JAMAICA loses ground

The light winds which have hampered the whole fleet are making sailing on board JAMAICA very challenging. Having been one of the fastest boats last week, at 06:00 she has posted the shortest distance covered in 12 hours - a mere 17 miles : just 1½ miles per hour.

It must be very frustrating on board. But she is not alone as the rest of the fleet is managing no more than 3-4 mph.

Skipper Simon Bradley reports :

“It is hot with little wind here. We’re using the windseeker and lightweight kite a lot. A halyard shackle broke during the last spinnaker hoist, but fortunately we hoist with two halyards so disaster was averted.”

It means that JAMAICA is back to 8th, just over 100 miles off the lead and a mere 8 miles ahead of nearest rival Durban whom she overtook last week.

With such light winds there is a chance that the Race Committee may decide to shorten the race in order to achieve their scheduled transit through the Panama Canal so getting as much out of the boat as possible at this stage of the race is vitally important.