Clipper fleet arrives at Royal Cork Yacht Club

29 June 2008.

All ten of the internationally-backed yachts of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race fleet are now berthed at Royal Cork Yacht Club, Crosshaven, Ireland following the finish of Race 13. The penultimate contest of the 14-race Clipper 07-08 series was won by New York, who crossed the finish line a little over an hour ahead of second placed Qingdao and Hull & Humber, who came third. New York have stretched their lead over their closest British rivals to three and a half points. Hull & Humber skipper Danny Watson said, “We have to beat them by a few places now, I guess. That whole thing was just a great race. We had someclose quarters stuff in the fog at the beginning then heavy winds, some downwind sailing which was great, then back into heavy winds and then some downwind close quarters sailing again at the end. It was close with Qingdao at the end but we had eight days alongside JAMAICA which just shows that the whole fleet is fairly evenly matched and it’s only small differences which mean you can get away. There was only one day that we weren’t alongside another Clipper. It’s like match racing across an ocean, which is fabulous,that’s what it’s all about.” After 2,080 miles of ocean racing all ten of the 68-foot yachts arrivedwithin 20 hours of each other, the crews happy to enjoy the hospitality ofthe Royal Cork Yacht Club – burgers and kegs of Heineken – at the end of anarduous race across the North Atlantic. The fleet set off from Sydney, Cape Breton Island, at the eastern tip of Nova Scotia 13 days ago and have coped with thick fog and light windsthrough the infamous Grand Banks as well as gales during the race to Cork,Ireland. Now the crews will enjoy some time to relax in Crosshaven and the wider environs of County Cork ahead of the final sprint to Liverpool, where the arrival on Saturday 5 July will form part of the city’s European Capital ofCulture 2008 celebrations. The Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world, welcomed the crews with burgers and kegs of Heineken, which will also be flowing freely at the official welcome party and prize givingceremony on Tuesday 1 July. The results of Race 13 are as follows.
All times are GMT 1 New York 10:59:132
Qingdao 12:01:223
Hull & Humber 12:16:174
Liverpool 08 15:09:185
Uniquely Singapore 16:16:536
JAMAICA 16:29:327
Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper 17:11:288
Durban 2010 and Beyond 18:48:439
westernaustralia2011.com 02:55:47 (29 June)
10 Nova Scotia 06:54:38 (29 June)

Founder of the Clipper Race and legendary solo sailor, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, a regular visitor to Crosshaven, says, “I think the crews of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race will discover something I learned in 1970 in the Round Britain Race and have re-learned on a number ofoccasions: that the Royal Cork Yacht Club provides and atmosphere and friendliness second to none.” This is the first time the Clipper Race, now in its sixth edition, has visited Ireland. Fiona Buckley, General Manager of Fáilte Ireland SouthWest, says, “Fáilte Ireland South West is delighted to support the Clipper arrival into Cork, and welcomes the support of Cork County Council and the Royal Cork Yacht Club. Sailing is central to the development of tourism inthe South West and particularly in Cork and is central to the Fáilte Ireland South West Regional Development Strategy 2008-2010. “Cork has an enviable sailing and maritime reputation worldwide, stemmingfrom its unique natural harbour, yacht clubs and maritime history. Whatmakes it so special is the vibrancy of the people and culture, theunsurpassed beauty of its landscape and the array of quality local food. Sailing along the East and West Cork coastline is a magical experience. I am confident that this week’s pit stop in Cork, which brings with it worldwide media, officials and crew and Ministerial parties form the Department of Tourism in both Nova Scotia and Jamaica, will impress the importance of the Cork region upon the event organisers and hopefully lead to the return ofthe race in a formal capacity.” The final race to Liverpool will start on Thursday 3 July.

Jon G

JAMAICA FINISH 6th

CONGRATULATIONS to the JAMAICA team for their fantastic 6th place result. JAMAICA Clipper blog will have tales and photos from the leg over the coming days. We hope the crew aere enjoying a shower and meal and the hospitalities of the Crosshaven Yacht Club.

Jon G

JAMAICA PASS FASTNET

Well the good ship JAMAICA passed the Fastnet lighthouse, our first way point since leaving Nova Scotia 12 days ago, at 11am this morning.
We are currently skirting the Southern coast of Ireland and have just 30 miles to go to the finish line. We have just received a schedule confirming Glasgow are 3 miles behind us and Singapore 3 miles ahead. We are still currently in 6th place which, given the deficiency of our sails, is a huge credit to all of the crew on board. After our podium position chances were snatched away from us as soon as the wind changed to aft and thus requiring spinnakers, we slipped from 3rd to 6th.

For the past 3 days we have been fending off Glasgow's advances and still are which, when you consider that Glasgow are currently 3rd in the race overall and they have been able to fly their mid weight spinnaker when we have not, is an incredible achievement. We are so close to a magnificent moral victory - to finish 6th in these circumstances would be an outstanding achievement. However, both Glasgow and Singapore are much further South than we are and may have a better wind angle into Cork. So close and yet so far. So, in the beautiful sunshine off the South Coast of Ireland it's "trim, trim, trim" and best course. Let's hope the Rasta Rocket can hold out just a few hours more.

Nick Jacobs

New York wins Race 13

28 June 2008 New York has scored her fifth victory in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race, crossing the finish line in Race 13 at 10:59:13 GMT (11:59:13local time) at the end of the 2,080-mile race from Nova Scotia to Cork, Ireland.

The yachts will be based at the Royal Cork Yacht Club until 3 July.

Qingdao and Hull & Humber are expected to cross the finish line atapproximately 1330 local time (1230 GMT), with Liverpool 08 finishing at approximately 1630 (1530 GMT).

JAMAICA should be in about 8pm!

