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CLIPPER VENTURES ANNOUNCE MARCH 25TH RE-START DATE FOR 05-06 RACE
ON 8 March 06, Clipper Ventures
announced that the restart date for the Clipper 05-06 Round the
World Yacht Race will be Saturday 25 March 06.
After planning a detailed work schedule for the fleet with Green
Marine, who are project managing the repair, the 25th was selected
as the first date by which all the work could be completed to
Clipper’s satisfaction, the boats re-launched, fully tested,
surveyed and prepared for the race restart.
Given the length of the delay in the Philippines, the stops in
Yokohama, Japan and Curacao in the Caribbean have been removed from
the route to accommodate a more stream-lined race programme. Whilst
the fleet will
now sail direct from Qingdao in China to Victoria in Canada, the
Caribbean stopover has been changed from Curacao to Jamaica, in an
attempt to cut down the length of time the fleet will spend in the
Caribbean during the hurricane season.
The fleet was diverted on 5 February 06 due to keel problems
(Archive
report link.)
and a survey identified an issue with the connection between the
outer skin of the hull and the keel. With a team of around 90 people
working on the fleet, amounting to around 1000 daily man hours, good
progress is being made. Clipper Ventures took the decision to fly
crew home for the duration of the stop-over or to pay living
expenses to those crew members who wished to stay in the
Philippines. With the re-start date now set, crew will be returning
on 18 March to 19 March 06.
The Race Team has endeavoured to come up with a revised programme
that is as close to the original one as possible, despite the
lengthy delay in the Philippines.
Clipper Ventures Chairman and first man to sail solo non-stop around
the world, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said:- “The safety of crews
was paramount in planning, and it was important to route the fleet
through the Caribbean as soon as possible to avoid the peak of the
hurricane season. Ultimately, Clipper Ventures wanted to ensure that
the crew taking part would still be able to achieve their ambition
of sailing around the world on their selected legs, albeit it in a
slightly different timeframe to that originally planned.”
All of us at Southport & Mersey Reporters wish the crews a safe
restart and may your sails fulfil your dreams of winning!
Revised Race Programme is as follows:-
Leg 4. Port Subic Bay. Departure will be on 25 March 06
(Re-start).
Leg 5. Port Qingdao. Arrival in port on 2 April 06. The clippers
will departure will be on 8 April 06.
Leg 6. Port Victoria. Arrival in port on 6 May 06. The clippers
will departure will be on 14 May 06.
Leg 6. Port Panama Canal. Arrival in port on 4 June 06. The
clippers will departure will be on 10 June 06.
Leg 7. Port Port Antonio, Jamaica. Arrival in port on 14 June
06. The clippers will departure will be on 20 June 06.
Leg 7. Port New York. Arrival in port on 27 June 06. The
clippers will departure will be on 4 July 06.
Leg 7. Port Jersey. Arrival in port on 21 July 06. The
clippers will departure will be on 25 July 06.
THE END... The Home Port... Liverpool - The BIG Finish. Still
to be announced.
Please note that these dates are estimates given the nature of a
sailing race. |
Southport Cruisers... EASTER EGG RUN 06
THIS year’s annual Easter Egg run
for the Southport Cruisers will to Ormskirk Hospital's Children’s
Ward. It will take place on Sunday 2 April 06 starting at 10:30am
from the Carousel on the Southport Promenade. All Bikers welcome to
join in and bring some eggs for the kids! After dropping off the
eggs, the run will return to George’s Hotel for Soup and Sandwiches.
For more information, please contact the Club Rep. Derrick on 07766
383 456.
Readers Mobile Pictures...
THIS weeks picture of the week,
sent in by mobile phone is above. It was sent in to us
by Lynne Dolan from Southport. We have to ask, did you
make it? I spotted it on a trip out to my car on Sunday
night... When I got back it had be posted onto our in box.
Nice one! The other shot, ok I know you should only have one
picture of the week, but what the....
This mobile picture above was sent in to
us from Andrea Jones from Crosby. I don't know what it is
about snow, but we have had a lot of pictures sent in of it?
Has it been snowing?
If you get a good snap on your camera
phone or a video message you would like us to show other readers,
well email it into us at
yourpictures@merseyreporter.com.
(Please not that we will only
normally choose one image for the weeks edition or to run on the
Liverpool Reporter, radio/TV site. Also this is for fun, so we
do not pay for these images.)
FLOETRY Live @ Carling
Academy 2 Liverpool.
THE grammy nominated duo that
have taken the US by storm. A smooth blend of RnB, soulful jazz, hip
hop, spoken word and ballads. Their songwriting has been used by
Jill Scott and Michael Jackson to date!
Wednesday 28 June 06: Carling Academy 2
Liverpool: Tickets for all
shows are available at:- ticketweb
or via phone on:- 0870 771 2000 |
