Jamaican rum - the perfect apéritif for the prize giving ceremony

The prize giving ceremony for Race 7 took place yesterday at the Hawaii Yacht Club. JAMAICA, currently berthed at the Waikiki Yacht Club, sent a boarding party to requisition Qingdao which is berthed adjacent to the HYC. But this was no takeover - Skipper of JAMAICA Simon Bradley came bearing gifts of rum for all crew members taking part in the Clipper round the World yacht race. The rum had kindly been sent to JAMAICA clipper from the Jamaica Tourist Board and gratefully started the proceedings.

Earlier this week JAMAICA arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the end of a mammoth 4,400-mile race across the Pacific from Qingdao, China.

Arriving in the Ala Wai harbour shortly before sunset, JAMAICA’s skipper, Simon Bradley, said,

“It was a long crossing, it was hard work. It was a bit like the Southern Ocean conditions we didn’t get, with the types of winds and waves, so it was exciting sailing. The crew worked really, really hard and of course we’re glad to be here.”

The restart of Race 8 from Hawaii to Santa Cruz will be delayed for a number of days while rigging fittings are replaced across the fleet of 68-foot race yachts. The replacement fittings are being manufactured to order in Germany and will not arrive in time to be fitted for the fleet to restart Race 8 on 26 March as planned. It is currently anticipated the parts will be ready for dispatch on 28 March and will arrive in Hawaii by the end of the month.

In order to make up for the delay it is likely that stopover times in Santa Cruz and Jamaica will be reduced, with the aim of being back on schedule by the time the fleet visits New York in early June.

The JAMAICA crew members who are arriving to help crew the Rasta Rocket back to the UK are scheduled to arrive in Jamaica on Friday 16th May. However, it is possible that the fleet will arrive in Jamaica one or two days later than expected, perhaps on Wednesday 21st May.

Plenty of time to acclimatise and enjoy a few ice cold Red Stripe beers and some of that legendary rum.

Well it's a tough job but somebody's got to do it. All in a day's work for team JAMAICA.

Sparing a thought for those back home

As the race viewer shows JAMAICA is currently sailing past the Hawaiian island of Kauai and is due to arrive in Hawaii port within the next 24 hours where she will welcomed by race winner Hull & Humber, and the other boats already alongside in this sprawling marina complex.

Race 7 of the Clipper round the World yacht race has had it all for team JAMAICA :

Departing Qingdao, the whole fleet being pushed back because of adverse currents and no wind; anchoring in the middle of a race (is that a first?); snow ball flights on deck; disastrous spinnaker wraps (again); major engine failures (again); knowing 2 of the other boats have suffered serious mast and rigging failures; knowing that thankfully no-one was injured; miraculously surviving one of Katie's chocolate cakes.

Using some of RTW crew member Bernard Tissier's photographs from previous legs we would like to pay tribute to the crew on board but also think about the emotions of the loved ones they have left behind.

It takes a truly determined person to take part in this race, whether to participate in one leg or to sail 35,000 miles around the world in damp, cramped conditions affording no privacy, little in the way of comfort and thrust together with people you barely know. Deprived of sleep, physically and emotionally shattered. It also takes a truly supportive partner or family member to watch their loved ones sail off into the distance.





It means that it's all the more important to savour those times of humour, the camaraderie, the friendships which have been made and will remain for life.



Yet this is not just the experience of a lifetime for the crew members who are deeply privileged to be taking part. Their destiny is pretty much in their own hands. But what about their loved ones back home?



Here at jamaicaclipper.com we are in regular contact with many of the friends and family of crew members who are living every minute of this amazing journey but very much at arm's length, hanging on to every 6 hours posting to learn of JAMAICA's progress, agonising with them when they fall back in the rankings, being a JAMAICA crew member by proxy.



Ann & Bruce Brathwaite, Mum & Dad of RTW crew member John sent us this message last night, having received a brief e mail from the boat. They are clearly living the moment just as much as John is :

The problems should be fixed whilst the boats are in port although there will be a focus on the 2 boats needing re-rigging and on checking the rigging on the other 8 boats. Reading about the conditions between Singapore and Qingdao and on the early parts of this leg the rigging must have been under great strain and been from over 40 degrees C to below freezing - not to mention the crew experiencing the contrasts as well. I don't think that the welcome in Hawaii can come anywhere near the celebrity status the crews were given in China but shopping should be easier. Rations have been simple on this leg and all the goodies had been consumed by just over half way. The warm weather and good bars and restaurants will be at the top of the agenda - hopefully after a hot shower!

Ann & Bruce are not alone but their thoughts and are joined by many others who are not only following the race every minute of every day but are also travelling great distances to meet the crew at various locations around the World. Then there's the crew who have completed their leg and are back home resuming "the old grind" of work. How many of them wish they were back on board now ?


