hairbox
New member
Anyone here doing the Clipper round the world yacht race ?
cicumnavigators?
Leggers?
cicumnavigators?
Leggers?
Clipper round the world
- Thread starter hairbox
- Start date
Sandy
Active member
No, not my thing, but know people who have done it and enjoyed it.
laika
Active member
Pretty sure at least one of our forumites (comrade red?) has done a leg. We also had contributions from a circumnavigator filling in some of the missing pieces on the employment lawyer who was taking clipper ventures to court. However I suspect you may get a better response in scuttlebutt as the clipper "race" isn't really the type of racing this sub-forum usually deals with
Gitane
Active member
Race departed from Southend at 10:00 this morning. It’s now nine hours later and these slick racing machines haven’t passed North Foreland. Even my boat could have done that distance within that time.
Anyone know why progress seems to be so slow?
Anyone know why progress seems to be so slow?
ridgy
Active member
Because they aren't actually slick racing machines, they've just been made to look that way. They might shift downwind in the southern ocean but they are absolute dogs in lighter stuff. They looked miserable in RTIR. Even now in F4/5 on the nose only doing 6 or 7 knots
flaming
Active member
Yep... Right now they are in 15-20 knots, with about a knot and a half of tide under them. The leader's SOG is 9 knots, so about 7.5 STW. That's barely over my target upwind speeds in a 32 footer... But at some point tonight they will get into 25ish on a reach. That could be more interesting.
I think Clipper absolutely has a place. What they are doing to bring sailing to a broader set of participants is awesome. But as a spectator event... Nope. They are strict OD, but after 24 hours there is a 14 mile delta from 1st to last. That's an average of over half a knot slower, which is just massive in an OD.
By chance I was wandering around St Kats on Saturday, and they had lots of info about the training they are given. Almost no mention at all about race training in terms of trimming and helming etc. So not overly surprising.
Sticky Fingers
Active member
I know one of the amateur crew members on Qingdao. He's doing a fair chunk of it, first leg is to Uruguay, then goes across to South Africa and on to Western Australia. He then misses out the Pacific legs before picking up the race again for the final leg from New York back to London.
Gitane
Active member
Sorry, not familiar with racing I am afraid. What does OD stand for?
lw395
Active member
One Design. Identical boats
dunedin
Active member
Couldn’t quite see amongst all the pennants flying, but I trust they had their Maltese ensigns and Courtesy flag flying correctly when heading down the Thames
flaming
Active member
They did...
Gitane
Active member
Tintin
Active member
You called....
capnsensible
Active member
Been watching the first leg unfold on their website. Interesting race but the website is not their finest hour......
Skylark
Active member
Genuine question, what’s wrong with it?
I followed, on the website, most of the last event. One of my pals joined mid-race as a Mate. A few of us took my boat to Londonderry to welcome the fleet crossing from New York. We had a really good look around one of the boats at that time.
I wouldn’t want to take part in any circumstances but I have great respect for those that do/have done.
Of course, sail setting is important and there are big differences in capability, but it’s much more than a “race”. Participation is a once in a lifetime experience for the vast majority.
I’ve sailed with one of the skippers on the 19/20 event so I guess I’ll keep checking-in with the race viewer quite regularly.
capnsensible
Active member
Hiya. This is the tracker page Ive been looking at:
https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/race/standings
Just a bit poor, I reckon compared to other races Ive dipped into. Im not one of those who knock the race itself, I reckon its great!
https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/race/standings
Just a bit poor, I reckon compared to other races Ive dipped into. Im not one of those who knock the race itself, I reckon its great!
capnsensible
Active member
I see they got a great blast going round Finnisterre. Last two time I got that same weather too..... except I was going the other way. 
