Nearing Rodriguez
09:56, 26 May 2003
by Sarah Beaugeard

The 1500 positions yesterday revealed a change in tactics and course from some of the Clipper Fleet. Jersey Clipper turned North to join the fleet and Hong Kong Clipper turned North away from the pack and taking Londons crown as most Northern boat. London meanwhile has continued their fight for seventh place and has swapped slots on the leader board once more.

Reports from the fleet remain brief as they are still out of satellite range on this part of the race. News from Justin Taylor this morning is that the squally nights are continuing in the rather overcast Indian Ocean. Wind conditions have lightened slightly in between these squalls and at 0300 they were sailing in 10 knots of breeze coming from the North East in calm seas. This of course explains why Hong Kong and Jersey have dashed to the North, as they capitalise from the current wind conditions even though it appears that they sacrificed a few miles to do this. Cape Town will be enjoying the fact that Jersey now appears to have slipped behind them as they take the position as Southern boat in the fleet. What they perhaps haven’t realised is that Simon has had his fingers burnt in this part of the world before and as Skipper of Leeds Clipper in the 2000 race, he was caught in a wind hole that cost him many miles as he stayed South too long. Fingers crossed that this does not happen to the South Africans as they have had a great race mid fleet so far.

Adam and his crew onboard Liverpool Clipper continue to hold off the competition. However Bristol Clipper have climbed up the table again and are now in second place once more having gained over 3 miles on Liverpool.. Their tussle with New York has continued to provide the crews with some exiting and exhausting sailing. Constant trimming and sail changes over the last 12 hours have seemingly paid off however. It will be an interesting and hard working 600 miles to Port Louis for the top three teams as they will not want to be trading places on the leader board too often as they approach finish line.

As we can see from the overall position chart, having separated out slightly the fleet, watching the miles tick by, are now approaching an area of much shallower water near the small island of Rodriguez. This island belonging to Mauritius, is a dramatic volcanic island 10 miles long it is the top of a sea mount. It rises to nearly 400 meters above the sea which is over 4000 metres deep in the Ocean trench to the South. Depending on the wind this could make the water a lot choppier. It will also offer the crews more of a wildlife show as the sudden up welling of water offers a plethora of plankton for fish and dolphins to feed on.

Back in the world of British Bank Holidays, Race Director is today flying out to Mauritius and as soon as we have his contact details at the Labourdonnais Hotel we will publish them on the website. Families and friends visiting the fleet in Mauritius are recommended to make contact with Colin and the other race staff either before they leave or once they have arrived in tropical paradise. We look forward to meeting with many of you on what could be one of our busiest family and friends stopovers to date. We will of course continue to publish race positions on the website and ETA’s for the fleet as they make their final and thrilling approach to the Island.

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