Jersey jumpers take second place
09:40, 15 June 2003
by Colin de Mowbray

After an amazing turn of fortunes Jersey has taken second place. Up to now their standing on this race has not been good and on 10 June they were in seventh place and trailing the leader by nearly 100 miles. After a fight back this was reduced to just over 50 miles before a second setback put them at 112 miles adrift just 36 hours ago. By keeping north and, as far away from the High Pressure area as possible, they have put in three excellent schedules and have Jersey creamed the others to take second place 47 miles behind the race leader Bristol.

Richard Butler in the leading Bristol boat took the middle ground hoping that he would not loose the wind but they have very slow period and are still searching for wind some 43 miles to the south of Jersey's track. Adam Kyffin and the crew of Liverpool are having the most frustrating time of all the fleet. Their policy of taking the direct line is looking somewhat shaky and they have suffered most by getting too near the high. They have now let both Jersey and New York sneak through to the north and as the most southerly boat will be worried about Cape Town, Glasgow and London all bunched up to the north and within 7 miles on a DTG basis.

Hong Kong, true to their 'never say die' policy have put in the second best run after Jersey and have taken 43 miles out of their deficit over the last 24 hours. They have achieved this by keeping north, but not quite as much as Jersey.

Glasgow and London appear to have joined forces and are sailing alongside each other chasing Cape Town which is a mere 7 miles ahead. Only 17 miles now separates the six yachts in the middle but their different latitudes will bring about very different fortunes for them over the next 12 hours.

Jersey's great run has been due to a distinct demarcation in the wind which can bee seen by the Qickscat chart shown above (top chart). The arrows here give the actual surface wind within the last hour or two. The windless corridor between the N - NE winds and the approaching NWers is easy to see as is the progressive lack of wind near the centre of the High. I expect the wind to fill in progressively now and the boats should have some good sailing ahead for the next few days. The intense Low to the south will move to the East and the one to watch is just getting ready well to the west of the Cape and so we will not worry about that for a while…

Back at Home!
The great Mersey River Festival is taking place this weekend. Reports are that this year it has been better than ever and with the good weather forecast anyone in the area might take off and enjoy this fun day out. One of the main purposes of the River Festival is to illustrate the change of attitude to the River Mersey. Liverpool owes its existence to the Mersey but it has always been looked upon as an asset to facilitate the shipping and commercial needs of the city. That has all changed and with the vastly different requirements for today's shipping many of the wonderful old docks and associated building are no longer are used for their original purpose. The Mersey is one of the backbones of the new policy in rejuvenating the city and, for possibly the first time, it is looked upon as a great asset for the area in a much wider context. Liverpool's successful European City of Culture bid for 2008 will ceratinly generate even more interest in releasing the potential of this famous river.

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