Sunshine boys back in it
08:55, 27 February 2003
by Colin de Mowbray

Whoever wrote this plot knew how to keep our attention. Three days ago Bristol and Jersey in the south were stopped and looked in a hopeless position. Then they sprinted and everyone got excited but is was short lived and once again Simon Rowell in Jersey was having to invent some fairly imaginative reasons for their lack of progress to the Jersey Committee.

Today, the two sunshine boys have got their skates on again and have both done over 110 miles in the last 12 hours, with Bristol gaining a massive 45 miles on the leader in this period. These two are now 400 miles south of Rory Gillard and his crew in London who have been crashing to windward in winds gusting up to 40 knots. The weather front however has passed through as the depression heads off to the NE and Glasgow is once again reporting light winds and 12 hour runs right down around 60 miles. As the wind drops the sharks have appeared and started circulating round Glasgow looking hungry and mean. Little do they know that their hunger pains are also being felt onboard where the Weetabix have run out. Skipper Rupert is unsympathetic: 'Damn baby mulch. They should all be eating porridge anyway'.

Despite the frustration the boats are getting closer to the finish in Japan. London now only has under 1200 miles to run and is followed by the posse of three, Glasgow, Liverpool and New York. Yet again Scousers and the Scots seem inseparable and are less than 2 miles apart on a distance to go basis. If they run true to form they will end up match racing alongside each other again. New York's charge up from the south has paid off and Sam Fuller and her crew are now holding 5th place and chasing these two. What a great effort to come back from their shaky position a week ago.

Hong Kong, never one to stay with the pack, has moved off to the south and look as though they are taking the middle ground between the two groups. Cape Town also sees merit in this tactic and will be hoping that they keep going while those to the north spend time drifting in an adverse current.

Where is the smart money going? I have no idea because once again we are going to see some interesting changes in the weather which is going to play a major fact in determining this race. I recommend the Jersey Website http://www.jerseyclipper.com/news. which has some excellent weather predictions. Please remember, absolutely NO remarks about weather or routing can be passed to the yachts as this is against the rules and will result in a penalty being awarded. For lateral thinking supporters, do not even think about sending weather reports to all the other seven boats in the hope that they will all be penalised!

Lastly as I write this from Liverpool, I have been immensely impressed by the depth of support and the keen following for all the boats. I have passed this on to the yachts as this means a great deal to them, especially on a hard and long race like this. When the crews arrive in Japan they will have the satisfaction of knowing that the only other sailors they will meet, for the rest of their lives, who have raced from Hawaii to Japan will also be very special people, namely Clipper crews - it is not a route for normal people!

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