Race 9 Panama arrivals of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race

Flamenco Marina, Panama.


The first of the ten internationally-backed Clipper 07-08 Round the World
Yacht Race teams have arrived in Flamenco Marina, Panama. New York arrived
alongside at shortly after 0500 this morning (1100 GMT) at the end of Race 9
from Santa Cruz, California in which the US team finished in third place.
They were followed by Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and Uniquely
Singapore.

All three had taken the lead during the race which was dominated by light
winds, virtually from the outset. The trio had enjoyed some close quarter
racing, matching their opponents move for move, all of them refusing to give
any quarter to the competition.

As the yachts¹ speed dropped off in the dying winds, the Race Committee took
the decision to shorten the course to the second of four predetermined gates
in order to allow the fleet to motor sail to Panama and claw back some of
the time lost following the two dismastings during Race 7 across the
Pacific.

New York crossed the finish line off the coast of Mexico in third place,
just nine minutes behind Qingdao who finished second, and a little under
three hours after Hull & Humber whose victory takes them into first place
overall, just two and a half points ahead of New York.

Arriving in Panama, New York¹s skipper, Duggie Gillespie, said, ³It is great
to be here. First of all we had a very busy race, downwind with a lot of
tactical stuff going on, the boats were very close., and as soon as we
stopped racing we had a bit of an adventure getting here and a great short
stop in Costa Rica to pick up supplies.

³It was very close racing and I personally didn¹t enjoy it. One mistake,
literally one error, something you didn¹t get right: the wrong spinnaker or
gybing off for too long for example, and you felt it in the next scheds. But
I have to say the teamwork was fantastic. I¹m really pleased with that. It
was great to see a really in-form team so we¹re looking forward to more of
that.²

The passage from the finish line has given the crew time to perform some of
the routine maintenance such as servicing winches and they will use the time
in Flamenco Marina to finish their deep clean and prepare for the Panama
Canal transit and the start of Race 10 to Port Antonio, Jamaica.

Having taken on nature in the raw for the last 27,000 miles of their
circumnavigation, the crews are about to experience one of man¹s greatest
triumphs of engineering over nature. At 51 miles (82 kilometres) long, the
Panama Canal took ten years, more than 75,000 workers and $400 million to
complete. Since its opening in 1914 more than 900,000 vessels have passed
through it, including five Clipper fleets to date.

This is Scotsman Duggie¹s third circumnavigation but he has never been
through the Panama Canal. ³It¹s my first time,² he says. ³I¹ve been through
the Suez Canal but never the Panama Canal so I¹m really looking forward to
it. It¹s an adventure and another one of the reasons I¹m on this project.²

Clipper Operations Director, Colin de Mowbray, skippered Chrysolite in the
inaugural Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 1996 and says the sixth
Clipper fleet to pass through the Canal will find it another memorable
experience.

³It¹s a real highlight,² he says. ³There¹s a lot of anticipation because
people haven¹t done it before. It¹s a coming together of the engineering and
the significance of it and what man has achieved here. The historical side
is fascinating and just to go through and experience it and read about it,
it¹s one of the great things to do. I remember it vividly and I¹m sure all
the crew members will as well.²

Cut through one of the narrowest saddles of the strip of land joining North
and South America, the Canal uses a system of locks which function as water
lifts to raise ships from sea level, either the Pacific or the Caribbean, to
the level of Gatun Lake, 26 metres above sea level. The ships then sail the
channel through the Continental Divide. A US$5.25 billion expansion project
is underway to build two new sets of locks to allow much bigger ships to
pass through.

There have been widespread reports of lengthy delays for yachts passing
through the Panama Canal from the Caribbean side to the Pacific, however the
Clipper 07-08 fleet will be travelling in the opposite direction, leaving
the Pacific behind them, so will not be affected.

Operations Vice President at the Autoridad del Canal de Panama (Panama Canal
Authority), Manuel Benitez, says, ³The ACP is concerned about the situation
and is working aggressively to reduce the backlog. We are closely monitoring
this situation and we are working to ensure that all feasible measures are
being taken to return to normal levels of transit waiting time as soon as
possible.²

The backlog came about during the second half of February from a surge in
arrivals within the waterway's peak season (February - May) that coincided
with maintenance work at the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks. Maintenance
work has now been postponed and additional crews assigned to the locks.

Senor Benitez continues, ³Weather conditions, the mix in vessels arriving
and the impact of peak season have contributed to the creation of the
backlog and will also play a role in the successful reduction of the
backlog. We have seen a downward trend and expect to see a more pronounced
reduction in waiting times for transits in the weeks to come.²

Joff Bailey, Clipper 07-08 Race Director, says, ³The transit through the
Canal is one of the few elements of the Clipper Race that is not totally
within our control. We are very much in the hands of the Panama Canal
Authority and their schedulers, but we have been working with a local agent
here for several years now and they and we have done our utmost to ensure
everything is in place for a smooth transit so we can start Race 10 to
Jamaica as soon as possible.²

Friends, family and supporters of the Clipper fleet will be able to watch
the yachts pass through the locks at both ends of the canal by logging onto
the Panama Canal webcams, a link for which will be posted in Race News on
www.clipperroundtheworld.com <http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/> .