Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 09-10 - Conditions keep crews busy

10:55 PM Thu 4 Mar 2010 GMT

'The Clipper fleet at the start of race 7 from Qingdao to San Francisco.' Clipper Ventures PLC &copy

Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 09-10 - Race 7 Qingdao to San Francisco Day 3 report.

It would be fair to say there's never a dull moment racing through the Yellow Sea. As they settle in to their on board routines at the start of this marathon leg across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, this morning's reports from the teams taking part in Clipper 09-10 are all similar in theme.

Edinburgh Inspiring Capital's skipper, Matt Pike, sums it up, saying, 'No sleep in the Yellow Sea. This is the place where nothing stays the same for long! It's been the coldest blackest night yet. The wind built and so we worked our way up through the sail wardrobe and pushed our way around endless tankers and container ships, before finally finding our way into a circle of fishing boats. By now the wind had subsided and veered west so it's heavy kite up and full speed to Sata Misaki light and into the Pacific. Full speed currently being 11 to 15 knots.'

Across the fleet the last day has been a busy and tiring one for the crews as they winds built, shifted and dropped again and again.

Peter Stirling, skipper of Jamaica Lightning Bolt, says, 'The last 24 hours have seen very varying weather conditions from 30 knots on the nose to 30 knots from behind and virtual calm in between. In the middle of the night we had a bit of a drama on the foredeck during a headsail change. After dropping the Yankee 2 we began hoisting the Yankee 3 but halfway through the hoist the Yankee 2 escaped and half of it disappeared over the side. It was a difficult situation but very well handled by the on watch. We hove to in order to recover the sail but during the process lost several miles to Cape Breton Island who had been just behind us. Not to worry as this morning we find ourselves sailing alongside Cape Breton Island and Spirit of Australia. A bit of d?j? vu with the three old adversaries reunited in battle again!'

They've got 5,600 miles to sort out their differences on this race to San Francisco and Jamaica Lightning Bolt's crew will be pleased to know they're not alone in experiencing a bit of sail trouble. After a fast overnight run that saw them appear alongside the leaders, the crew of Cape Breton Island have had some of their own, according to skipper, Jan Ridd.

'We all ran into a patch of light and variable winds which saw us all flounder a bit as we were experiencing the heavy sea state left over from the previous night's winds. Spirit of Australia, who were alongside us, were the first to dare to hoist a spinnaker and after a short time struggling to get it to fill we saw them power up and take the lead. We immediately hoisted our kite and enjoyed 20 minutes of 10+ knots sailing until we hit one freak wave coming towards us and, as the boat crashed over the top, the spinnaker collapsed and when it refilled quickly it ripped in two. So, with urgent calls of all hands on deck we managed to retrieve the bottom half from the water and lower the top half without any further damage. I was not on deck at the time but I was told it was a spectacular sight. More importantly Katharine, who looks after our wardrobe of sails, informs me it will be a straightforward repair. We immediately took the safer option of poling out our headsail and are currently on course for the southern tip of Japan doing a very healthy 10 knots.

'During the night the crew were experiencing an horrendous time on deck, continuously being soaked by the waves breaking on the deck and still in sub-zero temperatures,' says Jan.

It sounds like the end of a watch would be the perfect time for a warming dram of Benromach Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky but these boats are dry during the racing and they will have to wait to share tales of their adventures until they get to San Francisco.

Cape Breton Island's crew must be able to see Spirit of Australia off their starboard quarter - at the 0900 position update just one mile separates them. The Aussie crew have been flat out with sail changes, says the team's Brisbane-based skipper, Brendan Hall.

'We started out beating into the seas with our largest sails then, as the wind increased, we progressively changed them to the smallest ones. Then the wind eased again and we had a brief spell under spinnaker and now the wind is increasing again and we are making more changes.

'Each of these sail changes is a very laborious task, requiring eight people to lift, drag and manhandle the heavy, wet sails around the deck of the boat. After so many changes the crew are very tired, especially as many of them are seasick and unable to help with the work. We will grind on though, watch by watch, mile by mile, for as long as it takes,' he adds.

Sea sickness is always a problem at the start of a leg as new crew join the boats and even some of the round the world crew members who have spent the week ashore struggle to find their sea legs again.

It doesn't last much longer than the first three days (which probably feel like six for those affected) and Uniquely Singapore's crew are now beginning to get over it - just in time for the next challenge!

