What day is it anyway?
10:30, 30 January 2003
by Tim Hedges

The wind has now settled back into the east and is blowing a steady 15 to 20 knots, but for most of last night it was a completely different story. As the forecast predicted virtually all the boats experienced squally conditions with frequent showers, and for several hours were forced to sail close hauled into a south westerly, a situation reflected in today’s lower mileages. Jersey still clings to the lead but only just with Bristol just a mile further back, but the real winner from this particular hand has been Adam Kyffin and the crew of Liverpool. A strong third for several days now, Liverpool have nonetheless been continually looking over their shoulder towards London who remained just a few miles behind, doggedly determined to regain their initial podium spot. Today though they can look solidly forward. The highest run of the fleet has put Adam and his crew within 11 miles of Bristol whilst London has lost nearly 20 miles on the leader.

Hong Kong and Glasgow remain joined at the hip, but Rupert Parkhouse and the Glasgow crew retain the upper hand just over 6 miles to the north west of Hong Kong. They will be out of visual contact at deck level, but with radar or a sharp eyed crew member up the mast keeping tabs on the others actions they are likely to continue to shadow each other in an exciting race to the finish. After the drama of their man overboard Cape Town are back up and running and despite a lower days run have their sights well and truly fixed on the finish line as they aim for the island of Oahu whilst further back Sam Fuller and the New York crew are wishing that the boats ahead would run out of wind for at least 24 hours. The consolation for them is that though it is now unlikely they will avoid an 8th place finish, the party will be in full swing by the time they get there!

Potentially one of the most exciting developments in today’s positions is the track that Jersey seem to be taking through the islands. Unless they gybe north which looks unlikely they will pass through the Alenuihaha channel between The Big Island of Hawaii and Maui, whilst the rest of the fleet look set to outside route to Oahu. Hawaii is 10 hours behind the UK so in a sense have an extra 10 hours to get in on a particular day. The confusing thing about time zones is that whilst for us the lead boats look likely to get in tomorrow, there is an outside chance that it will still be tonight in Hawaii. However the wind can often die at night, especially in the lee of the islands, so an evening finish can often be a very long drawn out affair. The local conditions around the islands will have a huge impact and as Duty Skipper Richard Butler puts it, “the next scheds (position reports) will be very interesting indeed!”

Source: Clipper 2002/2003 Round The World Race Official Site