The Times Clipper
2000 Round The World Yacht Race
Singapore to Mauritius
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The
Times Clipper 2000 Fracas at Prize giving Reception It is Friday afternoon in Singapore and the eight yachts of the Clipper fleet are about to leave Raffles marina after a hectic stay. The visit has seen a fair amount of rectification work on the boats, primarily on Plymouth where several of the electronic components had to be replaced as a result of lightening damage. In addition the generators of several of the yachts have been adjusted to ensure they are reliable for the next three week race. A reflection of this short
visit The Sunday night Prize Giving in the vast ballroom was a great event and the highlight was the new Clipper Boy Band’s (CBB) performance. Rather distressingly during this performance there was an ugly scene as several female Boy Band Groupies leapt over the security barrier and rushed forward throwing items of underwear at the band. Subsequent security film has identified some of the culprits as being members of two Clippers which, I feel at the moment, it may be best not to name. Several of the crew felt that the visit presented an ideal opportunity to get away from everyone else and went off to one of the beautiful neighbouring islands to veg out. Unfortunately they all seemed to go to Bin Tan and completely failed in their objective as they all met in the island’s one bar. The next race will start just south of the Sunda Straits some 500 miles south of Singapore. The yachts will be leaving Raffles Marina later today to start their journey south. Yet again the Clipper fleet have enjoyed
wonderful hospitality and have made many new friends. Singapore is a remarkable
country and this has been memorable visit Return to AsianYachting News and Views |
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The
Times Clipper 2000 CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY TO THE CLIPPER FLEET The Times Clipper 2000 fleet have been having an interesting time as they pop out of the Sunda Straits into the Indian Ocean. Having successfully made the transit south from Singapore, the next stage was to find the wind and start Race 11 to Mauritius. This still remains the aim, but the crew aboard Bristol Clipper, skippered by Bob Beggs, are having a mechanical nightmare as their main engine has now developed a problem with the injector pump. This comes as a double whammy, as Bristol's generator has also failed leaving no means of making electricity or water. The fleet have therefore been instructed to head south to Christmas Island, which is approximately 180 miles south of their present position. This small isolated island is an Australian dependency and has a good harbour where the boats will raft up and excellent facilities such as fuel and some technical experience that it is hoped will be able to help sort out Bristol Clipper's engine problem. The plan therefore is for all eight boats to stay together and arrive at the harbour at first light, local time, on Friday 11th May. Where does this leave Race 11 and the arrival
date in Mauritius? It is hoped that the eight boats will start their race
on Saturday 12 May and get to Mauritius on Sunday 27 May, a day later
than initially planned. This obviously will depend on how quickly the
repairs are carried out to Bristol Clipper but the good news is that Christmas
Island is 10' south and just on the top of the Trade Wind belt, so the
yachts can expect a fast passage when they depart. The official race website www.clipper-ventures.com also contains daily updates of the boats' progress on each leg of their marathon voyage and offers race fans a direct link to http://www.ladbrokes.com/lbr_portal enabling visitors to put their yachting knowledge or support for their favourite boat to profitable use. Return to AsianYachting News and Views |