So enough about the crew - they've got it easy! They take the glory, can bask in the limelight, in the glare of publicity. Spare a thought for those back home. On behalf of all of the crew on board, jamaicaclipper.com would like to thank you all for your incredible support. We couldn't do it without you. Aloha! *

* Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion, mercy, goodbye, and hello, among other sentiments of a similar nature

JAMAICA to reach Hawaii on Thursday

Following the shortening of the race from Qingdao to Hawaii due to the dismasting of two of the Clippers JAMAICA is expected to arrive at the Hawaii yacht club on Thursday with both Durban and Nova Scotia, at which time urgent repairs will be commence on the dismasted Durban.

The first Clipper to be dismasted, Western Australia, has just completed a 30-hour stopover in Midway Island where they took on more provisions and enough fuel to fill their installed tanks (approximately 1,700 litres) along with two 50-gallon drums as a further contingency. They are still managing to sail under jury rig but now have sufficient fuel to motor if required during the remaining 1,000 nautical miles of their journey to Honolulu. The Race Team expects them to take approximately six days to complete the rest of their voyage, arriving in the Ala Wai over the Easter weekend.

Spirits on board JAMAICA are high, although the crew is understandably frustrated at the suspension of racing. Nevertheless, they know that safety is paramount and they have been carrying out checks and running repairs en route to Hawaii. More detailed examinations will take place once they have arrived later this week.

It really is from one extreme to the other for the crew. These Clippers are not built for comfort but for speed. They are focused on one thing alone : racing, and when not racing minds inevitably run to other fanciful things as crew member Katie Hearsum reports from on board the Rasta Rocket :

I made chocolate cake surprise today on mother - the surprise being that everyone ate it. A few suggestions for Clipper should they need to branch out following the 2nd dismasting were discussed today:

Clipper 18 to 30;
Gourmet Clipper;
Pipe & slippers Clipper;
Swingers Clipper;
Little Nippers Clipper.

Katie's creative skills clearly are being used to the full! Meanwhile fellow crew member Chris Parkinson added :

Spirits had initially fallen when the race was stopped & speeds dropped off as sail areas were reduced as a precautionary measure. All we wanted to do then was get to Hawaii as food is getting short. Once the motor was turned on, our spirits returned & we are looking forward to landfall with added enthusaism.

We wish them safe and speedy passage to Hawaii and a reet good feast when they arrive.

JAMAICA claims 8th place as racing suspended

As we reported, Race 7 has been stopped due to the dismasting of a second Clipper Durban 2010 and beyond. The safety of all crew members is paramount and until all of the rigs have been checked at their next port of call in Hawaii the fleet has been instructed to proceed without the rigours of racing conditions.

The Race Committee ruled that the relative positions of the boats at 06:00 yesterday would consitute the final result. It has now been confirmed, subject to any declarations, that JAMAICA had indeed overtaken Nova Scotia to claim 8th place. Clearly racing comes secondary to safety but we congratulate our crew as they have won their own mini battle to move up the rankings.

A number of readers have spoken of their concerns following this incident. Here we publish the thoughts of crew member Dan Garnett who will be joining JAMAICA in Port Antonio :

Safety for all of the fleet is paramount. Rescue and support from vessels by "Standing by" and escorting the stricken casualty to safety is what is required.

Concerns over racing and positions are irrelevant.

At this difficult time my heart goes out to all crews and skippers.

Dan from Devon (RNLI Lifeboat, Clovelly.)

Fellow crew member Duncan Bagshaw has also sent a message to jamaicaclipper.com :

Whilst bearing in mind the friendly spirit of the competition, the fact that safety is paramount and that the most important thing is that no-one was injured, I feel compelled to post the following polite observation:

Protest protest!

Durban appear to have been awarded their place according to their position when racing was stopped. An outrage considering they had retired at that point and could not have finished the race. It was their dismasting which caused the race to be stopped. JAMAICA's rightful place in this race is 7th, ahead of NS, Durban and WA.

Our sincere thanks to both Dan and Duncan for their contributions. If you would like your views published on the site either clieck onto the comments link at the bottom of this posting or write to : jamaicaclipper@stratadapt.com .

Due to time lags in receiving information from the boats we have just received this posting from on board JAMAICA which spoke of their experiences the day before Durban's dismasting.

We’re all a bit confused on JAMAICA. We struggle enough with the difference between ‘boat time’ and UTC. ‘What time is it in your world, Simon?’ we ask. The skipper tries to live by UTC so he can keep up with the schedules and correspond to the race team at home. It does mean he might get served an evening meal when his body clock is expecting breakfast, or it will be bright sunshine when he should be fast asleep. But as we never hesitate to wake him up anyway, it doesn’t bother us!