New York extends lead as fleet closes in on Irish coast

27 June 2008 With the strong and steady winds that the fleet has enjoyed over the last 24 to 36 hours and with the favourable winds set to continue for the next 24 to48 hours the revised ETA for the leading yachts into Cork Ireland is now Saturday morning. These last couple of days of racing have been very fast and very wet for the ten teams, with average speeds being above 12 knots and top speeds being in the high teens. The fast reaching conditions that the teams have been experiencing has required 100 percent focus from the helms and trimmers onboard whilst wave after wave is thrown across the deck. The testing conditions have seen 45 knot winds driving horizontal rain acrossthe decks and made the last stages of this Atlantic race a real rollercoaster ride for the crews. All of the teams have been pushing as hard as they can to gain one or twoextra points with one eye on the fact that there is still a very importantrace to go and any equipment breakages now could affect them on the final race into Liverpool. Although very much focused on racing hard over the last 24 hours of the raceform Nova Scotia to Cork, Ireland, the teams are also looking forward at the penultimate stopover of Clipper 07-08. Skipper of JAMAICA, Simon Bradley,says, “It’s been fast and furious across the cold, grey North Atlantic. Mustbe getting close to home as it’s summer time but we’re still wearing thermals and mid-layers and it’s raining! But at least we will get a decentpint of beer!” The first teams are expected to arrive in Cork Saturday morning. During the short stopover the fleet will be based at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven with Prize Giving on taking place on Tuesday 1 July before the start of Race 14 on Thursday 3 July.

Mean while on board the good ship JAMAICA: CORK HERE WE COME. It is 20:20 on Friday 27th June 08 & we have just 183 miles to Cork. The Weather is beautiful & JAMAICA is surfing down the waves at great speeds. We should arrive Saturday evening, almost 2 days early. We are flying ourheavy weight spinnaker. The Conditions are perfect for the mid weight one but as you know it is out of action. The latest schedule confirmed that we had pulled 2 miles ahead of Glasgow. This is incredible as they will bef lying their mid weight so they should be quicker. It just shows what great progress we are making. If we are really lucky then we will keep Glasgow atbay and claim 6th place into Cork.

MESSAGE TO CREW MEMBERS PAST & PRESENT FROM SIMON.

You may have seen the gorgeous pink & black polo shirts that we now use forofficial photos. For those crew members who sailed in earlier legs we stillhave some available. Those of you coming to Cork we can sell you polo shirtsthen. If you are coming to Liverpool for St George's Hall presentation it isimperative to wear these polos for the official photos. If this is the case,so that we do not sell them all in Cork, if you are coming to Liverpool & want a polo shirt or even if you are not coming to Liverpool but still wantone, please e mail Phil Thomas ASAP with your requirement and shirt size, although you may need to have what size is left! The cost forthe two shirts (black & pink) is £26. You have to buy both colours. At this stage there are only enough for crew members, not for family or friends butif there are any over we will sell them in Liverpool.

NOT FAR TO GO NOW!

With not very far to go to the finish, the next big challenge that the skippers and tacticians will be considering is how to approach the coast of Ireland. The options are either inshore or offshore. To make the shortest approach and hug the coast for the last 90 nautical miles and risk the vagaries of coastal winds and sea breezes or take a slightly more offshore route and keep steady and more reliable winds but sail further. The winds forecast over the next few days look very favourable for the whole fleet with two low pressure systems sweeping north bringing excellent southwesterly winds that should bring the whole fleet to Cork, Ireland during Sunday 29 and Monday 30 June.

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
The heavy winds which have been forecast arrived earlier today. That meant dropping the dreaded spinnakers & thus has put us on even comparison witht he others. We have proved that if we have similar equipment to the others that we can sail as fast as anyone. The defective equipment we had has meant are slipping to 6th as the others could fly the mid weight spinnaker in perfect mid weight weather. Still the Rasta Rocket is now flying with 30knots wind pushing us along & boat speeds hitting 14 knots. At this rate we could possibly arrive in Cork late on Saturday night(2 days early) which would make crew member Bernard a happy man as it's his partner Trish's birthday on Sunday. Bernard is helming at the moment & as the boat is heeled over 35 degrees he is driving like Sterling Moss to see Trisha & son Jack.Cork will be a great stop over with so many family & friends coming to themighty Mick Moran's JAMAICA party on Wednesday night. Meantime after the disappointment of losing a podium position the crew is focused on a fast & safe voyage to Cork . See you all there !!

Nick and Karen Jacobs

JAMAICA TEAM INFO

JAMAICA progressing well across the Atlantic although progress has slowed with the spinnaker rip. It shows how big a difference sail choice makes when the boats are so closely matched.

JAMAICA team meal 2nd July, Crosshaven

Message from Mick Moran: I booked the room in The Anchor Inn on Wednesday 2nd July for 80 people (Durban clipper are going to be joining us for dinner because they couldnt find anywhere else to go, and because we're nice like that !!!!). Its gonna work out at about 25 euro per head which is pretty good, not including drinks so people can buy drinks at the bar. There is gonna be salad, cold meat, lasagne, curry and desert along with a few other bits n pieces. Im expecting about 40 Jamaicans and 35 Durbans and probably 1 or 2 others will come along too so 80 should be right hopefully, maybe a bit too many so please invite family or friends who might be there in Cork to make up the numbers. Dinner is booked for 7pm and the land lady wants people to be there by 7.30 so she can have all the food served warm. If everyone could pay up to Mick by the Tuesday night that would be great so then I can pay the restaurant by Wednesday morning to avoid getting stressed on the night chasing people looking for money .... cause ill be far to pissed by then and will probably spend all the money on guinness and rum HAHAHA.

JAMAICA TEAM SHIRTS

The price for a pair (one pink + one black) is UK £ 26.50.
Payment must be made on or before collection by:
1) cheque payable to "P.A.Thomas – Crew a/c"
2) by direct transfer to the crew a/c.
3) Cash
If shirts cannot be collected personally in Cork or Liverpool I am happy to collect them from Liverpool and post on but let me know soon so that I can reserve for you.
There should be enough left for family and friends but clearly crew take come first – so hurry up and decide.

