Clipper 2002/2003 Race - Modern technology is a wonderful thing
10:30, 14 July 2003
by Tim Hedges

Modern technology is a wonderful thing. With it we can do things unthought of only a few years ago. We can send emails to boats in mid ocean, and if that is not enough we can even pick up the phone. Most of the time. The system that the boats use for their day to day communications does not have total worldwide coverage. It's pretty good, but in a couple of places in mid ocean there are short gaps, and the boats are in one at the moment. They have a secondary system that does give total coverage, but if the skippers aren't completely on top of the communication system on an hourly basis, they can potentially miss the point when they do go out range on the first system. What has been happening over the last few days is that the duty skippers have been sending messages in the usual fashion, only to be surprised to find the message still in their outbox several hours later.

What has compounded the situation recently is the weather. The frequent and destructive squalls have ensured that the skippers are kept permanently on their toes, worrying about keeping sails and crew intact, and have less time to spend on the niceties of IT. The good thing is that, possibly unlike the weather, the satellite gap only lasts for a few hundred miles, so the position reports will be able to get back to normal in a day or so.

Looking at the positions from yesterday afternoon, the round of squally weather seems to be opening things up at both ends of the fleet. At one point happy to avoid a position mid fleet, Bristol now have their sights firmly on first place. New York are maintaining their overall lead, but a margin of 53 miles is currently not seeming that great. This will be bad news for Jersey, who risk relegation to second overall if Bristol beat them by too many places. A first for Bristol would be their worst-case scenario, especially from the back of the fleet. But the Jersey crew have surprised us before, and may do so again. With Liverpool now only 6 miles ahead of them, a climb up the fleet is certainly possible.

It is interesting to s the change in tactics over the last few days. Cape Town remains on a northern trajectory, despite being nearly on the same latitude as Salvador. New York has levelled out and is now almost due west of the rest of the fleet, effectively sitting between the finish and their competitors, whilst Glasgow, Hong Kong and Liverpool seem to now be the ones chasing Cape Town to the north. This may be the opening Jersey needs. There is little point just following the others, so a break to the west could be their favoured option. If anything the break in communications is serving to heighten the tension to see what happens next.

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