As we’ve been travelling further east, we’ve been putting the clock forward an hour at intervals. Traditionally, we should be losing an hour for every 15 degrees of longitude, but we tend to just move the clock on when it suits us. As long as we arrive in the next port in the same time zone as everyone else then it doesn’t really matter. I quite like the idea of us floating around in our own little time warp. But we do sometimes realise that we’re nearly there and we’ve still got 3 hrs to move on!

Then there’s the question as to when to lose the hour. No one wants to give up an hour’s sleep, though people would quite happily cut an hour off their watch. Our compromise is to change the hour in ‘dog watch’ – our 2 hr watches we have in the afternoon.

The confusing factor on this leg is, of course, the international date line. As we approached it we still needed to lose an hour to be exactly 12 hrs ahead of UTC. We could either lose it on the dateline, and then change the clocks by 23 hrs, or change it after the dateline. Sleep always being a priority on board the Good Ship JAMAICA, we elected to change in dog watch.

So, at about 0415 on 11th March, we crossed the dateline. The clocks immediately went back and it became yesterday, today, but an hour behind yesterday’s UTC time. Later the same day, which was still yesterday, we lost another hour, and became exactly 12 hrs behind the real world.

So, we’re not really sure what day it is anymore, or whether we’re ahead or behind the UK. But then we’re not really sure what season it is either, and can be out by months when guessing the date. There’s still a debate about what’s the due date for arrival into Hawaii, and all we’re really sure is that there isn’t much time before we leave again!

One love, JAMAICA

Racing stopped as Durban dismasted

JAMAICA's joy having overhauled Nova Scotia to assume 8th place has been tempered by the news that a second Clipper has been dismasted in this leg. A full announcement from the Race Organisers has been posted below.

As a result the Race Committee has decided to suspend racing and the relative positions at 06:00 GMT this morning will consitute the results for this race, race 7. We are still waiting to hear if JAMAICA had already passed Nova Scotia at that point but clearly racing is secondary and the safety of the crews on board is paramount. Thankfully no-one was injured.

The announcement of the Race Organisers is as follows :

Durban 2010 and Beyond, one of the ten yachts competing in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race has been dismasted during the race from Qingdao, China, to Hawaii.

At 0610 GMT on the 19th day of the 4,400-nautical mile Pacific Ocean leg, the team representing Durban, South Africa, contacted the Race Office to report that they had been dismasted at deck level, whilst sailing in approximately 20 knots of wind.

There are no injuries on board and the crew of 16, including the professional skipper, is in the process of clearing the decks, cutting away the trailing rigging to prevent damage to the 68-foot yacht’s hull from the 81-foot (24.5 metre) mast, which weighs approximately one tonne.

The yacht, currently 780 miles from the finish line in Honolulu, Hawaii, remains seaworthy and a full assessment of the damage is underway.

Durban 2010 and Beyond’s dismasting is not thought to have been caused in the same manner as westernaustralia2011.com’s rig failure on Wednesday 5 March. A new mast has already been ordered and is awaiting a delivery date.

With 85 percent of this stage of the race complete, as a precautionary measure in the interest of the safety of the crews taking part in the Clipper Race, which is always the paramount consideration for race organiser Clipper Ventures Plc, the Race Committee, headed by renowned yachtsman, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, has told the rest of the fleet to stop racing and to proceed to Honolulu. The results for Race 7 will be taken from their schedule positions at 0600 GMT today, 13 March.

Durban 2010 and Beyond currently does not need assistance and will motor towards Honolulu as soon as the remainder of the rigging has been made safe. Uniquely Singapore and Qingdao, two of the other yachts competing in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race, have been diverted to rendezvous with the South African boat in the next 36 hours to transfer fuel and offer any support the team needs.

The crews’ next of kin have been informed and further information is being gathered by the Race Team and will be issued as soon as practicable.

Nova Scotia's lead just 6 miles in the Battle of the Midway

As the boats thread their way through the Midway Islands JAMAICA has reduced Nova Scotia's lead to just 6 miles following further spectacular gains overnight.

Last Friday 7th March we were 140 miles behind Nova Scotia but have managed to reduce that deficit in just 5 days. We will be watching the 12:00 schedules very carefully to see if we have made further gains and claimed 8th place.

The Midway Islands are signficant in the Clipper Round the World Yacht race and also have an important place in history.

