Clipper Race - Nail-biting Finish into Santa Cruz
The Clipper Race yacht 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 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race. In a nail biting finish in light airs the Singaporean team managed to overtake the team representing the east coast province of Canada crossing less than an hour later at 05:51 local (12:51 GMT).
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 victory for Uniquely Singapore 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 both teams as they achieved more favourable wind angles and avoided the wind holes that beset the rest of the fleet further south.
Skipper of Nova Scotia, Rob McInally said, “Absolutely fantastic, the team has been amazing, even when we were trying to keep first place and finished in second. It’s been a really good race, from being first across the start line in Hawaii to finishing in a podium position.”
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 prize giving 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.”
Click here for more photos and news about the Clipper Around the World Yacht Race.
Submitted By YachtPals on 16 Apr
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Clipper Race Update - Clipper Yachts in Santa Cruz California
Skipper of New York, Duggie Gillespie said, “I thought it was a very interesting race. I’m quite happy with how we played our tactics but we clearly didn’t go the right way like some of the boats did. Despite that I’m really pleased with the teams performance and with how the crew has developed.
“We had a real mix of conditions. Predominantly upwind and only one day with kites. The Pacific Ocean throws everything at you, and I’m really pleased we crossed it safely and successfully.”
Although being at the front of the pack for the majority of the race from Honalulu, New York lost out to the boats that made a tactical decision to head north. Whilst Nova Scotia and Uniquely Singapore benefited from more favourable wind angles the US team struggled with a mixture of light airs and strong head winds.
Skipper of Hull & Humber, Danny Watson said, “It’s been a pretty good race, we’ve had a good time out there. We gave it everything so I don’t think there are any hard feelings about coming in fourth. We’ve gained another seven points and it’s another steady result for us. "
“The team worked brilliantly with headsail changes and reefing and I haven’t seen the evolutions being done as smoothly as that before, almost perfect. Tactically it was a choice of going north and for Nova Scotia and Uniquely Singapore it paid off. We didn’t go quite far enough north but then we didn’t get caught up in the light winds that effected the rest of the fleet.”
Although being at the front of the pack for the majority of the race from Honalulu, Hull & Humber lost out to the boats that made a tactical decision to head north. Whilst Nova Scotia and Uniquely Singapore benefited from more favourable wind angles the Yorkshire team struggled against strong headwinds.
Disembarking Hull & Humber after competing in the North Pacific leg of the Clipper Race, One Hull Tag Team member Thea Clifford said, “I really can’t describe how good it’s been for me and I can’t thank Clipper Ventures and Yorkshire Forward enough and everyone else who have helped me achieve this. It’s really blown me away and opened my eyes and I’m definitely going to be making some changes when I get back home.”
Skipper of Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper, Hannah Jenner, said, “It was a really exciting race and was the first time we’d managed to be in the lead for the first half of the race. Unfortunately we sailed into three consecutive wind holes which saw us drop a number of places. Watching other boats pass us was disheartening but we’re going to turn ourselves around for the next race and show them what we’re capable of.”
Whilst Nova Scotia and Uniquely Singapore benefited from more favourable wind angles by making a tactical decision to head north, the teams to the south of them were hampered by a mixture of strong headwinds and light airs.
Round the world crew member Colin Sherriff said, “The race was full of surprises for us. A huge surprise was the drop in temperature from Hawaii to here, 30 down to 15 degrees in sea temperature and the last night of sailing was freezing cold and soaking wet, which was a big shock. An enormous surprise was the fact that having led for the first 1,000 miles we then found ourselves in fifth place. Next race we start all over again and see what we can do. It’s a downwind race and we love downwind racing on Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper!”
Jamaica crossed the finish line at 01:47 local (07:47GMT) Thursday take sixth place in the Race 8 from Hawaii. A drop in wind strength in the last few hours of the race had the Caribbean team fighting to keep the boat moving in order to finish the race ahead of their nearest competitors Liverpool 08. Victory in Race 8 was claimed by Uniquely Singapore who overtook race leaders Nova Scotia during a nail biting light finish in light airs yesterday morning. Skipper of Jamaica, Simon Bradley, said, “It’s been a good race, the weather was quite varied, quite wet and cold and the thermal underwear was brought out again, which we didn’t expect. It certainly wasn’t balmy pacific sailing with grass skirts! The last few hours have been entertaining because there’s been no wind and I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Whilst Nova Scotia and Uniquely Singapore benefited from more favourable wind angles by making a tactical decision to head north, the teams to the south of them were hampered by a mixture of strong headwinds and light airs.
Skipper of Liverpool 08, Ben Galloway said, “This race was a total contrast to the last one, this was upwind, upwind, upwind! My birthday on the eleventh (April) was the best days sailing we had, we managed to get the kite up for all of 24-hours, which was great. We also managed to have a little dance-off with Jamaica as well, but other than that we didn’t see many boats on the way across.
“Whilst seventh isn’t a great result for us, it was an upwind race and we definitely perform better downwind on Liverpool 08. The next race to Panama should be downwind the whole way and so we’ll be focusing our attention on moving back up the leaderboard.”
Whilst Nova Scotia and Uniquely Singapore benefited from more favourable wind angles by making a tactical decision to head north, the teams to the south of them were hampered by a mixture of strong headwinds and light airs.
Durban 2010 and Beyond and westernaustralia2011.com have now managed to escape the heavy easterly winds and have started to make much better progress towards Santa Cruz.
Joff Bailey, Race Director, says, “A long range estimate for their arrival is Tuesday 22nd April. Providing they achieve this, the race re-start will be Thursday 24th April. If Durban 2010 and Beyond and westernaustralia2011.com manage to make better progress the race start will be adjusted accordingly.”
Clipper Race Update - SANTA CRUZ STOPOVER
Qingdao arrived in Santa Cruz yesterday, the last of the yachts racing in
the Pacific leg from Hawaii to the west coast Californian port. A daytime
arrival ensured the Chinese team received a huge welcome as Clipper crews,
friends, family, and Santa Cruz Yacht Club members lined the pontoons.
“It’s great to be here,” said the skipper of Qingdao, Marcus
Cholerton-Brown. “We got stuck in a wind hole for 48 hours, only managing
about 12-miles in that time, and sat there surrounded by glassy seas. Then
the wind filled in and we found ourselves in 30 to 35 knots, but
unfortunately on the nose. We probably needed to be another 60 to 70-miles
further north, but the Qingdao crew did very well, we were just unlucky and
took a bit of a bad weather gamble.”
After making relatively slow progress for the first week since departing
Hawaii the wind direction has finally allowed westernaustralia2011.com and
Durban 2010 and Beyond to make better progress towards Santa Cruz today;
covering nearly 200 nautical miles in 24 hours. The current forecast is
favourable and should allow both teams to maintain good speeds towards Santa
Cruz with an expected arrival date of Tuesday 22 April.
Joff Bailey, Race Director, says, “As neither team are racing they are
permitted to use their engine during periods of light winds which will help
to keep their speeds up.”
The progress of both teams was hampered yesterday when discarded fishing
nets got wrapped around their propellers. westernaustralia2011.com became
aware of the problem when “engine revs dropped as a slight knock was heard
under the boat.” A short and very cold dive was required to cut away the
offending netting.
Once westernaustralia2011.com and Durban 2010 and Beyond arrive in Santa
Cruz the Race Director will announce the actual restart date and time.
Presently the Clipper Race Team is working towards restarting the ten-strong
fleet on Thursday 24 April.
Check out a photo of the Clipper yachts at Santa Cruz Harbor in Santa Cruz here: http://yachtpals.com/gallery/santa-cruz-1
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