Clipper Round the World Yacht Race day 8 - Competition heats up

12:58 PM Mon 8 Aug 2011 GMT

'Geraldton Western Australia set sail for Madeira on the first leg of the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race.' onEdition &copy

Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - After being diverted to Vigo in northern Spain Geraldton Western Australia is now getting back into full racing mode. Also injured crew member, Russell Sandbach, has been discharged from hospital. The diagnosis is a soft tissue injury and, following a period of rest, Russell is hopeful that he will rejoin the race at a later date.

On board Russell's boat, things are looking brighter after yesterday's incident.

'I was woken up to a beautiful morning today - seeing Orion's belt just on the horizon,' says Juan Coetzer, skipper of Geraldton Western Australia. 'The wind is currently building and we have just completed a successful headsail change.
The crew have bonded together well after the incident off Cape Finisterre. They are now working harder and better as a team and we are still driving hard to catch up the fleet.

'We are taking a gamble, staying south of our rhumb Line, as it looks like there is more wind. Happy days are here again.'

Meanwhile, on board the other Australian entry it appears that Gold Coast Australia's gamble to keep further east has more than paid off as they steal a sizeable lead on their closest rivals, Visit Finland.

'What an amazing day's run for Gold Coast Australia,' reports skipper Richard Hewson. 'For the last 24 hours we have been running downwind with 20 knots of wind with 1.5 knots of current assisting us. At the moment we are averaging 10 knots and our speed record attempt was made yesterday evening by our birthday boy, Pat Cooper, reaching 13.8 knots surfing down a wave. What better way is there to end your birthday but surfing down a wave!

'The 1800 schedule was a little disappointing for the crew, having us ten nautical miles behind the race leaders Visit Finland, however, the news that came shortly after midnight was that we were now the leading boat.

'At around the same time, we made final course alteration as we rounded the Ormonde Seamount and headed straight for Madeira.'

Victory is not in the bag, however, and with 250 nautical miles still to run the crew on board the Finnish entry will be giving it their all to take line honours in the first race of Clipper 11-12.

The team's skipper, Olly Osborne, says, 'The sunrise brings some better winds and the extra boat speed is welcome after a long starlit night of spinnaker trimming. Madeira seems well within our reach now and our sights are set on closing the gap between us and the lead boat.'

The temperature is steadily rising as the teams head south and things are certainly hotting up in the middle of the fleet with just 14 nautical miles separating New York, currently in third place, and Welcome to Yorkshire in seventh.

'The temperature is around 30?C and with no rain in the last two days it has given us a chance to dry out a little bit after all the beating we had to do getting out of the Bay of Biscay,' reports New York's skipper, Gareth Glover.

'Monday morning finds us doing about 3.5 knots with the wind seeker and very calm seas - waiting for that big boost to get us to Madeira. Meanwhile, boats that went further east seem to have been rewarded with more wind as they pulled quite a few miles on us since last update.'

Derry-Londonderry set sail for Madeira on the first leg of the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race. - onEdition &copy

One of the teams breathing down the US entry's neck is Derry-Londonderry and the Northern Irish entry's skipper has revealed that his team has also had a mixed bag of weather which has left them searching for wind to keep their boat moving in the right direction.

'We can see the very faint flicker of a tri-colour light up ahead, fine on our starboard bow - this we identified to be New York,' says Mark Light. 'We have been hunting them down for the last two days and now we have them in our sights but the wind has dropped. A quick check of the radar shows them to be 7.5 nautical miles away. This could be significant as they were in third position at the last position report so we will do our very best to gain an all important podium finishing position! A quick reminder to all that there are still two and a half days sailing to our destination, so yet another check of sail trim and course are in order. We sail on.'

In close proximity to Derry-Londonderry is English entry, Welcome to Yorkshire, and skipper Rupert Dean's 0600 report echoes that of the other teams in his vicinity.

'For yet another night we've been fighting to keep Welcome to Yorkshire moving, alternating between the Yankee 1, lightweight kite and windseeker,' says Rupert. 'Our weather information continues to tell us tall stories regarding wind speed and direction. This and the lack of textual ECG weather information coming in from our Satcom C makes tactical meteorological decisions difficult.

