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

2:41 PM Tue 27 Apr 2010 GMT

'Qingado passes under the golden gate bridge as they leave San Francisco at the start of 8 to Panama in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race' Clipper Ventures PLC &copy Click Here to view large photo

Still high on their Scoring Gate point from yesterday, the team on board Qingdao is now focussed on bettering their position and taking the top spot in Panama. To help them achieve this the Chinese entry, which was lying in second place and just eleven nautical miles behind current race leaders, Spirit of Australia, decided to go into Stealth Mode at 0600GMT today.

For Qingdao's temporary skipper, Hannah Jenner, Stealth Mode is a new tactic which wasn't available when she skippered Glasgow: Scotland with style in the Clipper 07-08 Race. It means that her team's position is hidden from view, both in terms of the position reports sent to the other boats and also on the Race Viewer of the website.

In her morning report, Hannah, who will take charge of Cork when she arrives in Panama, says, 'Another night rolls in aboard Qingdao and with it a slightly more gentle breeze than we experienced the previous night."

"With gusts of over 20 knots and a tricky sea state last night it was a bit of a wake up call for those who had relaxed into comfortable spinnaker sailing. Still after a few hours of hard work, the sea state settled and once again a glorious day dawned with some good mileage runs at the scheds."

'As for tactics, well obviously that is a secret but we are working hard on light airs performance in anticipation of declining winds further down the race track. It is safe to say that as a team we are thoroughly enjoying the race and as a skipper it is great to be back!'

With Qingdao hidden from view it will be a nervous 24-hours for the front runners on board Spirit of Australia as they wait until tomorrow's 0600GMT position report to see if they have held the lead.

The Australian team's skipper, Brendan Hall, doesn't appear too concerned at this stage reporting, 'More champagne sailing aboard Spirit of Australia today. The action on deck comes in bursts."

"For long periods, we sail on our course and there is not enough work to occupy nine people on deck but as soon as the call comes for a spinnaker gybe or change, the watch leaps into action and does the job in a fast and slick manner."

Start of leg eight - Clipper 09-10 - Erik Simonson:h2oshots.com

"After a drink of water, the watch returns to chatting and contemplating - such is the ebb and flow of daily life when racing in light winds.'

It would appear that Team Finland is more concerned about race position in their report as the further south they get, the lighter the winds become and the more likely the fleet will concertina, which could lead to changes in positions.

'We are still in wind, which is grand,' says Team Finland's skipper, Rob McInally. 'Although it is looking like there is more behind us so the fortunes of the yachts further back could start to change."

'The next mark of the course is 230 nautical miles away so we are about to turn on a more easterly course with the hope of making up more ground on Qingdao and Spirit of Australia."

"Neither team is easy to take miles from and we are still watching over our shoulders with the real danger of the race turning inside out once again.'

One of the teams taking advantage of the stronger winds further back is California as they work hard to maximise the daily runs.

Skipper Pete Rollason says, 'The victualling as always on board California has been superb and any thoughts of weight loss on this leg are sadly misplaced."

"However, it is that excellent cuisine that is providing the crew with the energy for the numerous spinnaker peels, drops and hoists that are part of our daily life in these variable wind conditions. It is all about helming, sail trim and sail selection, as always and the crew are working tirelessly whenever the need is there."

'We have made some small gains over the last 12 hours and hope this continues as we drive California hard.'

The crew on board Cape Breton Island has also been pushing hard as the team tries to regain the miles they lost when the track for their spinnaker pole broke, It's not happening as quickly as they might like as skipper, Jan Ridd, explains.

'Late last night we had Edinburgh Inspiring Capital firmly in our sights when we had to drop our medium weight kite as a small tear had been spotted in it,' says Ridd.

'We quickly hoisted the heavyweight, a stronger smaller kite but much slower, costing us some valuable miles whilst we made the necessary repairs. We now have the medium weight up again and are busy trying to figure out our course so we can gain any advantage over the boats ahead.'

Conversely, Hull & Humber is enjoying another drama free day, with temporary skipper, Justin Taylor, reporting, 'More great downhill sailing, peeling between lightweight and medium weight kites.'

His thoughts are echoed by Uniquely Singapore's skipper, Jim Dobie, whose team, despite suffering another spinnaker wrap, is improving all the time.

'How spoilt we are,' says Dobie. 'Sailing in pretty much ideal seas, it's sunny, it's warm and there's a fair breeze as well."
"The kite is still going strong and the only trip up was another wrap last night but this was quickly solved with a quick repair and up she went again pulling us along nicely."

"With all the boats in the same conditions it's proving difficult to make any gains at the moment, so we concentrate on our course and speed in the knowledge that at some point the conditions will change and when they do we will do our very best to start gaining on yachts."

"At the moment we are enjoying what we have and the crew are relishing the downwind steering and are gaining confidence all the time.'

Positions at 1200 UTC, Tuesday 27 April

Boat


Distance to finish	Distance to leader
1 Spirit of Australia	1761nm
2 Team Finland	1783nm	22nm
3 Qingdao	Stealth Mode
4 Jamaica Lightning Bolt	1818nm	57nm
5 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital	1818nm	57nm
6 Cape Breton Island	1833nm	72nm
7 Hull & Humber	1901nm	140nm
8 Uniquely Singapore	1902nm	142nm
9 California	1905nm	144nm
10 Cork	Did not start