| At sea.Clipper Round the World Race: Jersey Clipper diverting to Yokohama with broken forestay |
|
|
|
| Saturday, 15 April 2006 | |
|
Event media: Jersey Clipper ceased racing early this morning, 70 miles ESE of Japan, due to a broken inner forestay. They are currently diverting into Yokohama and are expected to arrive overnight (UK time), where repairs will be made and they will resume racing as soon as possible. Everyone is safe onboard, with no injuries reported during the incident, and they report that outside assistance is not required. The rest of the fleet have cleared the southern coast of Japan and are now in the open water of the North Western Pacific basin. The emerging low pressure system east of Japan has deepened and is expected to track northwards over the weekend. Overnight positions show that some of the fleet have remained south of their original intended route, heading more in an easterly direction in order to pick up the favourable winds below this pressure system (shown in the above weather picture). Over the next couple of days the wind will back round to the south, from the current north-westerlies reported, enabling the boats to break out the spinnakers again and continue on their north-eastward track. The expected position changes have occurred, partly because several boats have “throttled back” on speed over the last 24 hours due to the tough conditions (30-40 knots and 3m swell), which has resulted in reduced crew numbers due to sea sickness, as well as a few minor injuries. Qingdao had the highest distance run of 106 in 12 hours, which takes them into 2nd place and only 21 miles behind Cardiff who remain in 1st position. Durban and Victoria also continue to battle it out with only 1 mile separating them on their DTF. Cardiff have also reported problems with charging their batteries, so they are conserving energy while repairs are being made – this in effect means that they will be shutting down their email system for a time. Clipper will announce when this repair is complete and systems are up and running again Jersey Clipper Update. At 0430 this morning, the stud at the base of the inner forestay snapped on board Jersey Clipper causing Skipper Simon Rowell to take the decision to divert to Yokohama, one of the nearest ports and one that Simon is familiar with from visiting on the previous race. Their expected ETA is around 0800 local time Sunday morning. Clipper Ventures Maintenance Manager Justin Haller will be flying out to Japan this evening with a replacement stud and will be arriving Sunday afternoon. In the meantime our friends in Yokohama have been contacted and are ready to assist Jersey Clipper on their arrival. As of yesterday afternoon Jersey’s email system has been down and so they will be unable to send or receive email until their arrival. We have contacted the local agents and will be rectifying this whilst there. Please also note that standard GSM mobile phones do not work in Japan. We will post updates on their progress. www.clipper-ventures.com |
|
| Last Updated ( Saturday, 15 April 2006 ) |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|