Please let me know if you need Phil's contact details.

Kindest,

Jon

JAMAICA CREW PARTY

13/14th September, put it in your diaries.

More information for JAMAICA crew via Adrian carey.

Jon G

Qingdao emerges victorious from overnight three-way battle

The lighter winds have finally had an effect on the leading teams and they slowed down overnight but not to the same extent as the teams further down the leader board. Qingdao, New York and Hull & Humber battled overnight in lighter winds and once again Qingdao came out on top. The conditions at the front are difficult with fog and rain hampering progress but each of these teams is pushing very hard and not giving an inch in this penultimate race
of the Clipper 07-08 series.
Race Director Joff Bailey comments, "With JAMAICA dropping back after ripping a spinnaker and Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper affected by the lighter winds, suddenly the chance of gaining a few extra places and maybe upsetting the podium is a reality. This race will have many place changes yet over the next five days before the finish in Cork harbour.

Mean while on board JAMAICA:, "A very frustrating day on JAMAICA," explains skipper, Simon Bradley, whose team had been keeping pace with the leading pack. "We’ve lost contact with
Hull & Humber, New York and Qingdao, and all because we had a spinnaker rip – this time not our fault! Because of this we couldn’t fly the appropriate spinnaker and little by little we lost ground to them."

Nick adds his reflections:

WOEFUL WEDNESDAY.
Another apology to all JAMAICA Clipper blog readers for lack of boat updates caused by our E mail system down since Friday. From the race start until Tuesday morning we were consistently in the top four & fighting for that podium place. Oh what a difference 24 hours makes. Yesterday (Tuesday) was so frustrating regarding the ripped spinnaker. A hole appeared in it &
before we could bring it down it had ripped in half. Even today, we can still see our podium place sailing off into the distance. The mid weight spinnaker given to us in the previous leg to replace the damaged one was from 05 - 06 race . It is more like a patchwork quilt than a spinnaker. Oh
there's no justice. We would have preferred to have had 4 points deducted (like Hull & Humber) & then receive a new spinnaker. As our mid weight spinnaker is beyond compare we have tried both the light & heavy weight spinnakers but both have had to come down for repair. It know means that we have dropped down to 5th /6th place. Still, with over 600m to go & very
light airs anything can happen though it is a long shot for us now. However, JAMAICA never gives up !!!

Karen & Nick Jacobs and JG

TRAUMATIC TUESDAY

MESSAGE FROM THE BOAT!

Firstly apologies for no recent updates. The mail system has been down for 4 days. Progress has been very good until this morning. On watch at 3am to find the mid weight spinnaker up as wind moved to aft???????. At that stage JAMAICA were joint 3rd with Hull & Humber. One hour into the watch the spinnaker ripped in half. We quickly dropped it and put up the light weight spinnaker. The winds strengthened so this came down and we put up the heavyweight as we watched our podium place sail away into the distance. Very frustrating. The crew are a bit down as earlier in the race the mid weight spinnaker was replaced with a second hand one from the last race which is more like a patchwork quilt. We lost 3 points as it had to be replaced.

Ironically, Hull & Humber who had also damaged theirs were docked 4 points but got a brand new sail; that is why they are sailing away into the distance. Still with 800 miles to go there is an outside chance that we can still make up the distance though with a mid weight beyond repair we are at a disadvantage. But this is JAMAICA & we will do all we can. Good news is that 5th placed Glasgow were 45 miles behind at 0600. Will surely have madeup some ground but still behind.

Clipper on Sky Xtra TV Just a reminder to all JAMAICA Clipper Blog readers that Sky Xtra TV are dueto be featuring the Clipper race tomorrow night (Wed 25th June).

The ten-part documentary series featuring Clipper 07-08 produced by Sunset +Vine I APP will be shown across the globe over the coming weeks, bringingthe unique story of the Clipper Race and the 400 crew taking part tomillions of viewers as the racing draws to a close in Liverpool. The character-driven series focuses on some of the people that have taken timeout of their everyday lives to take on the challenge of a life time sailing around the world. Each of the half-hour programmes tells their amazingstories as the action and drama of the 35,000-mile race unfolds. Broadcasters’ television schedules are available in the Multimedia sectionon the official Clipper web site at www.clipperroundtheworld.com.

Nick & Karen Jacobs and JG

Change in conditions helps leading boats pull out lead

News from the good ship JAMAICA.

The downwind conditions beginning to engulf the fleet are proving a welcome respite from those of recent days. JAMAICA'S skipper, Simon Bradley, says, “The stronger winds and rougher seas have died down now, making a smoother passage possible on board JAMAICA. Several crew members are very pleased about this as they have been suffering from a little ‘mal de mer’. This is not only affecting some of our newer crew members, but also some of our ‘old salts’ as well. It’s amazing how this sickness can inflict itself upon people even after many thousands of miles spent at sea.”

Hopefully the crew are feeling a little better!

JAMAICA JOINT 3rd

From Clipper Website

JAMAICA continues to have a good fight at the front of the fleet and is showing some of the speed that the team is capable of but has struggled to find on some of the earlier races.
Skipper of JAMAICA, Simon Bradley, says, “A bit of wake up call yesterday evening as the wind built and built until we had just under a steady 30 knots of true wind. Time to change headsails and reef! The sea was rather short and steep as well which didn’t help matters and it certainly made cooking in the galley interesting, it’s amazing the places that spaghetti will stick to! One Love!”

Sounds like the boat are having an interesting time at the moment...more later.

JG

Fleet tack south overnight

JAMAICA Clipper are holding onto 3rd position as the fleet tack south overnight to maintain the best wind angle. JAMAICA are now 9 miles behind the leading boat NY, but some interesting tactical changes have occurred with H&H and JAMAIACA coming south of NY and Quigdao.

