Messages to the whole JAMAICA family : stopovers in Jamaica and Cork

With Race 9 having been cut short and the fleet motoring down to the Panama Canal skipper Simon Bradley has these important messages to friends, family and crew past present and future. First a message for the crew joining in Port Antonio :

As soon as possible after our arrival in Jamaica I want to have a crew meeting (on board preferably) with all current and 'new' crew. This will allow me to outline our commitments during the stopover with regards to work on the yacht and anything else that is going on.

I'm assuming that we will be met by 7 enthusiastic crew who will want to join in asap with work on the yacht! I want all crew to enjoy the stopover, so providing we all get stuck in from the start the work won't take long to complete.

We will be doing as much as we can in advance in Panama and en-route. We are all very excited about the stopover and can't wait to get there! Please can I ask you to spread the word so that everyone knows - thanks.

One thing that can be done in Jamaica before we arrive is to find a service wash laundry service. As the stop is so short we won't have time to do the washing!

One Love!

Simon and the Crew!

For everyone who will be in Port Antonio, http://www.jamaicaclipper.com/ have liaised with hoteliers and the Jamaica Tourist Board to offer welcome cocktails and other events during our stay. Please watch these pages over the next few days for more information.

In addition we are hoping to set up a live stream from a web cam at the Miraflores lock at the entrance to the Panama canal. We are liaising with the crew on board to find when they should be going through there so that you can follow the fleet's progress live. At this stage that is scheduled to be Monday of next week, but watch these pages for updates.

Second, a message to all crew, family and friends about the final stopover - in Cork - before arrival in Liverpool in July sent by Mick Moran who did leg 4 and 5 on JAMAICA Clipper and has just returned to Dublin after getting off in Santa Cruz.

I just got a message from Simon a few days ago, he is planning to organise a big get together in Cork for all the JAMAICA crew, past and present, and family and friends, as he knows that there will be a lot of previous crew members such as myself turning up there as well as the crew that will be sailing into Cork and is worried that once people get to Liverpool they will just disappear with their families with out having a proper Jamaican goodbye.

He asked me to try and sort out a hotel function room or book a restaurant for the occasion, which I am more than happy to do. The only problem is I have no idea how many people plan on turning up in Cork.

Could all crew members, family and friends who are planning to come to Cork e mail me so that I can get numbers and organise the event? People can mail me at this email address : micko.moran@gmail.com.

Thanks to Mick for organising the party. We saw the crew off from Liverpool with the only eve of race bon voyage party of the whole fleet - let's make sure as many of us as possible get to Cork. The fleet is due to arrive some time between 29th June and 4th July and with http://www.ryanair.com/ offering flights at 0p (yes nothing!) plus taxes, a return flight can be booked for under £40 !

Finally Mick has written an account of his experiences on board JAMAICA from legs 4 & 5. His article, together with photos of his journey, will be published here over the next few days so keep visting http://www.jamaicaclipper.com/ for that as well as further updates from the crew on board the Rasta Rocket.