Race to Cape Town slows down for Cape Breton Clipper

It's a case of déjà vu for some of the teams competing in Clipper 09-10. The winds have lightened up across the fleet and dropped some of the yachts into wind holes reminiscent of those that gave them so much trouble in the Doldrums.

Race Director Joff Bailey says, "Generally the teams that are further south have slightly stronger winds, which is shown with their boat speeds, and these winds should increase over the next 24 to 48 hours. This will have the effect of compressing the fleet but will it be enough for the likes of Hull & Humber who are furthest south to catch the front runners before the scoring gate which is only about 600nm away? Or will it be too little, too late? Only time will tell."

Most frustrated by the light winds is Cape Breton Island, who hedged their bets on a course through the middle of the fleet.

"We're in danger of getting a parking ticket as have run in to a very light patch of wind," reports skipper, Jan Ridd. "Yesterday afternoon and evening we were working hard trying to keep the boat moving and keep some south in our heading which was not easy as that meant losing all apparent wind. We tried many different sail combinations but in the end it was to no avail as last night the fog rolled in and the true wind dropped below 2 knots from the north. So we packed away the lightweight kite and were about to resign ourselves to hoisting the windseeker and settling to move in any direction we could when some instinct told me to hoist the number one Yankee instead and, within minutes of hoisting, we were sailing again with 13 knots of true wind and heading south east again. We're looking forward to getting further south and hopefully getting into some stronger winds and doing some surfing."

The Cape Breton Clipper had been on a more southerly course directly out of Rio and getting stronger winds, but that course also came with a very “lumpy” sea that took its tool on the crew with a number of them suffering from seasickness.

Skipper Jan said, "After a couple of days of bouncing around and falling into some large potholes that suddenly appear in the sea, we have sailed into some lighter winds. It's created mixed feelings; on one side I am frustrated that the boat speed is down but, on the plus side it is giving the crew that were feeling seasick a very welcome break, allowing them to eat some food and get some much needed calories inside them, which was starting to concern me.”

The fleet is racing toward a scoring gate that will provide valuable points on the way to Cape Town.

You can follow the race positions here.