DurbanClipper's blog

Clipper 07-08 hits TV screens around the world

Clipper have today announced that the TV series that Sunset + Vine/APP have been making as we have all been racing around the world airs this week.

Sky Sports in the UK will be showing the first programme of the series today (Weds 18 June) and tomorrow (Thursday 19 June) in the following slots:

Wednesday 18 June
Sky Sports Xtra – 1800 / 2300

Thursday 19 June
Sky Sports Xtra – 0200
Sky Sports 3 – 0730 / 1200

Each of the ten programmes will be shown on a weekly basis in these regular slots.

For race followers in South Africa, the series can be seen on M-Net Supersport at the following times:

Episode 1

Wednesday 18 June 2008,  17:30 – 18:00 (Premier)
Thursday 19 June 2008, 13:00 – 13:30
Friday 20 June 2008, 23:30 – 00:00
Saturday 21 June 2008, 10:00 – 10:30

Episode 2

Wednesday 25 June 2008, 18:00 – 18:30 (Premier)
Thursday 26 June 2008, 14:00 – 14:30
Friday 27 June 2008, 22:00 – 22:30
Saturday 28 June 2008, 10:00 – 10:30

Episode 3

Wednesday 02 July 2008, 18:00 – 18:30 (Premier)
Thursday 03 July 2008, 14:00 – 14:30
Friday 04 July 2008, 22:00 – 22:30
Saturday 05 July 2008, 10:00 – 10:30

Episode 4

Wednesday 09 July 2008, 18:00 – 18:30 (Premier)
Thursday 10 July 2008, 14:00 – 14:30
Friday 11 July 2008, 22:00 – 22:30
Saturday 12 July 2008, 10:00 – 10:30

Episode 5

Wednesday 16 July 2008, 18:00 – 18:30 (Premier)
Thursday 17 July 2008, 13:30 – 14:00
Friday 18 July 2008, 23:30 – 00:00
Saturday 19 July 2008, 10:00 – 10:30

Episode 6

Wednesday 23 July 2008, 17:30 – 18:00 (Premier)
Thursday 24 July 2008, 14:30 – 15:00
Friday 25 July 2008, 23:00 – 23:30
Saturday 26 July 2008, 10:00 – 10:30

Episode 7

Wednesday 30 July 2008, 18:00 – 18:30 (Premier)
Thursday 31 July 2008, 14:00 – 14:30
Friday 01 August 2008, 22:30 – 23:00
Saturday 02 August 2008, 10:00 – 10:30

Episode 8

Wednesday 06 August 2008, 18:00 – 18:30 (Premier)
Thursday 07 August 2008, 14:00 – 14:30
Friday 08 August 2008, 21:00 – 21:30
Saturday 09 August 2008, 11:00 – 11:30

Episode 9

Wednesday 13 August 2008, 18:00 – 18:30 (Premier)
Thursday 14 August 2008, 14:30 – 15:00
Friday 15 August 2008, 22:30 – 23:00
Saturday 16 August 2008, 10:00 – 10:30

Episode 10

Wednesday 20 August 2008, 18:00 – 18:30 (Premier)
Thursday 21 August 2008, 14:15 – 14:45
Friday 22 August 2008, 10:30 – 11:00
Saturday 23 August 2008, 23:30 – 00:00

In Japan, viewers can view the series on Gaora Sports in the following slots:

Episode 1

28 June 0900-0930
30 June 1800-1830
02 July 1230-1300
05 June 0430-0500

Episode 2

5 July 0900-0930
06 July 1800-1830
08 July 1330-1400
10 July 1000-1030

As more details of transmission dates for other countries are posted on the Clipper website, we'll update you.

Farewell to Sydney

Race start

We are off in about 1hr. Firstly we have coffee & donuts at the Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club before we parade down to the boats and then race to Cork! Just had a rousing chat from Ricky ready for our win across the Atlantic!!! Fingers Crossed!!
 
Every-one ready & raring to go for the last big sail of the race & all are keen to get another pennant for race 13.

Looks like it is light winds to start & we may even have to motor sail out to a le Mans start.

We look forward to seeing all the Durban supporters in Cork &/or Liverpool

Durban crew!!