Joff's race report that the wind is due to back to the East and then North (anticlockwise direction) and this maybe the reason for JAMAICA's dive south as they attempt to get a better wind angle when the wind settles (A northerly wind direction will allow JAMAICA to go onto a broad reach one of the fastest points of sails when racing with white sails).

Yesterday the JAMAICA CLIPPER BLOG recieved a phonecall from Nick, from the boat, to report that there were commuincations issues with the whole fleet which explains our lack of onboard information!

The comms equipment is tempremental at the best of times. This focuses mainly around the fact that salt water and electronics don't really mix but also as pictured below around the satellite reciever dome.

This dome houses a satellite dish, similiar to a Sky dish, which is gimbled to remain flat no-matter what angle the boat is at and is prepogrammed to know which direction it should be facing inorder to track an appropriate satellite to upload information to. For a similiar reason this is sometimes why the boats don'e "pole", upload their 6 hour positions, as the GPS system which does this can suffer from similiar gremlins. Hopefully we'll get some information again from the boat shortly!

Posted by JG and Karen Jacobs

JAMAICA KEEP PACE WITH NY and H&H overnight

JAMAICA remain in a very strong position overnight as they keep pace with Hull & Humber and NY.

There are still only 3 miles between the top four boats. Clipper Race news suggests that Quigdao's poisition to the South may cuase them to loose out in the long run so JAMAICA are primed to do battle with the Danny and Dougie and their respected crews.

JAMAICA's Lucy Mayo will be pleased to be up competing with Hull & Humber and I'm sure, given current positions she is saving lots of money on phone and email as Danny will be within shouting distance!

JB and Lucy on the last leg

No word still from the boat, we assume they are having communications issues and concetrating on the racing! We'll let you no as soon as we have any news.

JG

JAMAICA hang on in 3rd

20 June 2008

The entire fleet is starting to make better progress now the teams have cleared Newfoundland and head north east to follow the great circle route as closely as possible. Ben Galloway, skipper of Liverpool 08, says, “It’s windy! We’re currently doing nine knots close to the great circle route and we’re only a few miles behind the leaders.” In a dramatic change of course, westernaustralia2011.com headed north westovernight as the Western Australian team decided to cut their loses and join the rest of the fleet. Although this move has caused them to drop down the leaderboard the big blue boat is now back with the rest

of the pack and should not lose any more ground. Although the teams are making better progress, fog is still an issue formany of the boats. Skipper of New York, Duggie Gillespie, says, “The radaris working overtime in the fog, along with the operators, looking for other clipper boats, fishing gear, possible icebergs or other vessels. It is the coldest it has been so far on this leg and racing is close as we trade places with nearby JAMAICA.” JAMAICA, New York and Qingdao are leading the fleet but Qingdao’s more southerly position is a double edged sword, providing them with a chance of better wind angles but a greater risk of falling into the middle of thelatest low pressure system which is currently chasing the fleet. Skipper of Qingdao, Marcus Cholerton-Brown, says, “It’s a bit nippy but a great 24 hours of racing as tacking duals in the fog bring on their ownspecial challenges! The fog cleared for a moment and the TV game becamereality with all ten boats still in sight. Marvellous.”

Posted by JG

JAMAICA STAY ON PODIUM OVERNIGHT

JAMAICA Clipper has held off stiff competition overnight in fickle conditions as the fleet cross the Grand Banks.

New York And Hull & Humber are now at the front of the pack with JAMAICA and Quigdao.

Danny Watson, skipper of Hull & Humber and close friend to JAMAICA Clipper, says, “We’re presently sailing in seven knots of breeze from the south west. The fog has finally cleared and we have sight of New York, Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper, Jamaica and Qingdao. Four days into the race there is still only 4 miles sperating the top four crews. This is really close! One bad headsail change or one wrong or late decision could see any of the current leaders drop back!

This has all the makings of a fantastic race and now only 10 days until the boats are expected in Crosshaven.

And with that in mind here's a reminder of Mick Moran's JAMAICA Clipper Crosshaven itinary!

Mick Moran here calling from Dublin, I have managed to book a place for the Jamaica bash in Crosshaven. I have booked it for the Wednesday night 2nd July in a bar/restaurant called The Anchor Inn, in Crosshaven at around 6 -7 pm. It'll be a buffet event so as to save time on
getting orders and serving people, there is going to be about 50 people there so I though it would make it much easier to just have a buffet. I'll make sure its quality stuff and not just cocktail sausages and a few chicken wings.
The boats are due to arrive on the monday, but I'm sure JAMAICA will arrive on the Sunday to claim 1st position .... ISN'T THAT RIGHT SIMON???????? so Monday was out of question to organise the party as normally everybody just gets pissed on the 1st night in port anyways. Tuesday night is the prize giving (which, by the way is sponsored by heineken so bring your drinking boots) so that was also out of question for the bash. Wednesday night is free so that was the only option, its a real pity that the boats are only gonna be in Crosshaven for 3 night, but hay, at least you guys will have 3 amazing nights. So, wednesday, 2nd July, Anchor Inn.
I have been talking to the main man in Royal Cork Yacht Club, a guy by the name of John Roche and he's gonna put on a great show for us. He has organised live traditional Irish music and dance (riverdance here we go) every night in the club house. He also tells me that Mount Gay Rum have sponsored Wednesday night in the club so im sure we will all end up there after the dinner for a few free rums, Murphys, Guinness and anything else we can get our hands (or lips) on. Also he told me that Appleton Jamaican Rum are trying to get their stuff in there as well so expect to see a few free bottles of that stuff floating around as well. (oh my god I feel a repeat of
the Mai Tai night in Hawaii coming on, for those of you who weren't there ..... dont bother asking anybody about it becasue nobody can remember a thing haha, last thing I remember is holding onto the wall for dear life, oh happy days, never again, well ok then, maybe i will) Crosshaven is a fairly small little sea side town and those of you who have tried to book somewhere to stay have probably realised that there is NOWHERE to stay as the BnB's have been booked up by clipper people for the last few weeks. There is however hotels in near by towns like Cobh, Carragline,
Douglas and Cork City which are all about 20 - 30 mins drive away, cars can be rented from Cork Airport which is again fairly close. John from the yacht club has put up an add in the local auctioneers to try and find a few holiday homes and JAMAICA has 1st dibs (thanks to mammy Moran) so I'll do my best to try and get a place for people who are on the boat because I
know you will all wanna jump off the boat and straight into a shower and warm bed, after a few pints of Guinness of course. But as I said, Crosshaven is small so I cant promise anything.
Apart from that, I wont be around for the next 3 weeks, I managed to get myself onto a yacht sailing from Florida to Spain and will be leaving tomorrow morning. I couldnt hack this life on land, showers every day, eating BBQ burgers every day, sleeping in warm bed, drinking cold beers in the sun. I much prefer life at 30 degrees, getting soaking wet every 5 mins, eating spam for dinner every day and smelling like diesel .... actually ... WTF am I thinking??? yeah, couldn't turn down a free sail across the Atlantic after I just spent my life savings sailing across the Pacific. So,I will be in touch when I get back sometime around the middle of June.

