the races completed, the American entry, New York, is shooting up the table following a second place on this latest race to add to
three first places the team has already won. New York arrived in the Ala Wai shortly after Hull & Humber this morning.

Skipper Duggie Gillespie said, “I’m more than happy with second place – we just could not catch that boat in front, Hull & Humber, they’ve done brilliantly.”

The ten yachts are a spectacular sight both racing and in port. During their stay in Honolulu the crews will be hosted by Waikiki Yacht Club, Hawaii Yacht Club and Magic Island Petroleum. As well as performing the routine maintenance required to keep these ocean racing yachts in top performance condition and shopping for food for the next race, the crews will also have
some time to enjoy the sights, sounds and flavours of Oahu during the stopover. The Clipper Race Team will also be calling on the skills of local companies to aid the repairs to the masts and rigging of westernaustralia2011.com and overall race leader, Durban 2010 and Beyond, the two yachts dismasted during the race from Qingdao. No-one was hurt in either incident.

This is the sixth edition of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race and it has called into Hawaii on all but one occasion, the Clipper 05-06 Race being the exception. This race marks a return to the Ala Wai following the Clipper 2002 Race fleet’s stopover in Ko Olina Marina.

First run in 1996, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is the brainchild of renowned yachtsman, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail solo non-stop around the world. He wanted everyone to be able to experience the sheer exhilaration of ocean racing which, until then, had been the preserve of the rich and professionals. More than 1,400 people have now competed in the six Clipper Races, the circumnavigators becoming members of an elite group of sportsmen and women: more people have climbed Everest than have raced around the world in a yacht.

Sir Robin says, “Everyone who takes part in the Clipper Race has their own reason for doing so; some to experience the adrenaline rush that comes with taking on nature in the raw, some to push themselves further than they thought possible and others to compete in the largest global yacht race in the world.”

He continues “More than 1,400 people have made the Clipper experience a turning point in their lives. We want people to finish the race thinking that it’s the best thing they have ever done. You could join these people.” He adds that anyone over the age of 18 can enter – and there is no upper age limit. Competitors taking part, 40 percent of whom had no sailing experience
before signing up, include a banker, a vicar, a farmer, a taxi driver, a stockbroker, a barrister, a housewife and a postman.


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