Exactly one week ago in Marina at Keppel Bay,
Singapore, as the fleet prepared to leave for the gruelling race to
Qingdao,
Cape Breton Island’s skipper, Jan Ridd, explained the advice he had received from skippers in previous editions of the race. “They called it three weeks of
sailing,” he said. “Week one is not nice, the second week is worse and the third week is worse still.”
So, at the end of week one, after embarking on the challenge with a mixture of dread and excited anticipation, how have the crews fared?
The answer would seem to be, better than anticipated. In the last few days the fleet has benefitted from some unseasonal south south easterly winds and the yachts are making rapid progress towards
Taiwan.
Uniquely Singapore’s skipper, Jim Dobie, reports, “The last few days have been very pleasant sailing with not much activity apart from changing up and down between Yankee 1 and 2. The crew are well rested, fighting fit and, to be honest, looking forward to a little bit of action. ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ is all I'm saying but I'm secretly looking forward to a bit of rough weather as it’s the kind of sailing I like.”
We’ll remember to quote you on that in a few days’ time, Jim! The current benign conditions look set to change once the yachts pass to the east of Taiwan.
He continues “Our attention is now being drawn to the weather ahead of us, with a mixture of potentially light winds and some frontal movement coming through we are now looking at where we need to place ourselves to make the best use of the angle and wind strength.”
Uniquely Singapore may be able to pick up some of the points on offer at the Scoring Gate at the expense of Cape Breton Island and Hull & Humber, who may well find a patch of light air slowing their progress. And Jan’s not happy about that...
“Not such a great 24 hours on the Big Blue Canoe,” he writes this morning. “First we have been in a close battle with Hull & Humber for the past few days and they’ve been trying several different tactics to pass us. Yesterday saw them bear away significantly, therefore sailing faster, and this placed them eight miles downwind of us, a few miles ahead. Our windward advantage was greater than their lead but then the wind shifted significantly allowing them to make up the distance to windward with no significant loss of speed. That now puts us in the unpleasant situation of looking at their stern four miles ahead. We are now sailing the same course and whatever we try with sail trim, we cannot match their boat speed. It’s frustrating seeing them slowly pull away.
“Secondly we received a new set of weather files yesterday which shows a developing area of very light winds south of Taiwan. Unfortunately the timing is such that both we and Hull & Humber can do little to avoid it, which will allow the fleet behind us to make up all the mileage we have worked so hard to pull out on them over the past week. We could lose up to 70 miles which will bring the whole fleet back together again.”
Such are the trials of ocean racing.
On board Hull & Humber they’re getting ready for the shift in the conditions and playing their tactical plans close to their chest. Piers Dudin, skipper of the English boat, says, “We’re sailing a hot angle, our game plan is set for the next few days and we hope it works out. We’re slowly driving on ahead of Cape Breton Island. The pace of the fleet has been full on over the past few days and we’ve had some of the best sailing of the whole race so far.
“Preparations for next week continue; re-stowing the galley, checking the companionway storm covers, everyone checking their kit. So far it has all been number crunching; apparent wind angles, headings and bearings to waypoints, but is likely to become a flurry of sail changes and battening down the hatches as we step into variable
latitudes over the next few days. Tactics are still all important: the current is favourable to the east, do we sail the shortest straight line to the gate or go round to the west with possibly more wind? Who knows?”
We do know there is one team on a mission, named after the fastest man on the planet and closing in on the Scoring Gate with a point to prove.
Skipper of Jamaica Lighting Bolt, Pete Stirling, says, “Crew concentration levels are at an all time high with excellent helming and constant attention being paid to sail trim. As yet we have had no scoring gate points on any of the legs and we feel we are well overdue some.
“On the overall points table Hull & Humber and Cape Breton Island are only three points behind us so it is imperative to do well in this race to keep them at bay and maintain our overall third place position. The other reason to maintain maximum speed is because in several days time the weather is set to change to the south and east of Taiwan. At the moment the conditions are looking very favourable but the wind will back round to the north east and increase to 25 knots. We will inevitably get these conditions but it would be nice to get as far as possible before we run into them.”