Skipper, Jim Dobie, explains: 'For those of you following our tracker you might have noticed some quite wild course changes and at one point heading back on ourselves. This was all courtesy of a huge fleet of fishing trawlers we encountered throughout the night and today, making it time for some very interesting collision-avoidance techniques - especially when my Mandarin and their English wasn't up to speed. Unfortunately a mysterious bug has gone around the boat making it very light on crew on deck so we had no choice but to play it very conservatively with our sails and had only the staysail and main up for most of the night. That being said new faces have arrived on deck today after getting past their sea sickness and we are nearly back up to full strength. We are now under poled out Yankee and main and finally making good speed and course towards the southern end of Japan.'

Fishing boats have also been hampering the progress of California, Hull & Humber and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital.

'We spent most of last night and this morning weaving our way through the Chinese and then the Korean fishing fleets,' reports California's skipper, Pete Rollason. 'Every time we thought we were clear another six or eight fishing boats would appear out of the mist. It cost us a couple of miles to the chasing yachts but I am sure they will have had similar problems. We are now flying along under full main and poled out Yankee 2 making good speed on a perfect course for the next waypoint at the southern end of Japan.'

'It's great to be sailing close with the rest of the fleet,' says Hull & Humber's skipper, Piers Dudin. 'We're ducking and diving in and out of fishing fleets, diverting tankers ploughing across our course. We're all set up on the south side of our first low pressure system and are trucking along nicely after a bumpy uphill ride overnight to get us here. The local systems certainly pack a punch and it's something we'll have to get used to. Looking after the sails and the crew will be the priority over the coming month.'

As well as the shifting wind and seasickness, Qingdao's crew have had another challenge to contend with. Chris Stanmore-Major, skipper of the Chinese entry, takes up the story...

'After running a different route than the rest of the fleet for two days today was the day to cash in our chips and pick up the favourable southerly winds which have been forecast for the past few days in this location at this time. Our positioning south of the fleet meant we were due to benefit first and, we hoped, provide the extra mileage necessary to push us to the front. Fate, it seems, was not of the same mind.

'At about 0400 this morning our steering gear became very heavy and it appeared that we probably had something wrapped around the rudder. We turned this way and that in an effort to free it and even sailed backwards for a while to try and shake ourselves loose. With no improvement it was starting to look like the only option was to heave to and put someone in the water to manually remove whatever was jamming the system. This was a course that I was very concerned about as the sea was still up, the visibility in the water nil, fog closing us in, shipping all around and the water temperature around 10 degrees Celsius.

'In an effort to confirm absolutely that it was definitely a wrap that needed clearing I had the crew steer with the secondary tiller gear for half an hour, backed up by our sticky but functional wheel, until they were slick then removed the steering cables to check what was causing the problem.

'Thankfully this showed that the issue was in the steering pedestal that houses the linkages between the steering wheel and the rudder, not under the boat. With crew manning the tiller operating on the running backstay winches and others performing a Yankee one to Yankee two headsail change, I set to and stripped the steering gear, managing to fix the problem in around two hours.

'The die had been cast though and the moment at which we had planned to spring our tactical trap passed us by with the steering wheel on the cockpit floor and the skipper up to his armpits in grease and bearings.

'The wind shifted we were unable to take the risk of steering a fully powered up boat downwind on the back-up steering gear and suddenly we were haring south instead of east. The Dragon Wagon sallies forth with nought but a little more southing in her course to show for it. Interestingly, as I write this the wind has strengthened and moved to an angle that favours our cause - could it be we have been given a second chance?'

Back in the Olympic Sailing Centre in Qingdao, the Clipper engineering team is making final preparations for the arrival of the replacement mast for Team Finland. The mast is now en route from Devon, UK, to Luxembourg, where the 90-foot structure will be transferred from the truck to a front-loading jumbo jet. The flight will take off for Beijing tomorrow. Once the mast has cleared Chinese customs it will be driven to Qingdao on the back of another truck, a journey that will take the best part of the day. A specialist rigging team is flying out to Qingdao this weekend to be ready to work on the mast with the Clipper team as soon as it arrives.

It is anticipated that Team Finland will be ready to depart for San Francisco by 14 March.

POSITIONS AT 1200 UTC, THURSDAY 4 MARCH 2010

1 Cape Breton Island DTF 5219
2 California DTF 5219 DTL +0
3 Spirit of Australia DTF 5221 DTL +2
4 Hull & Humber DTF 5226 DTL +7
5 Jamaica Lightning Bolt DTF 5226 DTL +7
6 Qingdao DTF 5239 DTL +20
7 Uniquely Singapore DTF 5239 DTL +20
8 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital DTF 5243 DTL +25
9 Team Finland DTF 5612 DTL +393
10 Cork Did not start

(DTF = Distance to Finish, DTL = Distance to Leader)
www.clipperroundtheworld.com .

by Clipper Ventures