| At sea. Clipper Round the World Race: Cardiff leads with Liverpool 11 miles behind |
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| Monday, 10 April 2006 | |
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Event media: What a difference a day makes. I am sure I have used that title on more than one occasion since I started writing these for the 2000 race, but yet again this morning’s position reports emphasise that 24 hours can be a long time in sailing. Cardiff Clipper had a stunning start, surging across the line in first position and maintaining it for the first 12 hours. Then, suddenly, things didn’t look so good and this time yesterday had slipped dramatically into last place. That said, positions throughout the fleet were close, with several boats neck and neck so it was not that surprising that by 1600GMT yesterday they were climbing back up the leaderboard. Today however they are right back at the top with the highest days run and a commanding position over the rest of the fleet. Previous race winners Liverpool have also done well over night climbing 6 places to second, also well placed to cover the boats behind. Whilst for Jersey, Durban and Qingdao the reverse has been true and the largest losses in the fleet have put them firmly at the wrong end of the table. Throughout the fleet speeds have dropped however as the wind has eased over the last 24 hours and the mileages have halved. Hopefully this will be short lived as the forecast shows another low pressure system due to form over the Chinese coast and generate a renewed westerly airflow to push them onwards to the southern tip of Japan. Temperatures remain cold, as they are likely for the majority of this race, and current visibility is poor, sometimes down to only a few metres. It is times like these that one needs all one’s systems up and running, so life must be hard on New York who have reported that their highly regarded toaster has chosen this moment to throw in the towel. Now that really is serious. www.clipper-ventures.com |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 10 April 2006 ) |
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