Following the demasting of Clipper Western Australia Midway Island is their rendezvous point to refuel and take on extra provisions. With 600 miles still ahead of them WA is expected to make landfall on Midway Island on 14 March. As yachts are not permitted to enter or leave Midway in the dark, Barry Christenson, the manager of Midway Island, and his very capable team will be coordinating the arrival directly with Martin Silk, Skipper of WA, and the Race Team.

So what can they expect to find there on this unscheduled stop?


The atoll, which has a small population (40 in 2004, but no indigenous inhabitants), is an unincorporated territory of the United States, designated an insular area under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is a National Wildlife Refuge administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service(FWS). The visitor program closed in January 2002 and there are no facilities at the present time for receiving visitors. The economy is derived solely from governmental sources. All food and manufactured goods must be imported.

Midway, as its name suggests, lies nearly halfway between North America and Asia.

Midway is best known as the location of the Battle of the Midway, fought in World War II on June 4, 1942. Nearby, the United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against the Midway Islands, marking a turning point in the war in the Pacific.


The Clipper fleet is making excellent progress en route to the finish line of this race in Hawaii. The ETA of the leading boats has now been brought forward to 17th March, although as the wind has now moved to the North and therefore coming round to the nose of the boats, their progress may be slowed.

Nevertheless, in our very own Battle of the Midway, overhauling Nova Scotia would be a tremendous boost for the crew of JAMAICA.

The Rasta Rocket - like a heat seeking scud missile

You can feel the heat coming from Nova Scotia (that's the Clipper not the chilly Canadian Province) ...... their crew sweating as JAMAICA bears down upon them and reduces their lead every 6 hours.

At 12:00 today JAMAICA had cut a further 5 miles off NS's lead in just 6 hours' sailing and we are now only 38 miles from her stern.

Keep this up and tomorrow evening we could be claiming 8th place.

JAMAICA back up to full speed and closing in on 8th

It's full steam ahead for the crew of the Rasta Rocket in their personal race for 8th place with Nova Scotia ...... and boy they're getting closer as the graphic above shows.

At 06:00 the schdules showed JAMAICA had achieved 108 miles in the past 12 hours to NS's 94. That means that we have cut their lead to just 43 miles. Bearing in mind that on Friday of last week we were 140 miles behind the 8th placed boat, and this time yesterday still 85 miles, this is an incredible achievement.

It is a lesson in consistent sailing and what the race viewer above does not show is the course which JAMAICA has been sailing over the past few days which is effectively a straight line - no deviation, no wild tacking as we've seen from Durban seeking stronger winds up North - simply focused sailing from A to B. Of course wathcing the race viewer we don't get the full story but Captain Simplicity seems to rule the waves.

Up ahead in the distance (I can hear a verse from 'Hotel California' coming on) the top 5 boats are within some 50 miles of each other as they pass the Midway islands which will be the point of refuelling for the demasted Western Australia. With some 650 miles still to go for WA to this point, it's going to be a long hard sail under jury rig for them.

Over 270 miles ahead Hull and Humber are still leading this race. There is no way on this Earth that we will be able to challenge them but hauling in Nova Scotia would be a significant milestone.

Mick Moran the mighty man !

At 12:00 today JAMAICA made further inroads into Nova Scotia's lead in this race within a race .... for 8th place.

Way ahead of our earlier predictions that we would need to reduce their lead by 6 miles every 12 hours in order to take 8th place, JAMAICA reduced the deficit to 72 miles from 85 only 6 hours earlier. This is great sailing from the crew and if they maintain this consistency they will move up the rankings.

And reporting from JAMAICA this morning the crew praised the efforts of the mighty Irishman, Mick Moran, here pictured on the helm :

How many people does it take to drop the yankee 1? How much spam do you need to sail to Hawaii?

Let’s start with the sail change. Yesterday, we were sailing along quite happily with the yankee1 until the wind disappeared, bringing us nearly to a standstill. The good old windseeker was brought into action and we had the yankee back up again in a few hours. No problem. Dropping the yankee 1 when there isn’t enough wind to fill it is relatively painless. We need one person on the halyard and four or five on the foredeck. It is an enormous sail, very heavy, and with acres of fabric desperate to throw itself into the water, but if the wind is light enough and the crew heavy enough, it is manageable.

But what if, for example, the wind had picked up wee bit. Enough, say, to need a reef in, or even perhaps a second reef. Might not be so easy. And if you decided that waiting for the other watch to wake up would take too long and you’d best just get on with it, then you may well be slightly down on numbers. And if, while discussing the plan to reduce the sail area, the wind and sea state both start to pick up, you might well realise that this was going to be a bit more difficult than the previous day.

