Builder: American Mariner Industries
Designer: Arthur S. Henry
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Clipper fleet sets sail on Race 13
Author: MHL Press
Farewell to the Fairest Cape
The 8 Clipper yachts got safely away from Cape Town after a magnificent start with Table Mountain making the ideal backdrop. In every sense this has been one of the most successful stop over ports yet. The hosting by the Royal Cape Yacht Club set the pattern for the visit and all the crew members have managed to see much of the surrounding countryside as well as having a well earned break.
It was still dark as the crews prepared their yachts this morning but slowly the most beautiful dawn broke. Final preparations and testing of the various new system had been successfully completed and the fleet left on time for the start off Green Point, just to the west of the harbour entrance.
At 0830 the fine 75 foot yacht Panther glided out to act as the Committee Boat with a staff from the Royal Cape Yacht Club. The locals described it as one of the coldest days of the winter while the Clipper crews, dressed in shirtsleeves, hats and dark glasses, proclaimed it to be like the best sort of summer day at home. The wind was very light and fluky but at 1030 the starting gun was fired and the fleet was off.
Jersey Clipper was first to edge slowly over the line and it looked as though Bristol Clipper would follow her but Bob Beggs then ordered his light weight spinnaker to be hoisted which then caused them to bear right away and into a very calm area. Jersey Clipper with her No1 yankee and staysail had some good way on and pulled out an early lead on a more windward heading.
Liverpool Clipper ended up being second across the line closely followed by London Clipper. Plymouth Clipper was some way further back but had good boat speed in the light conditions and creamed passed everyone to cross fourth, also ahead of Bristol. Glasgow, Portsmouth and Leeds followed and all boats did well to ghost across within 8 minutes of the starting gun and not get well and truly stuck. Serica (now Bristol) took several hours to cross the line in the first Clipper race.
The boats that pointed more to windward and towards Robben Island were first to get the incoming breeze and after 45 minutes the fleet was split by an amazing 3 miles. Jersey Clipper was calling the shots but Liverpool and Plymouth were also showing good pace. The chasing pack of 5 were not happy at this early split and several of them had decided that their future lay in hoisting spinnakers and bearing away more to the west.
The wind is set to fill in and will be the governing factor to their progress. It is forecast to go to the NW and give the crews a hard beat as they make their way up the coast. I suspect many of the skippers will attempt to stay fairly close inshore and try and benefit from the Benguela Current but at present all they need is a steady wind to get them out to sea.
The order as they sailed over the horizon towards Brazil was:
More Information:
- YachtsandYachting.com Clipper 2000 Round the World Yacht Race Page
- www.clipper-ventures.com
See also: DEHLER 39 for sale