'Keeping crew motivated in virtually windless conditions is always a challenge. It's all too easy for minds to wander or to give up on keeping our 30-ton boat moving. The consequences of 'parking up', however, are extremely expensive, as it is very difficult to establish forward momentum and therefore precious apparent wind again. In my view, it's better to keep moving, even in a totally wrong direction, than stop moving at all.

'Fortunately for us on Welcome to Yorkshire, we've been racing in visual proximity to Derry-Londonderry and Singapore, which has helped to focus minds. The result is a number of races within races, good for the teams, great for our supporters and amazing to think we are still in sight after over 850 miles of racing!'

The changeable weather conditions for the teams further west have also proved trying for the skipper and crew on board Singapore.

'We spent nearly the whole day running with the Yankee 1 as the boat gently surged over a smooth Atlantic rolling swell,' says Singapore's skipper, Ben Bowley. 'As day turned to night we drifted into a fairly sizeable wind hole and despaired as we watched Welcome to Yorkshire pull back ahead of us. This was fairly gutting as we had spent the whole day hunting them down! The only option was to try and sail east with a plethora of different sail combinations. Finally, around 0300 we managed to get the boat moving with the wind seeker and were able to find a little more wind to the east. We are now charging along under medium spinnaker at 10 knots and hope that this move to the east in search of wind will pay off!'

Ben's frustrations are shared by De Lage Landen's skipper, Mat Booth, who says, 'The wind eased and headed us yesterday morning which forced us to white sails. It was frustrating for everyone aboard as we'd made great gains with our kites.

'The strategy has been to stay out to the east to pick up the stronger gradient wind that is due with us today according to the forecast. It should reach us and those yachts east of the rhumb line first and hopefully enable some good gains against those to the west. This seems to have paid off and it is with delight I see we've moved into fifth place as of the 0600 scheds - fantastic news!

'The crew deserve the gain, they are working Trojan-like to keep this yacht moving and it is a delight to see everyone working so well together.

'Onwards and upwards, everything to play for!'

Not to be ruled out entirely, both Edinburgh Inspiring Capital and Qingdao have picked up speed again and the champagne sailing conditions experienced during the day yesterday has helped lift spirits and focus minds. It has also allowed the teams to get on top of essential maintenance as Qingdao's skipper, Ian Conchie, reports.

'Probably the best sailing day yet; the definition of a champagne sailing day, with sun and good breeze. We sailed all day under the Yankee 1, stay sail and full main holding good boat speed all day until the wind dropped in the evening.

'Plus, with it being a nice sunny day, the crew had a chance to catch up with the domestic side of running an ocean racing yacht, lots of cleaning, routine maintenance and even washing!

'The wind has shifted round to the north east this morning and hopefully it will build during the day and carry all the way to Madeira.'

And from skipper Gordon Reid's report on board Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, it appears that the wind has already begun to fill in.

'After a frustrating afternoon yesterday stuck in a light patch, the wind veered and filled in last night and we popped the lightweight spinnaker. Off went the big purple beastie, moving at a pace towards Madeira. The Edinburgh Inspiring Capital race crew are fully focused on our mission to get to Madeira as fast as possible and catch the fleet on the way. Today we are feeling the need for speed!'

Positions at 0900 UTC, Monday 8 August
Boat / DTF* / DTL**
1 Gold Coast Australia / 261nm
2 Visit Finland / 305nm / +44nm
3 New York / 350nm / +89nm
4 Derry-Londonderry / 358nm / +97nm
5 Singapore / 361nm / +100nm
6 De Lage Landen / 364nm / +103nm
7 Welcome to Yorkshire / 365nm / +103nm
8 Geraldton Western Australia / 406nm / +145nm
9 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital / 423nm / +162nm
10 Qingdao / 435nm / +174nm

*DTF = Distance to Finish, DTL** = Distance to Leader. Full positions are updated every three hours and can be found here .

Clipper Round the World website

by Zoe Williamson