And it was. Conditions were bad enough that we decided to hove to, to keep things under control. At least that way the sail would drop onto the deck, rather than in the water. But once the halyard was released, the sail just didn’t move. The 44 knots of breeze that had just kicked in weren’t helping our cause at all. It really looked like it wasn’t going to budge, until the Boy Moran got on the case. With a combination of muscle, sail ties and sheer determination, the Irish Legend showed us his amazing pulling power. The rest of the cavalry arrived, bleary eyed but willing, just in time to help get the beast (the sail, not Mick) under control.

Maybe we should have done that a bit earlier…

And the spam? How stupid would it be to get someone who’s just left the boat to do the victualling for the leg? We’re a wee bit nervous on JAMAICA at the moment that we seem to be running out of nice food to eat. The hot chocolate’s gone, as has the mayonnaise, spaghetti, tomato puree, potatoes, carrots and baked beans. The supplies of biscuits and chocolate appear worthy of a ‘drop-a-dress-size’ diet, and we don’t even have any onions left. We’re about to go rifling through all the lockers and see exactly what we’ve got left over. We’ll not run out of food – don’t worry – but the next couple of weeks probably won’t be a culinary extravaganza. Another reason to look forward to Hawaii!

Closing in on 8th placed Nova Scotia

Whilst the battle for podium positions is taking place over 200 miles ahead of JAMAICA, she has her own personal fight to focus on having reduced the deficit to 8th placed Nova Scotia to 85 miles. After the equipment problems which she endured earlier in the race (and some of which are failing to go away) this will give her crew something positive to focus upon.

The race viewer above shows the reason why - Nova Scotia has taken a severe tack to the South and, doing so, has lost vital miles. For the past few days JAMAICA's course does not appear to have deviated one jot from the Great Circle Route, the shortest distance to Hawaii as indicated by the white lines above.

In the last 12 hours JAMAICA managed to achieve a distance of 8 miles more than Nova Scotia. It doesn't seem like a lot but when you consider they have some 1,500 to the finish line, which at these speeds would suggest a further 7 days' sailing, JAMAICA only need to achieve 6 miles more than NS in every 12 hours' schedule. That's is what her crew will be focusing upon and currently, she is bang on target.

Meanwhile, on board JAMAICA, spirits are good as crew member John Braithwaite reports :

"Wind has been better last 24 hours, Harry just had top speed of entire trip 24.8 knots.

Saw a whale off the starboard beam, about 15m away. It came up for air and then popped below again.

Its not quite suntan weather yet, so am still white ;-) its pleasant sailing though, not too cold."

Our thanks to John and best wishes to him and the rest of the crew.

JAMAICA first to be hit by lighter winds

The lighter winds which were predicted to hit the fleet have arrived from the West - exactly where JAMAICA is - and has thus slowed her progress before the other boats.

JAMAICA is currently 235 off the lead and with the first boats due to arrive in Hawaii on 20th March it would take a great deal for even the most fervent JAMAICA supporters to predict an improvement on her current 9th place - but, as we know, anything can happen in a round the world yacht race and there are still over 1,500 miles to the finish.

We have slowed to 108 miles in the last 12 hours but already the leading boats' speed over water is beginning to fall. The one good thing should be that the stronger winds should also come from the West thus helping us first. And if they can then just stick in a little pocket around us until we catch up with the others maybe that podium finish could be in the bag after all.

Optimism or delusion ? I'm off the get a strong cup of coffee and a cold shower.

Dan the fishman looks forward to joining JAMAICA in .... Jamaica

Regular readers of these pages will be aware that Dan Garnett, a Devon fishmonger and volunteer RNLI crew member will be joining the crew of JAMAICA in May to help sail her back on the final leg to Liverpool in 1st place.

Dan is using his challenge to raise funds for the RNLI which is also the crew of JAMAICA's chosen charity.

In this article he gives us an insight into his excitement, preparations and fundraising ahead of his trip :

Notes From Dan the Fishman from Devon

As a crew man waiting to join JAMAICA Clipper for leg 7 out in Port Antonio I have been following with increasing interest the progress of the fleet from the safety of my computer and blackberry here in my fishing village of Clovelly.

I am excited at the prospect of the trip finally getting closer, after firstly training with Chay Blyth’s ill fated global challenge team and for the last 14 months with Clipper. This feels like a long haul and has become an increasing focus of my life. I started out with the idea of wanting to simply sail an ocean when I was 50 years old.

Where I live with my family I look out down the cliffs over to Lundy island and to the Atlantic ocean beyond. I have sailed small seas in mostly fine and occasionally storm force 11, fishing, yachting and RNLI Lifeboating over the years. But I have yearned for one big challenge; to go out of my comfort zone before I get too old.

I gave strong hints to the family that for dad’s 50 birthday it would be nice to perhaps club together and send me off over the horizon, then I discovered how expensive it was. I think they are now largely resigned to it and say its my on-going mid life crisis.

