How|s Your Blood Pressure

With just over six hundred miles to run to the Channel Island of Jersey, Race 15 of the Clipper 2002 series looks set to keep us on tenterhooks until the bitter end.

Last night saw Bristol Clipper sneak into the lead once more, but this morning, Simon Rowell and his Jersey team have clawed back the lost 4 miles and are just a mile ahead. “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” contemplated Bristol skipper Binks.

Continuing to make good progress towards our green and pleasant land, the Clipper fleet have covered just shy of 200 miles in the last 24 hours. Liverpool Clipper retains their all-important third place and running down the leaderboard, the fleet positions remain unchanged.

As we can see from today’s position chart on the event website at the address below, Liverpool and Bristol have sold their soles to the Northerly route and the North/South divide has become more pronounced.

The Southerly pack of consisting of Cape Town, Glasgow, Hong Kong and New York have perhaps held onto more wind as they have tightened the gap slightly on the frontrunners and once again achieved some of the highest runs of the fleet.

Joining the boys in the South, Jersey Clipper has made more of a southerly course and looks committed to that route. Sailing with North / North Westerly winds varying from 8 to 15 knots, skipper Simon reported that they have the spinnaker pole right forward and are shy reaching with their medium weight spinnaker up.

With reports still flooding in of plentiful phosphorescence and the company of pilot whales, even if they have slowed down a little, the sailing is still great out there.

With the heavy winds of the past week abating somewhat, it is with great interest that the crew are listening out for news of Hurricane Isabel, currently whipping herself up the Eastern seaboard of the States. For now, perhaps the fleet should be happy with their 15 knots!

Clipper 2002 – Race 15 Positions

19/09/2003 03:00:00