Yet another spinnaker problem for JAMAICA

When is lady luck going to change for JAMAICA ? As devilishly hard as the crew on board is working one unavoidable problem after another besets them, as crew member Dinshaw Avari, writing exclusively for jamaicaclipper.com explains :

Slow but sure progress - very light winds and extremely hot. All enjoying it though and all 14 of us clicking very well. Another spinnaker incident - lazy sheet snap shackle went so Simon went on pole and fixed it.

We're eating some great meals with each mother watch trying to outdo the other.

Dolphins swam along side yacht yesterday. Harry and I did our first solo successful bow duties when putting up the kite yesterday.

Regards,

DINSHAW

Fellow crew member Katie Hearsum nobally accepts responsability :

So guess what muppet was on the helm and blew the top off the medium weight ? Poor old Bernard had only been on deck for 4hrs after spending 2 days sewing the heavy weight back together; the heavyweight we wrapped round the inner stay & took 20hrs to get down.

Very gallant of you Katie but these are things that happen during yacht races. Nevertheless it does show the strains they must be under and the character the crew must have to endure these difficulties. We're behind you all the way guys!


As the leading boats exchange positions with every new posting due to the steady winds they are enjoying, JAMAICA in 9th place, and Qingdao in 10th can realistically only finish in those positions. With just under 900 miles for them remaining to the finish they have to put behind them their incredible bad luck and focus on the race for 9th and 10th.


They are all the more disadvantaged as at the back of the fleet they are both experiencing lighter winds than the leading boats which have passed through the Sundra Straights as the graphic above shows.



The area the fleet is racing through at the moment has many natural and manmade hazards. These range from shallow areas, reefs and volcanoes to a multitude of oil and gas drilling platforms. They are also keeping watch on Krakatoa which is providing a firework display to light up the night sky. As long as that's all it does, the fleet will be happy!



To ensure the safety of the fleet the Clipper Race Committee has included within the sailing instructions several safety gates that each boat must pass through to guide them around the various dangers and hazards. Clipper 07-08 Race Director, Joff Bailey, says, “There are seven gates between the Sunda Straits and the finish. For the leading pack the next gate is well over to the east so in the next day we should see them move in that direction rather than directly to Singapore as may have been expected.”

Joff says, “The winds are dropping further across the fleet but we do not need to make a decision on shortening the course until the weekend at the earliest. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that the winds are kind to all the boats and the whole fleet can sail to the finish line in the Singapore Straits.”

The fleet is due to muster in Batam, Indonesia, on approximately 17 January, with a coordinated arrival at the new Marina at Keppel Bay in Singapore on Saturday 19 January.