It has been great to learn new skills, make new friends all for one common aim to get our boat racing over the horizon. I am more used to putting down twin throttles getting up on the plane and topping 35 knots so sailing at 12 knots rolling our guts out for weeks will be so different. I am sure I will chuck up sometime too. The dynamics of working and living aboard fascinate me. To this aim I want to give it my best shot, have been physical and mentally getting fitter however still not lost enough weight.

Supporting my personal campaign and fund raising for our volunteer RNLI lifeboat crew I have been very lucky with local commercial and individual sponsors. It became quite apparent that what we are all undertaking grasps a lot of the publics imagination.

So looking forward to sailing with you all, we will be giving the fleet a chance to watch our transom disappear over the horizon, bring the winning boat home.

More to follow , I am off to jog on the beach at dawn in the rain with the “Green Gym.”

Dan from Devon .

Anyone wanting to contribute to Dan's fundraising can visit his web site http://www.dansoceanchallenge.com/

Surf's up and fast speeds ..... but not for JAMAICA

There's something awry aboard JAMAICA. The 06:00 schedule this morning confirmed that JAMAICA had covered only 70 miles in the last 12 hours, the slowest speed of the whole fleet including Western Australia who have no mast and are under motor. We've travelled nearly half the distance over the same period as leading boat Hull and are now 266 miles off the lead.

Nor can our lack of speed be attributed to a dramatic change of tactics. As the race viewer above shows only Durban has deviated from the Great Circle Route (as indicated by the white lines) which is the shortest distance to Hawaii.

It is true that our mid weight spinnaker ripped and half of it is somewhere mid ocean. Our heavy weight spinnaker is still being repaired by on board seamstress Bernard Tissier. But in these big seas the boats won't be able to use headsails anyway.

An insight into one of the problems on board was given by crew member Chris Parkinson who reported overnight :

"The genny works after a fashion. Problem is fuel supply, so we are taking it direct from jerry cans with garden hosepipe. There is no primary filter or water separator and so this could be the next issue.

Its all very messy and smelly and the same problem as last leg which, as predicted, didn't get fixed properly. On the up side, sailing is good & fast with no real windward work so far (all downwind thank goodness)"

Big frustration for the crew on board but also for all their loyal supporters in the UK, Jamaica and the rest of the World. Let's hope they can get back up to speed soon.

Ev'ry little ting gonna be alright

We're in a familiar position - it's 6 o'clock on Friday morning 7th March. We're 185 miles off the race leader and 140 miles behind the next best placed boat. We're not last but that's only because Western Australia is out of the race due to their mast breaking. So what do we do ?

Is it because we're employing the wrong tactics ? Are the crew on board not up to scratch ? Is the good ship JAMAICA not as good as rest of the Clippers in this race ?

These will be the questions going through the minds of our colleagues as they plough a lonely furrow across the Pacific ocean, yet the answers are simple - no, no and no.

Sitting in the comfort of our homes or offices reading this article we can only imagine life on board. It can be a lonely existance; with nowhere to go to "get away from it all" it's also easy to be lonely in a crowd.

"It's not the winning, it's the taking part". That's true, of course, but try telling that to individuals who are taking a break in their lives, their livelihoods and their home life to be on board. It's a journey of discovery of one's self and how we cope with our lives when we're really, really up against it and perhaps really, really down.

As the editor of this web site I have had the opportunity to talk to a lot of crew members who have returned from their experience aboard JAMAICA.

Their reaction is pretty much unanimous : yes, it can be lonely, yes we have been pushed physically and mentally beyond our imagination, yes we have fallen out at times with some of our fellow crew members but would I do it again ? Yes, yes and yes! Are these some of the nicest people I have met in my life ? Oh yes! Has it helped me to view life more positively ? Oh yes! And what about your loved ones at home who have gone through hell whilst you have been out in the ocean - do you now appreciate them more ? Oh yes!

The crew of JAMAICA will be questionning why they are at the back of this race almost every minute of every day - after all, they have little else to do in the middle of the Pacific.

They have proved in the last leg that they can out sail all of the other boats when their equipment allows; they've got nothing to prove as sailors.

But actually the main thing is not where JAMAICA is in this particular race - it truly is the taking part and they are amongst a small but very special group of people who have had the courage to do it.

May they sail safely and enjoy their experience.

Race overshadowed by Western Australia's loss of mast

Devastating news came from westernaustralia2011.com as they reported rig failure and subsequent dismasting on the eleventh day of the race from Qingdao to Hawaii.