Qingdao’s
Hong Kong-based skipper, Chris Stanmore-Major, is no stranger to these waters and knows it’s only a matter of time until they do.
“The anticipation grows as we climb higher towards Taiwan and still no raging winds or mountainous seas – simply a gentle breeze, clear skies and a rolling swell from the north east. Having previously traversed this stretch of water many times when I worked in Hong Kong I am not about to be suckered in by this coy attempt by the
South China Sea to try to make friends with us,” he says. “I know if we relax our guard it will surely take the opportunity to turn on us and prove itself worthy of its reputation as one of the roughest stretches of water on the planet.
“Therefore with our breath held, like burglars stealing past a sleeping watchdog, we gently, gently tip-toe north east, hoping against hope we might be the lucky ones everyone will talk about in years to come and say, 'Oh they had it easy, it was flat calm'.
“I look again at the digital weather files, ahead to the morning of the 12th where a boiling, seething mass of pressure begins flooding down the
Taiwan Strait towards us and I know with certainty this watchdog is sleeping with one eye open.”
In the meantime, armed with the latest weather information and aware of the developing area of lighter winds near Taiwan, the teams are trying to position themselves to capitalise on any advantage they have.
“After a decisive move away from Team Finland we have repositioned ourselves further towards the middle of the fleet, which we are confident will work in our favour as the fleet compresses with the light conditions ahead,” says Spirit of
Australia’s skipper, Brendan Hall.
“Just over six hundred miles to get to Taiwan and the Scoring Gate,” says his counterpart on Team Finland, Rob McInally, “And potentially there could be another convergence of the fleet as we get closer. The weather systems that are providing the exciting conditions from Taiwan up to Qingdao are, as ever, quite volatile and would seem at the moment to be revving up for action. How this will affect us exactly is still unclear and it is all about getting to the gate at the moment.”
Another team has come to join Spirit of Australia and Team Finland’s party as California keeps pace with them. The American crew’s full focus is back on racing after dealing with a water maker problem and their more northerly track perhaps offers the chance to make up some ground on the front runners.
Skipper Pete Rollason explains, “It has been a very interesting last couple of days on board California. The temperatures, although having cooled slightly are still extremely hot below decks. Add to this a failure in our water maker and having to put the crew on water rations and the mood on board took a minor tumble for a while, especially as we had slipped back against our competitors.
“We are now making good speed under full main, Yankee 1 and staysail towards the scoring gate and we are planning on keeping a slightly more northerly track than the rest of the fleet as this will mean we should avoid the lighter patch of wind that is forecast on their track in the next 24 to 36 hours.
“We are hoping that this will enable us to claw back some miles. The crew are focused on the task and know that there is still a long way to go in this race and we are still chasing hard for a podium finish. Two days of hard work has finally paid off in respect of the water maker, fitting parts of our bodies into all manner of little spaces to check pipes, valves and pumps and the water maker is fully operational again.”
Also hoping to take advantage of the latest weather forecast is the Scottish yacht.
Edinburgh Inspiring Capital’s skipper, Matt Pike, promises, “Slowly we will wind them in! Every plan has a down bit and this is the low point of ours. But we, and the wind willing, will start our climb back up the fleet and on to the Scoring Gate. Where the eastern boats have had better wind for the last two days it will now get lighter, but for us it should continue for a further 24 hours.
“In the meantime we are surrounded by thousands of tonnes of steel plying their trade up and down the South China Sea. They have all been extremely courteous, altering course for us and often staying on VHF for a chat about the race. One even altered course and took a long detour around us to leeward rather than block our wind!”
Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, Cape Breton Island and California have all been handed a 60-minute time penalty by the Race Committee following an infringement of the Sailing Instructions at the start of Race 6 last Tuesday.
All three boats entered the Singapore TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme) and the penalty is consistent with those handed down for similar breaches of the Sailing Instructions in Race 1. It will apply to the teams’ overall finish time.
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