Racing effectively restarted in the Calais Round Britain Race as the wind returned after 12 hours of gentle drifting. Dee Caffari and Aviva are holding their own in the chasing pack behind the three lead boats.
Racing effectively restarted in the Calais Round Britain Race as the wind returned after 12 hours of gentle drifting. Dee Caffari and Aviva are holding their own in the chasing pack behind the three lead boats.
Caffari's diary - Received Thursday morning:
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"A bitterly cold night with upwind sailing conditions made us realise just how far north we are heading. After much discussion over the last four days as to when and how the watches work, we have re-written them and now have them stored on the computer. There are no excuses now. The problem now is what time we have our watches set to. In order to get the weather forecasts and newest gribfiles (weather data) Chook (Liz Wardley) has her watch on UTC, the rest of us are still in French time as the race is run in that time. Confused yet? Now you know how we have been.
"Our French is coming on a treat but as is always the case I am not sure how much of it we can use in public. If it isn't bad language then it is sailing terms, so it may not help my skills in the street.
"With the weather turning and everyone being keen to stay warm, we are now wearing all our layers of clothes and movement gets a little restricted. The funniest sight is to watch people getting in and out of the cabin. It is a full contortionist's act.
"Daylight has kept the breeze that feels a little lighter but a swell that has reduced in size. We are now concentrating on sailing good boat speed".
Dee, Chook, Frog, Pants and Hugo
Team commentary from weather expert Mike Broughton: "Light winds look like they are going to prevail all the way to the turning point of Muckle Flugga at the northern point of the Shetland Islands. Still dominating the race track, the high pressure system that originated in the Azores last week, is now positioned half way between Iceland and Norway. Light north-easterly winds on its southern flank mean the fleet will have to sail on the wind virtually all the way to the Shetlands. Our team on Aviva won't be too happy as this is the boats least competitive conditions - uphill in light winds. Normally at this latitude we see active low pressure systems sweeping east through the area and generating strong westerly winds.
"Mixing it with the newer boats is a very good effort so far. Racing a 10 year old Open 60 was always going to be difficult against much newer boats. With a shorter mast and therefore smaller sail area (crucial in light winds), Dee's training boat will struggle against the new boats. Apart from smaller lee-boards, the early generation boat also has much less sophisticated ballast systems compared to generation four or five boats.
"There is one glimmer of hope for the team, in that there is a low pressure system presently over southern Germany and moving up the North Sea. We will see northerly winds on its western side and that could mean we will eventually see some downwind running conditions for the fleet. Speeds will pick up and downwind conditions are definitely better suited to the Aviva team. It will be interesting to see how weather conditions play out on Sunday and Monday."
-ends-
For further information contact:
Caroline Ayling
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7202 2840
Mobile: +44 (0)7801 351950
E-mail: carolinea@karen-earl.co.uk
Kelly Russell
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7202 2862
Mobile: +44 (0)7786 516570
E-mail: kellyr@karen-earl.co.uk
Notes to editors:
Aviva Ocean Racing summary
After setting a world record last year sailing around the world against the prevailing winds and currents, Caffari is one of the newest recruits to the highly competitive world of Open 60 racing. The Calais Round Britain Race is her first step on a very steep learning curve towards achieving her ambition of competing in the Vendée Globe 2008/9 and becoming the first woman to sail around the world, solo, in both directions.
Calais Round Britain Race
Starting and finishing in Calais, the race is 1850 nautical miles around the British coastline, featuring some of the world's most technical waters with ever-changing weather conditions, tidal flows and adverse land effects. Extra vigilance is needed to keep a watchful eye out for shipping and other obstructions, such as oil rigs in the North Sea, throughout this race.
There are 11 entries and the front runners are expected to take between six to seven days to complete the course. In a change from normal Open 60 racing the boats will be crewed by five people rather than solo or double-handed.
For this race Caffari's full crew will be:
Dee Caffari - skipper of Aviva (British)
Nigel King - experienced yacht racing coach (British)
Liz Wardley - professional sailor on Figaro circuit (Papua New Guinea)
Simon Clarke -professional sailor and former boat captain of Hugo Boss (British)
Laurent Mahy - sail designer for North Sails and professional sailor (Belgian)
Aviva
Caffari's sponsor Aviva plc is the leading writer of life and pensions business in Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the world, making it the world's fifth largest insurance group based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2005.
Aviva's principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £41.5 billion and assets under management of £364 billion at 31 December 2006.
Further information on Dee Caffari and her Aviva Ocean Racing campaign can be found at http://www.avivaoceanracing.com/