At 0600 GMT the team representing Western Australia reported that their 81-foot (24.5 metres) mast had snapped approximately halfway down whilst sailing in approximately 10-15 knots of wind under spinnaker. There were no injuries onboard and the crew cut away the trailing rigging using hydraulic cutters to prevent damage to the 68-foot yacht’s hull. The yacht remains seaworthy and a full assessment of the damage is underway.

This effectively puts Western Australia out of this race and they will have to limp to Hawaii under motor. However, the race is the last thing of importance and the fact that no-one was injured is, thankfully, a miracle.

Here at jamaicaclipper.com we are unashamedly biased towards our glorious team and, one has to admit, we tend to report events from a Jamaican perspective. However, the exceptional nature of this event, which after all could apparently have happened to any of the Clippers, has led us to publish WA's skipper Martin Silk's version of events :

Today was a day of loud noises, bringing out the special tools; a day of excitement, exhilaration, and fresh experiences.

Conditions were exceptional - sunny and calm; the kite was full but not bursting; the boat heeling but only just; and then crash, bang, wallop, it all came tumbling down. When the noise occurred I was at the Nav station, and I stared at the chart plotter thinking “what the hell have we hit out here?”

Once on deck it was a time for calm deliberate thinking, quick decisions on what to keep, and what to throw away. It was time for a spring clean; so out went the Number One, 6 spreaders, any halyard with the slightest wear marks, a few sheets and braces; and oh, did I mention half a mast?

Cutting the rig free whilst ensuring nobody got caught amongst it was satisfying in a strange kind of way, considering it was trying to smash a hole in the side of the boat; but also very sad, as my first reaction was to save everything and arrive in Hawaii simply looking for a bag of rivets!

It wasn’t actually fun as our race was over and our ‘Sultana Plan’ never saw its final glory, but every disaster has its ‘silver lining’, however you look at it. Dealing with challenging situations, having the rare opportunity to sail an ocean under improvised rig or simply seeing the strength of teamwork are making this a positive and enlightening experience for me.

Martin (shaken, but not stirred) Silk

It just shows the vulnerability of these crews in the middle of the largest ocean on the Earth. Whether supporting JAMAICA or simply following the race as an interested observer, one can only thank God that several tonnes of metal did not come crashing down on either a crew member or causing damage to the hull.

With regard to the race, JAMAICA is back to full speed again after the many disasters which have hit her in a mere 10 days of racing since she left Qingdao, including a disatrous spinnaker wrap, the anchor wrapping round the keel, loss of generator and water maker and, just recently, another major sail problem as Bernard Tissier reports from on board JAMAICA :

We did have generator & water maker problems, but these seem to be behind us now. This morning our mid-weight spinny broke and part of it got lost in Pacific. This lost us some miles while we recovered it from under the boat.

Making good progress now. I'm still repairing the heavy weight, but the mid weight is not repairable. Will have to wait until Hawaii. Bernard

The good progress Bernard referred to appears to have been confirmed by the posting at 12:00 today which shows JAMAICA having achieved 125 knots in 12 hours, second only to current race leader Hull. We are still 160 miles off the lead but the speed with which positions can change has been shown by overall race leader Durban having slipped from 2nd to 8th in this race in just 48 hours. This is due to their tactic of heading North to seek stronger winds and they are currently alone with this strategy as the race viewer shows below.

With over 2,000 miles to the finish of this race there is still a long, long way to go.

JAMAICA out on her own

At 06:00 this morning JAMAICA's schedule showed she is 197 miles off the lead and currently achieving one of the slowest speeds of the whole fleet. With little communication coming from the boat (probably due to her conserving power for water making and navigation) we can only assume that the problems of a faulty generator and water maker are still slowing her progress.

This is demoralisingly cruel luck for a team who had pulled themselves up to lead most of the last race, only to fall back to 5th when the same generator problems meant they could only generate power on one tack. They must be tearing their dreadlocks out.

This crew has shown that they can sail consistently faster than the rest of the fleet - but you can only do that when your equipment allows and it is apparent that the Clipper mechanics did not manage to rectify JAMAICA's major problems during her stopover in Qingdao. If that is the case team JAMAICA is not going to be able to carry out any major repairs in mid Ocean and this is going to be a long and lonely crossing for the crew of the Rasta Rocket.

At this stage our only saving grace is that we are only 16 miles behind 9th placed Western Australia, sadly not because of any great gains by ourselves, but because of WA's folly in seeking stronger winds further North - as the race viewer shows it looks like she has now decided to turn back to the South.

The front runners have the luxury of sailing the big wide Pacific Ocean with many of them in sight of each other, a position which always helps crew members to gauge each other's progress and maintain motivation.

It is a desperate shame for our crew members that they are out there on their own and it looks like they will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

May your patience and hard work eventually pay off .....

