克利伯2015-16赛季环球帆船赛青岛号船员

    克利伯2015-16赛季环球帆船赛赛程4奥尔巴尼至悉尼段比赛于2015年12月1日星期二正式开赛，中国的青岛号强势出发。

    该赛程是本赛季克利伯环球帆船赛澳大利亚赛段中3个赛程中的第一个赛程。经过前三段比赛的角逐，青岛号目前总积分排名第四。

    青岛号船长Bob Beggs说到：“我们期待在驶往悉尼的这段比赛中再接再厉，把好的竞技状态保持下去。赛队船员们合作的一直很融洽，完全有能力在这段比赛中奉上更好的表现。开赛出发驶离奥尔巴尼后，我们会向南行驶，选择高气压带下方的海域航线，这样能捕捉到些快速的顺风，一路驶向塔斯马尼亚岛海域，接下来将逆风北上，奔着终点站悉尼推进。”

青岛号即将起航

    参加澳洲赛段比赛的两名青岛号大使船员分别是四十岁的大学教授蔡宁云和二十八岁的记者鞠硕硕。

    蔡宁云说到：“开赛前的心情是比较复杂的，加入到青岛号赛队，马上就要出发了，有点害怕，比较担心的是会晕船，不过会吃些晕船药，多在甲板上活动，这样很快就会适应了，但是还是非常期待南大洋的风浪的！”。

远拍青岛号

    鞠硕硕说到：“能够和宁云一起代表中国在青岛号大帆船赛比赛，我感到非常骄傲。起航以来，青岛号表现一直很出色，所以我们也非常的期待到悉尼停靠的这段比赛。比赛开始的几天里，情况会比较艰难，对于我们来说也是一个大的挑战。还非常期待的就是悉尼至霍巴特帆船赛，这可是航海界的知名比赛啊。”

    开赛前，伴随着精彩的空中飞行表演，克利伯船队进行了海上巡航。UTC时间0700时分（奥尔巴尼当地时间下午15点），克利伯比赛船队在乔治王湾海域的起点线开始了比赛，青岛号赛队与使命拓展号、佳明航电号、克利伯远程医疗号等赛队率先冲出了起点线。

    从奥尔巴尼出发后，船队将朝东南方向行进入南大洋，将再次在南纬四十度海域顺风行驶，一路向东至塔斯马尼亚。再次南向的航行路线使得这个赛段将途经地球上最具危险和挑战性的海域之一。在恒向线以南航行会获得强烈的西风，船速可以提上去，但是航程也会有所增加。

    船队左舷既是著名的大澳大利亚湾和冷酷无情的纳勒博平原海域，澳洲的这片海域刚好是在南极洲海域附近，冰山活动相对频繁。船队随后将朝着塔斯马尼亚岛南边行驶进入塔斯曼海域，并将首次顶风进入巴斯海峡，在那里将遭遇东澳洋流。船队抵达悉尼停靠港后，映入眼帘的将是美不胜收的各种景观，但是这段比赛恰巧是在澳洲夏季中的“南烈风”风暴中进行，估计比赛中会给船员们点颜色看看的。

    赛程4至悉尼段的比赛航程是2088海里，根据比赛过程中预计的海况和天气，该段比赛的预计用时11至14天时间，船队抵达悉尼停靠站的窗口时间是2015年12月12日至15日。

QINGDAO OFF TO STRONG START IN CLIPPER RACE AUSTRALIA LEG

The Qingdao team is off to a strong start in Race 4 of the Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race today, Tuesday 1 December 2015: the Elliot Brown Timekeeper Cup to Sydney from Albany, Western Australia.

This is the first of three races which comprise the Australia leg of the Clipper Race. Qingdao is currently in fourth place overall following its podium finish in the previous race.

Skipper Bob Beggs said: “We are looking forward to building on our strong performance in the race to Sydney. The crew have been working really well together and have the potential to do very well in this race.

“We’ll head south out of Albany to get below the high pressure for some fast downwind racing to Tasmania before heading north, upwind, to the finish line.

Joining the team in Albany for the Australia leg are Qingdao ambassadors Cai Ningyun a 40 year old professor and Ju Shuoshuo a 28 year old journalist.

Cai Ningyun said:”Emotions are complicated before the race start while joining the Qingdao team waiting to start. I’m frightened a little bit, and worried about the seasickness, but will take some pills and stretch out more on deck to help ease the problem, I’m really looking forward to the famous Southern Ocean!”

Ju Shuoshuo said:”I feel very proud to be along with Ningyun representing Qingdao China racing on board Qingdao yacht. Since Race Start in London, Qingdao team has been performing well, and I really look forward this race to Sydney. I imagine the first few days of race will be hard, and it will be a big challenge for us, but I’m also looking forward to Sydney Hobart Race, which is a classic event of its type.”

The fleet performed a Parade of Sail while an aerobatic display was performed overhead. The race start took place in King George Sound in a moderate south easterly breeze at 0700 UTC (1500 local time). Mission Performance, Garmin, ClipperTelemed+ and Qingdao were among the first ones to cross the start line.

From Albany, the yachts will head south-east back into the Southern Ocean. Once again, the race route will go below the 40th parallel for a downwind sleigh ride east to Tasmania. Going further south than on any other leg, this race goes through one of the most inhospitable parts of the planet. Going south of the rhumb line to get stronger westerly winds may be the fastest option but will add extra miles.

On the port beam is the Great Australian Bight and the unforgiving shores of the Nullarbor Plain. Here Australia sits above cold Antarctic waters where icebergs can flow north. The yachts will route toward the southern tip of Tasmania and into the Tasman Sea and the Bass Strait for the first time in an upwind beat against the East Australia current. The teams will be rewarded for their efforts with the beautiful sight of Sydney Harbour. However, although this race is held in the Australian summer ‘southerly buster’ storms can be very challenging.

The 2,088 nautical mile race to Sydney is expected to take around 11-14 days to complete depending on the prevailing weather the crew encounter en-route. The arrival window into Sydney is 12-15 December.