What happened to the race?

February 14, 2006

My dad has been back since Saturday night, a lot earlier then expected? Yeah? there were serious problems during the race. My dad was on this Clipper Around the World Yacht Race, sailing the leg from perth to Singapore, Singapore to Qingdao China. It gets pretty tough towards China, sailing upwind all the way, so the boat does get quite a beating.

Somewhere near the Philippines, majority of the fleet were experiencing major problems?to put it simply, these made-in-china boats were falling apart! The boat Glasgow, had a frightening experience, there was a huge gap at the keel and water was filling the yacht at around 10 tones of water a day. They had a generator pump drawing out the water, but even that wasn?t effective, crew had to take turns to hand pump the water out. All crew were in their lifejackets for days till they reached nearest land in Subic Bay Philippines, in event the keel breaks off, they only have about 2 minutes before the boat?fills with water. They were so relieved to see the Qingdao team, but then Qingdao?s engine died, so Singapore was called out to turn back to escort and tow them back.

I was SOOooooOOoooo worried when I got a phone call informing me about the problems the fleet was facing. Thank goodness the Uniquely Singapore boat had small keel problems. So the situation now? Engineers and experts have been flown into Subic bay to access and repair damage. The race has been put back by at least a month to allow for repairs?and that means?the end of the race for my dad. Poor dude didn?t get to see the finish line?. But still, I?m very VERY proud of him. Good on ya mate!

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