..... and may the God of crap generators smile more sweetly on us for the rest of the race.

JAMAICA loses ground overnight

It would appear that the troublesome generator and water maker are causing further problems on leg 5 as they did on leg 4 and are hindering our progress.

As reported in these pages yesterday there are renewed problems with this vital equipment and if leg 4 is anything to go by the engine may only be drawing cooling water on the starboard tack, making tacking less tactical for best race position and more a necessity for keeping power for the navigation systems and lights. This may explain why we have had no e mail communication from the boat as they will be conserving their power for the more vital things.

Life is no bed of roses on board JAMAICA.

At 06:00 this morning, having made excellent gains in the previous 24 hours, we have slipped back to 140 miles off leader Hull and 70 miles behind 9th placed Western Australia which is the only team that has decided to go North in search of stronger winds. At this stage, as can be seen from the race viewer above, this appears not to be paying off.

Here's hoping JAMAICA can remedy the equipment problems on board and get back to some serious racing. It must be very frustrating for her crew.

JAMAICA further reduces the deficit

The leading eight boats have sailed into the southern edge of a small, locally-generated secondary high pressure cell which has given them light headwinds overnight, slowed them down considerably and caused all eight to lose miles to the south.

This has given JAMAICA the chance to make up some ground and at 18:00 today they find themselves just 116 miles off the lead and only 75 miles behind 9th placed Singapore.

This small secondary high pressure is very localised and hasn’t affected either JAMAICA or Nova Scotia who have continued to make good progress; indeed Nova Scotia, taking the furthest most southerly routing has jumped a massive 4 places to 5th in just 12 hours' sailing. It just shows how much can be achieved in a short amount of time, weather permitting.

This small hiccup in the fleet’s progress will not persist for very long and will soon be replaced by the next in the constant stream of depressions that sweep west across the Pacific Ocean. But, while the crews may bemoan their lack of speed just now, the lighter winds will allow much needed repairs and maintenance to be undertaken.

Only now can we understand what JAMAICA has been going through as we have just received this posting from on board which confirms that not only have we had problems with the spinnaker and anchor wrap (as previously reported) we've had ongoing problems with both the water maker and the generator since leaving Qingdao :

“Another 24 hours has passed of ‘make do and mend’ on JAMAICA,” says Simon Bradley. “We’re making electricity and water now. Don’t hold your breath but things are looking much more positive at the moment. A repair of a very small section of the mainsail luff is taking place on deck, this will be completed soon and we’ll be able to hoist a full mainsail again and make better speeds towards Hawaii.”

No wonder JAMAICA has been so severely slowed by these serious problems which have beset them. In the circumstances, they have done extremely well to stay in contention and the crew must be bouyed by halving the deficit, as they have done, in the past 24 hours.

JAMAICA reduces the deficit

At 06:00 this morning JAMAICA had reduced the deficit of the boats ahead by 50 nautical miles. She now sits 150 miles off the lead boat Hull and 100 miles behind 9th placed Nova Scotia.

Both JAMAICA nad Nova Scotia have had a great day, having achieved more than 100 miles in the last 12 hours compared to the 50s and 60s of the rest of the fleet. Nova Scotia's tactic to go South has clearly paid off and as can be seen above the other boats have decided to follow her course.

JAMAICA has been watching the progress of the rest of the fleet, which is available to all boats every 6 hours, and has adjusted her course accordingly, although as the race viewer above shows, she has been maintaining a fairly straight course recently.

At this rate, another 3 days of good sailing and we will get right back into contention after the anchor and spinnaker wraps at the start of the race had hindered our progress.

JAMAICA now 200 miles off the lead

It's been a difficult start to the race from Qingdao to Hawaii for the crew of JAMAICA.

Currently lying in 10th position we are 100 miles behind 9th placed Nova Scotia and nearly 200 miles behind current race leader Hull and Humber.

Conditions in the Pacific have picked up dramatically as the fleet sails away from the Southern coast of Japan on the long journey across the open Ocean. Winds are gusting to 40 knots and Durban has gained the most from these conditions regularly posting over 140 nautical miles in a 12 hour run. In comparison JAMAICA is achieving just over 100.

However, with many of the boats having broached in these conditions (the boat having tipped over fully 90 degrees with the mast and main sail sinking into the water) and with a long race ahead, it will be the boats which preserve their sails and equipment which succeed.

Western Australia has reported having to repair a spinnaker pole, Glasgow has broached twice and the whole crew of Nova Scotia is suffering from flu and fatigue.

This is going to be one marathon crossing and perhaps, just perhaps, JAMAICA have decided to sail prudently and conserve the Rasta Rocket in these lively conditions.

Will the tortoise overtake the hares ? Watch this space.