Clipper 09-10 - San Francisco to Panama - Day four

2:54 PM Sat 24 Apr 2010 GMT

'Clipper fleet racing under the Golden Gate Bridge - Clipper Round The World Yacht Race 2009-10.' Clipper Ventures PLC &copy

'Another glorious day's sailing,' reports Spirit of Australia skipper, Brendan Hall. And it's easy to understand why, as he goes on to explain, 'The oilskins stayed below in the wet locker and the warm crew on deck were happy and jovial. To celebrate our sailing along the coast of Mexico, our Ministry of Fun, Sarah (Boyle - Engineer) and Andy (Rose - Journalist) put on a full Mexican fiesta party at lunch time, complete with gaffer-tape moustaches, bin-liner ponchos and a pi?ata filled with treats. The laughter flowed and the light-hearted moment was a welcome distraction from our tooth-and-nail scrap with Team Finland, who were level with us on the horizon.'

The race for the Scoring Gate is proving to be an exciting one. At the 0900 position reports it would appear the leading four teams had found some stronger winds allowing them to pulling away from the chasing pack. The inshore-offshore routing tactics and positioning the yachts have opted for are also beginning to play out and in the next 24 hours we will see which will prove the most successful.

In the leading pack, Qingdao has had a good 24 hours, the crew taking in their stride the everyday challenges of ocean racing.

Hannah Jenner, Cork's skipper, who has taken temporary charge of the Chinese entry for race eight, says, 'We were just beginning to wonder if the Pacific was empty when finally a pod of dolphins came to play and a few suicidal squid sacrificed themselves to our deck. Wani had a trip up the mast to inspect the rig and turn our tricolour light around. We had spent three days squinting to see the windex which is usually illuminated by said light when we figured that if you were on our starboard side it would look as if we were coming straight for you - apologies to Jamaica Lightning Bolt if we confused you the other day."

'We had been expecting a wind shift somewhere southwest of the Isla de Guadeloupe and sure enough at 0300 it came. Being quite lively still, and seeing as we are down to one pole, we dropped the kite, hoisted the yankee , gybed the boat and relaunched a newly packed spinny all in around 30 minutes. It wasn't too long before the good ship Qingdao decided to make a stand against the heavyweight kite and the shackle on the guy exploded."

"More swift crew work later and the medium weight spinny was launched and driving hard. Our efforts overnight were rewarded by a healthy gain on Jamaica Lightning Bolt who had previously caught us. Beware Clipper fleet - the Dragon Wagon is on the prowl!'

While Hannah steps in to skipper Qingdao, in Antigua work on Cork is continuing to prepare her to rejoin the race in Panama. Cork crew member Jacqui Browne and the team in Jolly Harbour have taken delivery of three new spinnakers from Clipper 09-10s official sail supplier, Hyde Sails, which will match Cork's sail wardrobe with those of the rest of the fleet.

Back in the Pacific, Qingdao and Jamaica Lightning Bolt are still jostling for the points at the Scoring Gate. Pete Stirling says, 'The weather forecast for the wind for today did not pan out quite as predicted with the wind coming from a more northerly direction than predicted. Nevertheless we have been reaching under first medium weight and now heavy weight spinnaker all day making good speed in the right direction. With a flat sea and clear skies it is hard to imagine more perfect conditions to be flying a spinnaker in."

'With the Scoring Gate now less than 300 miles away the crew are in an upbeat mood and working well together hoping for a few much needed gate points to close the gap on Spirit of Australia on the overall points table.'

That gap is just eleven points and well with the reach of the chasing teams.

Hull & Humber has just emerged from 24 hours in Stealth Mode, one of the tactical options available to all of the teams. They have maintained their westerly position in the fleet and are not far from Cape Breton Island. They may well pick up the faster airflow that the Canadian team has also hooked into and has seen them move up the leader board from eighth to fifth place.

Edinburgh Inspiring Capital has also had a productive 24 hours, making some good gains in the middle of the pack. Skipper Matt Pike says, 'So the Pacific can play nicely! We saw some huge weather crossing from Qingdao to San Francisco and then leaving a few days ago en route to Panama it reminded us of its power. Today we sailed in what can only be described as ideal conditions; a flat sea and a steady breeze on the beam! We're back in shorts, the sun shone and the big spinnaker filled as we ate up the miles towards the Scoring Gate."

'The dice have been thrown and all we can do is helm and trim to see if our tactics will pay off. We stayed out for the better winds and are now heading inshore again with only a few miles between three of us. The winds turned lighter but we are hoping it will favour us by filling in on the coastal side of the fleet first. Team Finland and Spirit of Australia are some way ahead but we are closing them down and hoping we have enough time to catch them by the time we reach the Scoring Gate.'

It will be interesting to watch California's progress over the next 24 to 48 hours. Their inshore route puts them closer to the finish line in Panama than Uniquely Singapore and they may well benefit from stronger winds close to shore as they approach the Scoring Gate off Baja California.

Skipper Pete Rollason says, 'The sun has been shining all day and the shorts are out. Unfortunately with the nice weather has come some very light winds which has slowed our progress considerably. The wind has been up and down a little and quite variable so the crew have been busy with various sail changes. We're determined to make some further gains towards the Scoring Gate and the southern tip of Baja after which I believe some tactical decisions will come into play.'

The crew of Uniquely Singapore are keeping a watchful eye on what is going on up ahead, using the information from the fleet in addition to the weather charts to work out their course.

Skipper Jim Dobie says, 'It has been a bit of a surprise, all be it a welcome one, to get the wind from the north east which our weather files had shown no signs of. After gybing and heading back towards the coast of Mexico it is now a case of what next? Do we go inshore and look for a squeeze as the wind meets the land and for the favourable shifts, but knowing that the wind generally eases during the night? Or gybe back out to sea covering more distance but looking for more consistent breeze?"

'The light winds bring an interesting element to this race as this is where places are gained and lost, so far the gate is looking doubtful for us but, as we have seen so many times in this race, things can and do change dramatically and boats in the lead tend to reach light winds first allowing the rest of the fleet to catch up. This can also go the other way, too. So, as we concentrate on good course and trimming, we also look hard at the results to work out distance travelled by the boats in front and see the miles they have covered to give us the clues needed on where best to place ourselves.'

For those of us following at home, the next 24 hours look set to keep us glued to the Race Viewer!

Positions at 1200 UTC, Saturday 24 April

Boat	Distance to finish	Distance to leader
1 Spirit of Australia	2360nm
2 Team Finland	2364nm	3nm
3 Qingdao	2404nm	17nm
4 Jamaica Lightening Bolt	2404nm	44nm
5 Cape Breton Island	2447nm	87nm
6 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital	2502nm	142nm
7 California	2511nm	151nm
8 Uniquely Singapore	2526nm	166nm
9 Hull & Humber	2561nm	201nm
10 Cork	Did not start