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Seventh place into Santa Cruz for Liverpool 08
Report and
photo with thanks to Clipper Ventures Ltd.
THE Clipper, Liverpool 08,
crossed the finish line on 17 April 2008 at 05:07 local (12:07GMT)
to take seventh place in Race 8 from Hawaii. A drop in wind strength
in the last few hours of the race had the Liverpool team fighting to
keep the boat moving in order to cross the line. Victory in Race 8
was claimed by Uniquely Singapore who overtook race leaders Nova
Scotia during a nail biting light finish in light airs on the
morning of 18 April 2008.
Skipper of Liverpool 08, Ben Galloway said:- “This race was a
total contrast to the last one, this was upwind, upwind, upwind! My
birthday on the eleventh (April) was the best days sailing we had,
we managed to get the kite up for all of 24 hours, which was great.
We also managed to have a little dance-off with Jamaica as well, but
other than that we didn’t see many boats on the way across.
Whilst seventh isn’t a great result for us, it was an upwind race
and we definitely perform better downwind on Liverpool 08. The next
race to Panama should be downwind the whole way and so we’ll be
focusing our attention on moving back up the leaderboard.”
Whilst Nova Scotia and Uniquely Singapore benefited from more
favourable wind angles by making a tactical decision to head north,
the teams to the south of them were hampered by a mixture of strong
headwinds and light airs.
Liverpool 08’s arrival into Santa Cruz marked the end of a
circumnavigation for Rainhill resident Andy Perry. Having originally
started her circumnavigation onboard Liverpool 08 in the Clipper
05-06 Race, Andy returned to the Clipper Race to complete the Leg
she missed out on due to an illness picked up during the Philippines
stopover. Andy said:- “It feels fantastic to be in Santa Cruz
and to have completed that illusive Leg 5. I have always wanted to
tick that box and say that I had sailed that very tough Northern
Pacific like the rest of my crew members on the Clipper 05-06 Race.
I’m so happy and satisfied that I’ve done it and that I’m here in
California.”
Seven of the Clipper fleet are now alongside in Santa Cruz Harbour
with Qingdao expected before the weekend. Durban 2010 and Beyond and
westernaustralia2011.com will complete the fleet by arriving in
Santa Cruz early next week. The two southern hemisphere teams were
delayed leaving Hawaii due to essential mast refit work as a result
the dramatic dismasting of both yachts during Race 7 from Qingdao,
China.
Clipper 07-08 is the sixth edition of the biennial Clipper Race and
the Santa Cruz stopover marks the first time the race has visited a
port on the west coast of the United States. During the teams’ short
visit the fleet is being hosted by the Santa Cruz Yacht Club who
will also host the prizegiving ceremony on Monday, 21 April 2008.
SCYC Commodore Bret Grippenstraw said:- “It was great to see
the boats arrive and we’re really excited about being involved in
the stopover. It’s a great thing for Santa Cruz and the harbour and
we’re really happy to have the Clipper yachts here.”
The Clipper Race is the only round the world yacht race for
non-professional sailors and the amateur crews, representing 27
different nationalities across the ten teams, are each led by a
professional skipper. As well as performing the routine maintenance
required to keep their ocean racing yachts in top performance
condition and shopping for food for the next race, the crews will
also have some time to enjoy the sights, sounds and flavours of
California during the stopover.
The Californian stopover of Clipper 07-08 has also been timed to
coincide with the Strictly Sail Pacific boat show, which begins
today at Jack London Square, Oakland, California. The Clipper Race
will be exhibiting at the show today and this coming weekend and
Crew Recruitment Manager David Cusworth will be on hand explain how
prospective crew members can get onboard and take on the challenge
of a lifetime. To find out more about the race and how to become a
crew member from the USA, on Clipper 09-10 please contact David
Cusworth on +1 (831) 239 5116, or
email them. |
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