Three Hours Between Front Three

by Colin de Mowbray

It's all about perception. Only four weeks ago the Clipper yachts were threading their way through light winds to the Galapagos Islands and sometimes only managing as little as 70 miles in a frustrating 24 hour period. Since the start of the Ko Olina Cup Race 16 days ago they have routinely clocked up 220 -240 miles every day, with the exception of the short period when they crossed the ITCZ. Today's reports state that the wind has dropped and they have slowed but still they have all put in runs between 210 and 220 miles - so they are not hanging around too much!

With Jersey a mere 935 miles from the finish, will the good times continue? The web has masses of weather information on this area and the whole of Sunday can be spent with one's nose to the screen rather than the more traditional pastimes of going to church and washing the car. At present there is a weak cold front over Hawaii (all things are relative) and this has brought light winds around the islands. The winds will however be picking up from the south as the fleet arrives and so, although they may slow, they should still keep a reasonable breeze. The next front will be over the islands on Wednesday, and only after that front is replaced by the traditional high will the islands get back to their regular trade winds.

Bristol's southerly position has paid off and she has taken second place from London but less than 23 miles separates the front three boats. Interestingly Glasgow in the North had the best run followed closely by New York. It would be easy to think that, as the wind lightens, the advantage would be in the south but I do not feel brave enough this morning to declare where I would like to be for the final shoot out.

There is everything to play for as the approach to the finishing line at Ko Olina means that some of the boats may be tempted to use the different channels through the islands either to reduce the distance or try and get better winds. The influence of the islands on the local winds can be very great and also changes throughout the day. Gaining or losing three hours on the run-in is chicken feed. In 1997 as Mervyn Wheatley in Thermopylae (now Hong Kong) approached within 3 miles of the line at sunset he was met by a large motor boat with lots of joyous group of well wishers. The next morning he still had 2 miles to run and it was a lot of very tired and humourless supporters who finally saw him over the line at 10 AM.

News from the fleet continues to be well presented in the diaries and I recommend that whichever boat you are following you look at these to get a feel for life on board. It appears we have had our first knock down by a flying fish that head butted Nicola Reading. Nicola has recovered but we are not too sure about the fish.

All this wise talk and not a mention of when they will actually cross the line at Ko Olina! Well it looks certain to be well before their due date of Sunday 2 Feb. Maybe the first one will get there by Thursday 30th, anyway it looks more like a January finish rather than a February one.

Source: Official Site