The Order of Sou'Wester

Last night Ricky, along with the other Clipper skippers and the crew of Nova Scotia, was sworn into the Order of Sou'Wester at the Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club.  This exclusive society includes the captains of the major ocean going liners and tall ships. In the induction ceremony, Ricky was presented with an authentic sou'wester (obviously!) and a tot of rum.  He had to solemnly swear to uphold the ideals of the Order and promise to acknowledge the annual Harbour Port day if he can't make it back to Sydney in person.  It was rumoured that he would also have to kiss a cod but fortunately he was spared that experience! 
 
The evening rounded off with a superb fireworks display over Sydney harbour.
 
Clipper activities continue today with the crew briefing at lunchtime and a steak bbq this afternoon.

Halifax to Sydney - Steph's Report

Durban leaving Halifax

What a difference a day makes.  We left Halifax in bright sunshine at lunchtime on Thursday with an ETA of 7pm at Sydney on Friday - flat seas and enough breeze for some really great sailing. We were having a ball!  We made great progress racing in close proximity to the other boats and especially New York.
 
Our watch did the midnight to 3am stretch and then I was on mother watch until 6am (porridge watch) before heading to my bunk for 4 hours kip.  I was very rudely awoken at about 7am when I was nearly thrown out of my bunk - the weather had changed dramatically.  The following 12 hours were desperate.  45 knots of wind across the boat, huge seas and water everywhere.  At least that's what it was like on deck.  Like many of the others, I was confined to my bunk with another bout of seasickness and being thrown around like a rag doll.  The guys on deck did a fantastic job, banging in reefs to reduce the area of the mainsail and bringing down the headsail to depower the boat but the boat was still slamming into the troughs between waves for hours.  It was like being on an out of control roller coaster.
 
As you can imagine, we were all extremely relieved to get to Sydney but it was not the usual exuberant arrival as so many of the leg 7 crew (and even some of the round the worlders) were still rather shellshocked.  This was our first N Atlantic storm and we were/are wondering if we can cope with the full crossing.  We will, of course.  The Mighty Durbs will look after us and we'll all look after each other. 
 
I'm making the most of the last couple of nights in the hotel before I start the big challenge.  I'm avidly watching the weather forecasts and regretting all those comments from Jamaica to Halifax about the lack of wind....

Thanks Halifax!

Arriving in Nova Scotia

We had a good downwind start in the D250 race, and kept a good position until the container vessel mixed it up by allowing the tail enders to gybe before the leaders. We felt sorry for Nova Scotia, so far in the lead with their kite up, and being forced to the back of the pack. They came good again though, again by flying their spinnaker.

After some initial great fast reaching, the wind has died off, and we are now bearly making 5 knots over the ground. The forecast shows the wind increasing and moving forward, so hopefully we should get moving again soon. (written an hour earlier - now doing 10 knots again...)

The Halifax stopover was fantastic, with the perfect location right in the middle of the waterfront area, close to all the restaurants and pubs. The parties laid on for the crew were very welcome, although a number of them left with hangovers this morning which affects performance somewhat. The bus tour of the city and entertainment at the citadel was especially well received.

Thanks Halifax - a fantastic stopover.

Ricky

Race 12 - Steph's Report

I hope you were as pleased as we were that Durban had a slightly better finish (7th) in the race from New York to Halifax although, yet again, we were plagued by light winds.
 
We left New York in thick fog.  One of the things that I was most looking forward to in the race was sailing past the Statue of Liberty.  As you'll recall, we sailed into New York in the very early hours (bad for photos) and when we sailed out, we couldn't even see the plinth, let alone Liberty herself.  Due to the light winds we motored out past Long Island and had another Le Mans start.  This time, the positions had been drawn out of a hat by the skippers before leaving New York.  Ricky had drawn tenth (our nickname in the fleet is now Durban Twenty Tenth and Behind...).  This is usually the worst position on the line but with the very light winds, this enabled us to bear away at the start and after the mandatory ten minutes in which you can't change your sail plan, we had our spinnaker up. Not that it did us much good.  What little breeze there was died and two boats (not including Durbs) ended up facing the wrong way as we all drifted about desperately trying to find the wind.
 