JAMAICA STILL IN 1st

The 6pm schedule reveals that JAMAICA Clipper are still in 1st position and now heading north with the rest of the fleet.

Western Australia's strategy going to the South early hasn't yet paid off although these are early days, however there move back to the north would suggest they maybe attempting to cut their looses.

New York have made a big move to the north over the last 12 hours and are now in a strong 2nd with JAMAICA. As we reported on Monday this race will see Hull & Humber and NY vying for top positions as they attempt to gain big points advantages over their close rivals.

Lets hope JAMAICA can beat them both to it!

Message from JB, JAMAICA now in 4th

At the latest schedule JAMAICA clipper are now in a vert respectable fourth after leading the fleet overnight. The jubiliation and tension that this stint at the front of the pack is clear from the messages on board, I'm sure you all, like me, are willing the boat along to a podium in Ireland.

MESSAGE FROM JB

To all those JAMAICA clipper crew descending on the village of Crosshave at the end of the month JB has asked that should you want copies of the boat photo's, now over 7 GB's worth, please bring CD's or USB sticks etc to take the pictures that you want. Cork will provde the best opportunity to do this as access to the boats in Liverpool will be limited.

THE OTHER F WORD.

Yesterday we spoke of the unmentionable F word. Not tempting fate we are still in that position but only just. Our 9pm to midnight watch saw calm seas & boat speeds down to 0 knots at times as Bob the Clipper just bobbed in the foggy stillness. Yes you guessed it F is for "Frustration". Yet it is the same for all the fleet. I am now on mother watch until 3am but spent most of it assisting on deck team. Like a scene from the film Karate kid, John "Mr Miyake" Brathwaite was urging "Yankee on, Yankee off. Windseeker on, Wind Seeker off" to try to eek every bit of boat speed to keep us ahead of our nearest rival Qing & the rest of the fleet. As the fog was just
lifting at 3am we could just see 5 other clippers' lights proving that there is still a very long way to go. We still have 41 miles to the 1st waypoint & 1,824m to Cork. Still, apparently Xmas in Cork is very beautiful! A new menu came on board in Nova Scotia and this evening's supper of cassoulet au saucisson was brilliant, providing enough wind to fill all our sails.

--------------

Another fantastic update from Nick and the team, it's great to get a real insight into what's going on onboard!

If anyone saw the clipper programme on TV last night please email and let me know what is was like! It would be great to post for more details about it on JAMAICA CLIPPER BLOG.
JG

DON'T MENTION THE F WORD

On board JAMAICA we don't want to mention the F word i.e."first" but we have just received the 1800 schedule & we are it! Now let's not get to carried away. There is only 10 miles separating the fleet & 1,841 miles to go but better to be here than bringing up the rear. After a frustrating yet beautiful day the schedule was met with a big cheer & applause by all the
crew members. The sea is calm, flat & there is very little wind on board Bob the Clipper. Great for a stable boat to ease the sea sick sufferers at start of Atlantic cross but frustrating for progress. Beautiful scene here with sea like a mirror, bright sun trying to break through & fog some 100m around the boat, it is sublimely tranquil. Frustration at 0 knots boat speed for
half an hour due to no wind but this frustration was lifted when Lisa brought up on deck not 1 but 2 home baked cakes, 1 lemon & 1 carrot. & guess what? The Boat started picking up speed. Tonight the menu is cassoulet au saucisson. Guaranteed to get the wind blowing & more propulsion.

JAMAICAN BOB TEAM - news from the boat

JAMAICA BACK IN FIRST!

Just finished my midnight to 3am watch & now on Mother watch. However as there is little demand for haute cuisine at 4am & having just cleaned the heads, I can take time off to update on our progress.The great news is that we are still in podium position, though there really is very little in it; better to be in front though. Spirits are excellent & every watch is doing their best to maintain this great progress. Following the battle with Hull & Humber yesterday when we were joint 1st with them we are pleased to report that we are 3rd yet they have slipped back....NOW BACK IN FIRST!. Not that we wish them harm but this is proof that we CAN out sail the team currentlyvying for overall 1st place in the race. Flat calm seas & bobbing about butthick fog over night has added a new dimension to the race. We now have apermanent radar watch for other ships & icebergs. However, fleet's slow progress due to light airs means we need more wind if we are to make Cork intime for all the parties which are planned. But with 1,896 miles to go thereis still plenty of time to make up.

