Hawaii here we come

And they're off!

At 1530 local time (0730 GMT) this morning Race 7 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race to Hawaii began. The race restart marked the end of a successful stopover in Qingdao’s Olympic Sailing Centre and a dress rehearsal for the sailing events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The ten-strong international fleet crossed the start line in approximately ten knots of breeze from the south west flying their Yankee One headsails at the start of the 4,400-mile race across the Pacific from China to Hawaii.

Having stormed over the starting line in an impressive .......... 10th position, simply to lull the rest of the fleet into a false sense of security, the crew of the Rasta Rocket, JAMAICA, are keeping the other boats firmly in their sights.

Starting 10th is a clear tactical decision, oh yes! Having led Race 6 for 12 days, eventually finishing 5th, the crew are clearly employing a watching brief in this race.

At 12:00 today, as can be seen below, there was just 1 mile separating 1st and 10th place. If we stay that close to the leading boat after 4,400 miles we'll be very happy !

However, here at jamaicaclipper.com, we have just received an insight directly from JAMAICA as to the true conditions in the China sea.

Crew member John Brathwaite, had just finished a four hour watch at 11:00 UK time when he sent this message :

The fleet is becalmed off the harbour and skipper Simon Bradley (who had been presented on arrival in Qingdao with this rather dashing red cape) has telephoned Joff (Race Director) to ask if the whole fleet can use their motors. The first request had been turned down.

The crew have had their first meal and that went well. Apparently the supermarkets were good for shopping. Ralph had acted as 'mother superior' as Bernard had flown home for a well earned break.

John and the rest of the crew have replaced a lot of their personal equipment that went overboard in the conditions including hats, gloves that leaked and water bottles that got lost and equipment that failed in the conditions - ipod and torches/lights. Leaking boots were not able to be replaced.

It is clear from both John and Dinshaw's messages (see Dinshaw's article below) that they are testing all the equipment to the extreme.

Good luck JAMAICA and safe and happy sailing.