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Keeping the Clipper fleet racing
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Hyde's sails have been powering the 10-strong Clipper fleet as they race around the
world, and at each stopover, the Hyde team has been on hand to help deal with the
inevitable wear and tear...
The race is hotting up as the fleet approaches Qingdao, the end of Race 6 and the midway point of the race. The Clipper fleet might be down to nine for the time being, with the unfortunate ‘Cork’ lost on a reef in the Java Sea, but a replacement boat will be ready when the race reaches Panama. Hyde is manufacturing the spinnakers for the new boat and working closely with Clipper to ensure her sail wardrobe gives her the same advantages as the other nine yachts.
Waiting to meet the fleet in each stopover to help with the punishing wear and tear a round the world race delivers to the boats and all their equipment, the Hyde Sails team has been busy ensuring that the driving force behind each yacht is checked, repaired and ready to continue the long journey home. Hyde's Martin Newman was out at the Cape Town stopover, ensuring the boats were ready for Leg 6.
Repairs by the crews
Pushing too hard, or messing up a drop can easily result in damage, but the crews have been trained to cope with this, Each boat had their own sailmaking training. Martin Newman outlines some of the work the crews undertook themselves... “Australia damaged the upper luff of her mainsail . An ingenious and rather impressive ‘get you home’ repair was performed by the crew on the leg (using bits of batten, nuts and bolts and some hand sewing).
"Other general work done by the crews during the race and at the end of the leg included replacing worn or missing mainsail slides, checking all slide webbings for wear and replacing as needed; replacing worn or missing headsail hanks, in some cases strapping luff slide eyes using webbing and hand sewing thread; checking for chafe from rigging and deck damage, patching using sticky or sail cloth and hand sewing thread."
Hyde on hand in Cape Town
Martin explains: "The boats were berthed at the Royal Cape YC for most of the stay, which supplied their regatta room for crews to check over sails and for Hyde and Clipper to assess any damage that may need to be professionally repaired. As much work as possible was done by crews with advice when requested from myself, a local loft was used for any thing that could not be done by crews, however any prep work that could be done before sending the sail into the loft was done by crews so as to reduce loft costs - all boats have a limited budget for repairs in keeping with the 'amateur' ethos of Clipper. Any over spend results in points deductions.
"A replacement medium spinnaker was waiting in Cape Town for Cork , their original sail had been damaged on the way to Rio and Gareth Heel (Hyde service manager) had declared it beyond economical repair. A new sail was manufactured during Leg 5 and shipped in time to meet the boat. Singapore blew out their light spinnaker on the final run in to Cape Town, with a large portion of the sail left behind in the ocean, this was a major repair done by the local loft.
world, and at each stopover, the Hyde team has been on hand to help deal with the
inevitable wear and tear...
The race is hotting up as the fleet approaches Qingdao, the end of Race 6 and the midway point of the race. The Clipper fleet might be down to nine for the time being, with the unfortunate ‘Cork’ lost on a reef in the Java Sea, but a replacement boat will be ready when the race reaches Panama. Hyde is manufacturing the spinnakers for the new boat and working closely with Clipper to ensure her sail wardrobe gives her the same advantages as the other nine yachts.
Waiting to meet the fleet in each stopover to help with the punishing wear and tear a round the world race delivers to the boats and all their equipment, the Hyde Sails team has been busy ensuring that the driving force behind each yacht is checked, repaired and ready to continue the long journey home. Hyde's Martin Newman was out at the Cape Town stopover, ensuring the boats were ready for Leg 6.
Repairs by the crews
Pushing too hard, or messing up a drop can easily result in damage, but the crews have been trained to cope with this, Each boat had their own sailmaking training. Martin Newman outlines some of the work the crews undertook themselves... “Australia damaged the upper luff of her mainsail . An ingenious and rather impressive ‘get you home’ repair was performed by the crew on the leg (using bits of batten, nuts and bolts and some hand sewing)."Other general work done by the crews during the race and at the end of the leg included replacing worn or missing mainsail slides, checking all slide webbings for wear and replacing as needed; replacing worn or missing headsail hanks, in some cases strapping luff slide eyes using webbing and hand sewing thread; checking for chafe from rigging and deck damage, patching using sticky or sail cloth and hand sewing thread."
Hyde on hand in Cape Town
Martin explains: "The boats were berthed at the Royal Cape YC for most of the stay, which supplied their regatta room for crews to check over sails and for Hyde and Clipper to assess any damage that may need to be professionally repaired. As much work as possible was done by crews with advice when requested from myself, a local loft was used for any thing that could not be done by crews, however any prep work that could be done before sending the sail into the loft was done by crews so as to reduce loft costs - all boats have a limited budget for repairs in keeping with the 'amateur' ethos of Clipper. Any over spend results in points deductions.
"A replacement medium spinnaker was waiting in Cape Town for Cork , their original sail had been damaged on the way to Rio and Gareth Heel (Hyde service manager) had declared it beyond economical repair. A new sail was manufactured during Leg 5 and shipped in time to meet the boat. Singapore blew out their light spinnaker on the final run in to Cape Town, with a large portion of the sail left behind in the ocean, this was a major repair done by the local loft.
posted by Hyde Sails at
01:33
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