Nick Jacobs posted by JG

Clipper 07-08 hits TV screens around the world

18 June 2008
The ten-part documentary series featuring Clipper 07-08 produced by Sunset +Vine I APP will be shown across the globe over the coming weeks bringing theunique story of the Clipper Race and the 400 crew taking part to millions ofviewers as the racing draws to a close in Liverpool. The character-drivenseries focuses on some of the people that have taken time out of theireveryday lives to take on the challenge of a lifetime sailing around theworld. Each of the half-hour programmes tells their amazing stories as theaction and drama of the 35,000-mile race unfolds. Sunset + Vine APP were commissioned by Clipper Ventures to produce the 10x 30-minute documentary programmes, using a combination of onboard footagefrom every yacht from every stage of the race, in-port material from all 14 stops around the world and helicopter / boat-to-boat footage at starts andfinishes.
Series Producer Adam Birley said: “The series transcends the boundaries ofsports programming by focusing the narrative on the diverse characterstaking part. The unique thing about the Clipper Race is that it is the only round the world race for non-professional sailors making it the sailing racethat is most accessible to a non-sailing television audience. For once,everyday people can watch sailing that means something to them, everydaypeople at sea dealing with the hardships of life on the ocean – the audience can actually put themselves in the characters’ shoes. This is a unique opportunity for a sport usually thought of as elitist.” Sky Sports in the UK will be showing the first programme of the series today(Weds 18 June) and tomorrow (Thursday 19 June) in the following slots:
Wednesday 18 June
Sky Sports Xtra – 1800 / 2300
Thursday 19 June Sky Sports Xtra – 0200
Sky Sports 3 – 0730 / 1200

Each of the ten programmes will be shown on a weekly basis in these regular slots. The series will be broadcast by a host of other stations around the world.Further schedule information will be published as soon as it is available.

JAMAICA in 6th

JAMAICA neck & neck with Hull & Humber whilst westernaustralia2011.com goesout on a limb and heads south.

17 June 2008 The penultimate race of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race seriesgot underway yesterday with the fleet of ten internationally-backed yachtssetting off on their final ocean crossing from Sydney, Nova Scotia, at 1300local time (1600 GMT). It was an anxious start to the morning for the Race Team as the Clippercrews woke to a light breeze but, as the morning progressed, the wind filledin and by the time the yachts slipped their moorings at the Sydney MarineTerminal at midday it had strengthened to ten knots to allow a spectacularstart in beautiful conditions in the harbour. Ricky Chalmers, skipper of Durban 2010 and Beyond, the first boat over theRace 13 start line, says, “What a fantastic, exhilarating start to the race,It has really pumped up the crew for the race across the Atlantic to Cork,and was hopefully as spectacular and exciting for those watching as it wasfor us on the water.”

The exciting race start was followed by some close tactical racing as the teams headed out to sea, not least between Hull & Humber and JAMAICA who have both made a beeline for the safety turning mark at the bottom ofNewfoundland. Skipper of JAMAICA, Simon Bradley, says, “An exciting duel with Hull &Humber has been unfolding as the two of us slowly pulled ahead of the othereight teams. At one point we were close enough to have a conversation without raising our voices, not that we spoke to each other as weconcentrated on trimming our spinnakers. This close quarters action hascontinued into the night illuminated by an almost full moon and a sky fullof stars.” The tactical moves made by the teams in the next day or so will affect thefinal outcome of this race. The big question, as in most ocean racing, is doyou go for the shortest number of miles, or do you sail more miles to tryand get into better winds? Opting for the latter tactic and searching for a better wind angle byheading south is westernaustralia2011.com whose recent return to form makesthem a team to watch over the course of this final Atlantic crossing. Skipper of the WA team, Martin Silk, says, “As we strike out on a limb to the south, spinnaker flying by moonlight, this race is feeling good;crossing the start line we initially led the fleet until the wind eased,then lost a little before changing sails. Then we managed to snag a lobsterpot and Clive (Frost) had to go for a swim and clear it from the rudderstock. This put us a good mile behind the fleet but somehow we managed toget everything trimmed right and soared up to the front again. As the lastnavigation light vanishes to port, we hope our bad luck is over for thisrace and the Grand Banks will be kind tomorrow.” With a low pressure system due to come off of the North American coast inthe next couple of days the skippers and tacticians onboard will be lookingover their shoulders and trying to position themselves in the best place toget most advantage out of whatever it brings. Joff Bailey, Race Director, says, “Any teams that move south early shouldget a better wind angle when the low pressure system arrives but at whatcost in the short term? Going for the direct route will give some short termgains but when the low pressure system arrives you may find yourself withstrong headwinds. In the short term the teams are having a great sail inmoderate conditions but the forecast for later today is for fog and verylight winds.”

Meanwhile on board JAMAICA: JAMAIZING! What a difference a few days make. Having arrived in Sydney in a storm ,Race 13 started yesterday in bright sunshine & calm seas. We crossed thestart line in 9th position but quickly picked our way through the rest offleet. Our midnight schedule confirmed we were joint 1st. At 7am this morning we are still in front of pack though with 2,000 miles to go & only 4miles separating the fleet there is a long way to go. We are currentlyplaying cat & mouse with Hull & Humber. Bizarre that in a huge ocean we aresailing within 200m of each other. That helps us to gauge progress. However,we must not take eye off the rest of the fleet who are some 2-3 miles to theSouth West. Both JAMAICA & Hull & Humber have been flying light weight spinnakers for some 12 hours. We have been filming them and they us so it should make great footage for the Clipper TV series soon to be shown on Sky TV. Check out the Clipper web site for details of when this will be broadcast. At the crew briefing we saw the first episode which made fascinating TV. Our very own Doctor Claire Maloney has a starring role! Lets hope that we can maintain such good progress.

JAMAICA IN 1ST!

At the start of the penultimate race from Nova Scotia, the JAMAICA Clipper blog is delighted to report that JAMAICA is currently in 1ST place!


