The race will start from Hull with a short trip to La Rochelle so that the new crews can find their sea legs. A short trip could, however, be the best part of a week and through the North Sea, English Channel and Bay of Biscay it is likely that crews will come in for some fairly uncomfortable conditions. A baptism of fire some would say. The North Sea and Bay of Biscay are both known for strong winds and high seas whilst the English Channel, probably the busiest shipping lane in the world, is likely to feature head winds and some big 'slamming'.
From La Rochelle, the boats will head back out into the Bay of Biscay and head for Finisterre, past Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde. From here the race is likely to get quite tactical. The islands themselves will present choices since you can gain coastal breezes just as easily as you can find yourself becalmed by wind shadows from the islands. The real challenge is the infamous ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) - the doldrums - where only occasional squalls provide welcome gusts to move the yacht south and west. The challenge for the skippers will be to decide how long to follow the west coast of Europe and then Africa before heading west across the ITCZ. Much will depend on the weather information that they receive but even then it is easy to get it wrong and you will see race positions change quite dramatically.
But the rewards in Brazil are waiting... ...a cold drink! There are certain countries, the names of which fire the popular imagination. Brazil is one of them; an amalgam of primitive and sophisticated, jungle and elegance, beating drums and luscious jazz harmonics -- there's no other place like it in the world.
Rio de Janeiro is the 2nd largest city in Brazil after Sao Paulo and boasts a spectacular coastline to the Atlantic Ocean but on the other side there are some magnificent rainforests so there is plenty to keep the Clipper crews amused between legs 1 and 2. It looks likely they will be able to watch the last Grand Prix of the season but the famous Carnival hel four weeks before Easter will have to wait for another day.
Rio was, of course, the venue for the Earth Summit in 1992 when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed. This has since become the centrepiece of global efforts to combat global warming. Brazil itself has an impressive renewal energy industry. Since the mid-1970s, the country's ethanol industry has matured to the point that it now fuels up to 40 percent of all Brazilian automobile transportation with non-petroleum biofuel. Meanwhile sugar cane-based ethanol fuel is poised to become one of Brazil's most important exports. Brazil has also embraced hydroelectric power as a primary source of the country's energy, though many decry large-scale dams for their negative environmental and social impacts.
But to really reduce carbon dioxide emissions, Brazil will have to reign in deforestation, which accounts for up to three quarters of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions. According to government sources, the deforestation rates in the Amazon have already slowed by around half since 2004. Brazil's government credits this sharp decline to policy measures and crackdowns on illegal logging. Others cite falling prices of soy and commodities that are often planted on deforested land
07-08 Benchmark data showed the fleet leaving Liverpool on 16 September and arriving in Brazil between 16 - 19 October although the destination in that race was Salvador da Bahia, some 1,100 miles further north. These dates would seem pretty relaible for the 09-10 race.
From La Rochelle, the boats will head back out into the Bay of Biscay and head for Finisterre, past Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde. From here the race is likely to get quite tactical. The islands themselves will present choices since you can gain coastal breezes just as easily as you can find yourself becalmed by wind shadows from the islands. The real challenge is the infamous ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) - the doldrums - where only occasional squalls provide welcome gusts to move the yacht south and west. The challenge for the skippers will be to decide how long to follow the west coast of Europe and then Africa before heading west across the ITCZ. Much will depend on the weather information that they receive but even then it is easy to get it wrong and you will see race positions change quite dramatically.
Rio de Janeiro is the 2nd largest city in Brazil after Sao Paulo and boasts a spectacular coastline to the Atlantic Ocean but on the other side there are some magnificent rainforests so there is plenty to keep the Clipper crews amused between legs 1 and 2. It looks likely they will be able to watch the last Grand Prix of the season but the famous Carnival hel four weeks before Easter will have to wait for another day. 