South China Sea Square Dance
09:30, 21 April 2003

It’s all change as the boats make slow but steady progress down the Philippine coast. With the order changing at virtually every ‘sched’ the fleet’s advance resembles a mediaeval dance routine. Those in the middle move up to the front, or drop down to the back, the front drop back and the rear take the centre. Or perhaps square dancing would be a better comparison, as Glasgow certainly seems to have the edge this morning. Having dropped back to 4th over the course of yesterday they have once again taken the lead. Bristol have climbed back to second place whilst Jersey and Hong Kong have suffered to let them through. Liverpool and Cape Town are non movers whilst London and New York are having their own private battle to bring up the rear. The fact that NY Skipper Ross Daniel and London Skipper Rory Guillard have worked together for many years and maintain a deep sense of rivalry alongside their longstanding friendship will of course be having no effect at all…….

The sailing remains technically challenging. Sailing in light winds is a question of maintaining intense concentration. The heavier a boat the more it takes to get it moving, but once in motion it will build its own momentum. Keep the sails filled and the course straight and she will keep moving, loose it for a fraction and you have to start all over again. Even walking about the boat affects trim, so crew movement should be kept to a minimum; there is no room for elephants on board in these conditions. Luckily the crews will have little urge to scamper about the deck as the intense heat makes any movement seem like hard work.

It is a measure of the contrasts inherent in sailing that duty Skipper Richard Butler reports that they are currently making good speed in a force 3 from the north north west, at 4.6 knots the fastest for some time. Somewhat different to the high teens and early twenties they were used to in the pacific. At least the sea here is flat, so keeping the sails from collapsing is far less trying than in a full ocean swell. In fact there has been much debate as to the most successful sail configurations. Most boats have been flying their lightweight spinnakers, the obvious choice. However Bristol ran for a time with a poled out windseeker (like a very lightweight jib) and concluded that, although much smaller in area, it held its shape better in the really fluffy stuff.

If the wind arrows on the Race Office Raymarine Raytech software weather forecast are anything to go by there is more fluffy stuff ahead. These show the wind moving more to the north and fading to virtually nothing. Each ‘barb’ on the arrow roughly indicates 2 on the Beaufort scale, with half a barb showing force 1 or less. So we should see some slow days ahead, with lots of opportunities for position changes, serving to keep everyone on their toes.

Tim Hedges

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