Penultimate race of Clipper 07-08 starts in Sydney, Nova Scotia 16 June 2008. The penultimate race of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race series is underway with the fleet of ten internationally-backed yachts setting off on their final ocean crossing from Sydney, Nova Scotia, at 1300 local time (1600 GMT). The 2080-mile race will take them across the North Atlantic to Cork, Ireland.
It was an anxious start to the morning for the Race Team as the Clipper crews woke to a light breeze but, as the morning progressed, the wind filled in and by the time the yachts slipped their moorings at the Sydney Marine Terminal at midday it had strengthened to ten knots to allow a spectacular start in beautiful conditions in the harbour.
Durban 2010 and Beyond was first across the start line in a tightly packed leading group.

UPDATE:

Onboard JAMAICA they have taken a leading position to the north of the pack with Hull & Humber closely behind on their port quarter.

With the race as a whole now coming down to the wire Hull & Humber and New York will be the boats to watch in these final two races as they compete for victory in the overall series. The JAMAICA team have done a fantastic job to get ahead in these early stages.

We will of course be tracking their progress and providing analysis, reports, updates and insights on a daily basis for all the JCB (JAMAICA CLIPPER BLOG) fans.

Message from the boat

In glorious sunshine and flat seas, a complete contrast to the conditions we experienced on the way in, we crossed the start line for race 13 at 13:00, 17:00 UK time.
Next stop Cork Ireland in, we hope, 14 days where we look forward to meeting the many former crew members, family and friends who are coming over for our JAMAICA pre race end party. Following our excellent 4th place in the 250 Democracy race the whole crew is buoyed and focused on doing our very best as we set sail across the Atlantic with 2070 miles ahead of us. This was the first race in leg 7 when we were able to start the race within a harbour and the crowds were there to cheer off the 10 boats of the clipper fleet. We have been made truly welcome during our 3 day stay in this remote part of Atlantic Canada. So a final e mail to thank you all for your support before the mid Atlantic limits the messages we can send. With one very big love from the whole team on board JAMAICA

Nick Jacobs, posted by Jon G

Crews prepare for final ocean race of Clipper 07-08

16 June 2008
The Clipper crews are making last preparations today for their final ocean race of Clipper 07-08. They will set off from Sydney, Nova Scotia, today at 1300 local time (1700 GMT) for the transatlantic race to Cork, Ireland.
The fleet arrived in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, at the easternmost limit of the maritime province of Nova Scotia on Friday evening following the
200-mile race from Halifax. For the last six hours the yachts were buffeted by gale force winds, a reminder of the conditions they may well face during the Atlantic crossing to come.
The prizes for the Democracy 250 Cup, the race from Halifax to Sydney, were presented at Sydney Marine Terminal on Saturday by former Premiers of Nova Scotia, Dr John Hamm and Russell MacLellan, co-chairmen of Democracy 250, the organisation set up to celebrate 250 years since the establishment of Canada’s first parliamentary democracy. The province’s Tourism Minister, Bill Dooks, raced to Sydney with Nova Scotia whose crew invited him to sail with them during his visit to the yacht in New York.
Addressing the crews and residents of Sydney who had come to see the yachts, Mr MacLellan said, "Frankly, with those winds I would have wanted a minister with a little more theological training! I was talking to some of the crew yesterday and I asked them how they enjoyed the trip and there was no comment like, ‘I was scared senseless,’ or, ‘I’m never doing this again.’ It
was one-word answers like ‘challenging’ or ‘interesting’. These are special people and if I had my hat on I’d take it off to you. You are special people to be able to handle those seas because they were really something."
On Saturday Clipper Ventures Chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston celebrated the 40th anniversary of the day he set off to set the record for the world’s first ever solo and non-stop circumnavigation. Sir Robin left Falmouth with his 32-foot Bermudan ketch Suhaili on 14 June 1968 and returned 312 days later on 22 April 1969 to become the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world.
Last year Sir Robin completed another solo circumnavigation at the age of 68 in the VELUX 5 OCEANS, this time in his Open 60 SAGA INSURANCE. Earlier this year Sir Robin was awarded the Yachting Journalist Association’s prestigious Yachtsman of the Year Award for an unprecedented third time in recognition of his achievements over the past 40 years.
In 1995, Sir Robin founded Clipper Ventures with businessman William Ward in order to give ordinary people the opportunity to sail around the world. The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is now in its sixth edition, with approximately 400 people taking part in each race.

JAMAICA's AMBASSADOR DAN MONK also joined The crew of Nova Scotia and Sir Robin visited the Canadian Coast Guard College in Sydney on Saturday afternoon. The group toured the facilities at the residential centre including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, radar simulation suite and the largest bi-lingual maritime library in Canada. JAMAICA crew member and Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteer from Devon in the UK, who presented College Principal Madame Susanne Drouin with an RNLI flag.
Upon presenting the flag following the tour, Dan said, "I’m proud to present this to the College on behalf of the RNLI. Like you, we have also lost lifeboat men over the years and I would like to present this in their honour."
Sir Robin, who delivered a speech to the students, said, "I’m very aware of how important good training is at sea. Hands-on experience is crucial and it is good to see that you are maintaining high standards here. Please keep up the good work but I hope that I never have to call on your professional services."
The Clipper 07-08 fleet will set off on Race 13 from Nova Scotia to Cork, Ireland, on Monday 16 June and is due to arrive at the Royal Cork Yacht Club on 30 June.
REMEMBER JAMAICA PARTY ON THE 1st JULY.

It's now Sunday 15th June.

A very happy Father's Day to all those Dads outthere and greetings from Sydney, Nova Scotia. It's now time for reflection upon the Democracy 250 race from Halifax toSydney and the magnificent news that JAMAICA finished 4th. Now let's just put this into perspective: True this was a race within a race which means the positions don't counttowards the overall race points. However, don't for one moment think thiswas not competitive. Every single team wanted to win. We set sail from Halifax in relatively light airs. In typical JAMAICA fashion we hadn't really got our act together by the time the race started and thus crossed the line in 9th. However, some magnificent helming by Katie "Schumacher" Hearsum and greattrimming from the rest of the crew saw us outsail every single boat and moveup into 4th place.

