Clipper Race: Poking the red dragon

Published on November 21st, 2019

(November 21, 2019; Day 4) – The chase is on as the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race progresses toward Australia with currently less than three nautical miles between scoreboard leader Qingdao and race leader Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam, which is hoping to make a difference to the overall ranking in Fremantle by doubling its race points using its joker.

“I feel we have poked the angry red dragon, Qingdao, and now I can feel them breathing down our necks!” said Josh Stickland, Skipper of Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam, following a tough, cold dark night for the fleet.

“The sailing has been tough,” shared Qingdao’s Skipper Chris Brooks. “The crew are in good spirits and we have pulled back towards the front. This region bites back hard and it’s given us a pasting with big waves and huge winds.”

A common theme throughout the majority of the fleet, is the wrestling of the sails, known within the teams as ‘kitemares’. It’s a learning curve for all as they put training into practice in the vast ocean, with its legendary unpredictability, and none more so than for those who joined their teams in Cape Town.

On board WTC Logistics, 21 year old AQP Dan Jones shares his experience of their kitemares when the halyard got caught around the mast: “Let’s just say there was a large “I told you so”, followed by “no worries, let’s throw Dan up there”, so, up I went and all was sorted, the kite flew beautifully for the rest of the day. This kite gained us some good well-earned miles on our closest competitors.”

Whilst the teams have got their work cut out with hard sail changes, reports across the board show spirits are high and it appears the bout of seasickness has subsided, giving the teams a fully functioning crew.

On board Imagine your Korea, which has slipped to sixth place, Skipper Dan Smith reports: “After a decent 24 hour spell, it is the first successful hoist and drop we have achieved with the spinnaker not getting damaged, so we are in a better place now.

“The drop went well with the wind building soon afterwards, making sailing under the Yankee fast, wet and exciting. The crew all have big smiles, this is what they came here for!”

Meanwhile, eighth-placed Unicef Skipper, Ian Wiggin reports: “Yesterday was a bit of a tough day for us, as we rather fell out the back of the first wind system and found ourselves for most of the morning battling gusts of up to 5 knots.

“It did get a bit windier in the afternoon, but it’s painful watching other boats, that managed to stay in the breeze, make some major gains. The wind has filled back in, and we are now making good speed towards Fremantle. Hopefully it will fill in further and we will be able to make back some ground.”

The 11 teams have about 4,000 nautical miles of racing ahead through the Indian Ocean toward the finish in Fremantle, Australia.

The 11 teams set off on November 17 for the Leg 3/Race 4 of the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race, which takes the fleet 4750nm from Cape Town, South Africa to Fremantle, Australia. The majority of the fleet is due to arrive in Cape Town between December 9 and 14.

Race details – Skipper list – Race route – Tracker – Facebook

About the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race:
The Clipper Race was established in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world in 1968-69. His aim was to allow anyone, regardless of previous sailing experience, the chance to embrace the thrill of ocean racing; it is the only event of its kind for amateur sailors.

Held biennially, the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race gets underway September 1 for the fleet of eleven identical Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s. This 12th edition has attracted 688 crew representing 43 nationalities for the 41,000+ nm course. The race finishes on August 8.

The course is divided into 8 legs and 15 individual races, with some of the crew in for the entire circumnavigation while others will do individual legs. The team having the best cumulative score over the entire course will win the Clipper Race Trophy.

The Clipper 2019-20 Race Route:
The fleet departs from London, UK to Portimão, Portugal; across the Atlantic to Punta del Este, Uruguay; the South Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa; across the Southern Ocean’s Roaring Forties to Fremantle, Western Australia; around to the Whitsundays on the east coast of Australia, back into the Northern Hemisphere to China where teams will race to Qingdao, via Sanya and Zhuhai; across the mighty North Pacific to Seattle, USA; to New York via the famous Panama Canal; to Bermuda and then it’s a final Atlantic crossing to Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland; before arriving back to London as fully proven ocean racers.