My mate Ian's round the world race with Clipper Ventures…...
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So the Rio to Cape Town leg has started.
Ian is curretly in third place on this leg.
http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/index.php/follow/race-viewer/
G
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And currently in second - COME ON IAN,,,,,,,,,
keep that up they can really use the gate points.
http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/index.php/follow/race-viewer/
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The point penalty is a great idea.
If you know you can get a "free" replacement sail/pole/halyard at the next port of call, you will tend to push the boat (and the crew) too hard. The race is designed so that the all round best skipper/team win, someone who can race fast but safe…..I think that it is a great rule and encourages good behaviour, remember these crews have never really sailed before, and indeed in Ian's case, he had hardly sailed outside on British waters until 5 weeks ago....
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And what he was up to last night…..
_Ian has also taken advantage of the conditions to attempt to sort out the team's wind instruments which involved a trip up the 89-foot mast.
He said he was not able to repair them in the sea state, so they are waiting for calmer conditions to try again._
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Seul, check this out. This is Dee Cafarri talking about her solo round the worlder…...When this happened, the closest human being to her was in the International Space Station...,..
_It was here that Caffari had her worst moment. "I'd just come out of some really rough weather, lightning had hit the mast and I had to go up and replace a computer chipboard. There I was, up the mast and not making any progress.
"The wind had died but there was still a big swell. I realised I'd bitten off more than I could chew, so I made the decision to come back down. But I couldn't change from ascending to descending on the climbing gear. I was stuck there for an hour and a half before I could get back down, and in that time I was flung around like a rag doll."
In a calm moment on the Solent, I go up the mast to experience what it is like 100 feet high. The morning sun is breaking through and I have a great view of Cowes and the Red Funnel Ferry, but it is still a horrible experience.
It's even worse when I look down and see how far the drop is to the deck of the boat, but at least I can see other people below me. What it felt like being stuck up the mast for 90 minutes in the Southern Ocean on your own is something I cannot comprehend.
"My whole arm was black and blue," she recalls, when I come down again. "I was shattered and frustrated that I couldn't do the job I wanted to, and I cried as much with relief as anything else." I'd have cried too, knowing that I had to go back up the mast again to fix the problem. "It took a week to regain the full use of my arm, but that was the only time I was worried for my physical health."_
nice…