Eventually, we had a little bit of wind and then some more.  We had a couple of days of really fantastic sailing.  We're now in trousers, fleeces and oilies in the day time, and every piece of clothing we own at night.  Ricky changed the watches for race 12 - I ended up on Lucy's watch which is a great improvement as she is a great trainer and my helming is finally improving.  We've managed to inspire the rest of the crew to concentrate on all-out racing every second of the day and especially the night.  I've come to quite look forward to the 3am - 6am watch - there is something really special about being on deck at dawn.  We've been joined by dolphins, sharks and numerous whales.  Unfortunately, we hit a whale at night.  Our hull was damaged and I really hope we came off worst. It coincided with an improvement in our position in the fleet and the joke is that we had to pick up speed to get away from Greenpeace protesters!
 
Yet again, the race was shortened due to lack of wind and it wasn't until the final positions were emailed to the boat that we realised how we had done - the boats were all very close and it came down to the angles that each boat was sailing towards the gate.  We then had to motor sail to Halifax.
 
We arrived at the Royal Canadian Yacht Squadron (v posh!) at about 4am yesterday.  They had laid on a bbq and cold beers which were really appreciated, even at that uncivilised hour!  Sadly it was only a short stop at the RCYS as we were just using it as a muster point before the procession up the river into central Halifax.  We had a superb water bomb fight with Jamaica and Qingdao as we got into formation - I think we won but I can't be too sure!
 
The welcome in the city was been wonderful - Nova Scotia is immensly proud to be hosting the Clipper race.  After the prize giving (notable point - female mounties do NOT look good in the uniform!) we went to a complimentary Chowder Supper in which 3 local restaurants submitted their best Chowder recipes for us to judge.  And then the drinking began.  The party moved to a local brewery tap with live music and when that closed we moved on to another local venue with a great live band.  I have no idea what time I got into bed.  I just know that I had acquired a tattoo (not permanant, thank goodness!) and a hangover of epic proportions.
 
We've got a few more days here before we help Nova Scotia celebrate 250 years of democracy by doing a short race to Sydney.  The race doesn't count towards the overall points and I suspect that Nova Scotia Clipper will probably 'win'.

Arriving in Halifax

If you didn't get the chance to watch the boats arriving via the webcams mentioned below, here are a few shots taken during the parade of sail and arrival.

Halifax Webcams

Cable Wharf

If you want to watch the boats entering the harbour and also look at the boats when they are in Cable Wharf, then head over to Halifax Webcam. They have a number of webcams giving various views of the harbour as well as one that has a close up of the boardwalk at Cable Wharf.

Life on Lucy's Watch

Lucy, Michelle & Steph

No-one likes being last and the change of watches for the race to Halifax has allowed us to work on a new race strategy - trim, helm, slick tacks, speedy reefs, trim and trim some more.  At the end of each watch, we’re reviewing what went well and what could have been better. Each set of scheds is poured over to establish what gains we have made against the other Clippers. It seems to be working as we’ve moved up into ninth and we’ve got eighth in our sights.

The New York stopover was short and sweet but has clearly set us up nicely for this race. Most of the crew steered clear of the Hudson River boat tours and the Central Park boating lake, preferring shopping, eating steak and drinking red wine. The exception was Michelle who spent her entire stopover trying to persuade the SA and Canadian embassies to issues emergency passports and visas for Nova Scotia. Mission was finally accomplished by Lizzie at Clipper who managed to sweet talk the right people [Thanks, Lizzie, we owe you one!]

We’ve had plenty of company on this race with sharks, whales and dolphins alongside.  We’re now on the lookout for Northern Rights Whales as we’re in a mandatory reporting zone for this endangered species.

Lucy’s helming lessons are paying off with Steph and Michelle no longer writing their names in the wake. We may need to find an alternative signature tune as Kylie’s ‘I’m spinning around’ is no longer so appropriate!  Post your suggestions on the blog!

Below deck, we’re getting used to living life at 45°. The most important thing to remember is to adjust the angle of dangle of your bunk and then hope that Durban 2010 and Beyond stays on the same tack throughout your sleep. And just imagine trying to successfully use the loo…

With just over a day to go until we reach Halifax, there is a renewed desire to win and we’re all in high spirits.

Lucy, Steph, Michelle, Nigel, Ian and John

Heading for Halifax

Crew Leaving New York