Not only did we achieve that but successive watches managed to maintain theposition to cross the finish line on the approach to Sydney in the mosthorrendous, rough and windy conditions. At one point an "all hands on deck call" saw us hastily but above all safelybring down a Yankee 1 sail as waves were crashing over the bow as the boatwas roller coastering up and down the waves. A fantastic team performance made all the more impressive by many crew members suffering from the dreaded sea sickness. This is a truly wonderful group of people. So to finish 4th in spite of those conditions shows what an achievement thishas been. 4th is not only the best position team JAMAICA has achieved (5th was previously the best on this 2007-2008 voyage) but it is also the best performance this boat has achieved. I'll explain : In 2006-2007 this boat first circumnavigated the globe under the colours of JERSEY. In the whole of that race 6th was the best position for her. So to have sailed within a whisker of a podium position is credit to a crewwhich refuses to give up. And so to the next race, the crossing of the mighty Atlantic Ocean. For the Round the Worlders this will be the 3rd time they will have crossed the Atlantic having done so previously from La Rochelle to Salvador, Brazil and then from Salvador to Durban. Their experience will be invaluable. For the leggers, this will be a whole new, and somewhat daunting,experience. Indeed for some, including RNLI lifeboat volunteer Dan Garnett,crossing an ocean will fulfil the ambition of a lifetime. The crew briefing will take place at 1pm local time today. It will outlineroutings, weather forecasts and the very real obstacles of icebergs whichwill need to be avoided, yes, really icebergs! There will also be a sneak preview of a series of episodes which will beshown on satellite TV in the near future, documenting the 07-08 Clipper race. A great momento for the crew members and an insight into the race forall those loved ones back home of life on board. So onwards and upwards for the crew of the good ship JAMAICA under theexpert tutelage of skipper Simon Bradley. Here's praying for a safe and enjoyable passage and maybe, just maybe, a further improvement up the rankings.

Nick Jacobs postwed by JG

Message from JB

Hello from Bonnie Nova Scotia,

What a lovely place. After travelling round the world and arriving in ports as diverse and intense as New York, Salvador and Qingdao Halifax gets the prize for the most welcoming, calm and enthusiastic of the race. The stereotype of all people Canadian being polite and happy types is well found. We were greeted in the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron at 3am with a barbeque and beer after which we had a little kip. But only until 9am when they served us breakfast prior to us setting sail again for a parade of sail into the city of Halifax (just a short 1 hour motor round the headland). After parading up and down the river we were whisked away from the yachts to a short prize giving followed by a clam chowder welcome meal where we had to vote for the best chowder. The corn chowder won hands down, it had no clams but tasted great?!?! From there the evening was ended with a tour Mr Keith's Brewery which had been in operation since 1820, where they gave us free beer - God bless the people of Nova Scotia!

Ok, enough about the hospitality of the people of Nova Scotia, this is a yacht race not a year long holiday (honest!) Well it wasn't a great race for us, 10th isn't a happy place to be. Even though we are last in the overall standings we have only finished 10th in one of the previous races and in the recently we have been much more competitive. We had a good start in this race and were doing well. I think we then had a combination of a tired crew and unlucky decisions cause us to slip down the fleet on a few occasions. I know that I was exhausted following the the 3 short stopovers in Panama, Jamaica and New York and the close races between them. Well the race is done now and we're using this stopover to recoup and be in the best position to achieve a podium in one of the last 2 races now.

Which leads me back to the fantastic people of Nova Scotia. Today we were taken on a tour of the local area (followed by the APP production team who are making the documentary series of the race) to see a picturesque lighthouse at Peggy's Cove and then to the Bay of Fundy. The Bay of Fundy has the largest tidal rise anywhere in the world and our trip was to take a rib ride over the rapids caused as the tide comes in over sand bars creating 6ft waves that the ribs can surf, or slam into, whichever the driver desires. So, what do you do on a day off from a round the world yacht race? Go get soaking wet in a rib for 2 hours! It was like doing 3 headsail changes on the trot, although the change of clothes, hot showers and hot chocolate supplied afterwards was as far away from being on the yacht as you can get - a welcome change.

We're off to Sydney on the north of the peninsular of Nova Scotia on Thursday, they have a lot to live up to based on the welcome here, but I have the feeling it'll be just as warm.

One Love

JB

Hull & Humber wins Democracy 250 Race & Jamaica are 4th !!

13 June 2008
Hull & Humber has claimed victory in the Democracy 250 Race from Halifax to
Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The Clipper fleet was tightly
bunched overnight and all ten of the yachts crossed the finish line within
three and a half hours of each other. Hull & Humber was just 47 seconds ahead of second placed westernaustralia2011.com and 19 minutes ahead of third placed Liverpool 08.
The home favourite in the 200-mile race between the two ports, Nova Scotia,
with the province’s Tourism Minister, Bill Dooks, on board, finished in sixth place. The race does not carry points towards the Clipper 07-08 Race title.
All ten of the internationally-backed yachts are now in Sydney, berthed at the Marine Terminal, where they will stay until the start of the penultimate race of Clipper 07-08 on Monday. A busy programme of events is planned for the crews, starting this evening with a hot meal and music for the crews who have endured a rude return to cold water sailing following the last months
in warmer climes. The official welcome ceremony and prize giving will take place tomorrow.
On the dock to meet the crews was Clipper Race founder and legendary sailor,
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. Saturday 14 June will be the fortieth anniversary of Sir Robin’s departure from Falmouth on his record breaking voyage in Suhaili. 312 days later he became the first man to have sailed solo andnon-stop around the world.

The finishing times (all GMT) for the Democracy 250 Race are:
1. Hull & Humber: 12:35:43
2. westernaustralia2011.com: 12:36:15
3. Liverpool 08: 12:54:01
4. Jamaica: 13:36:28
5. Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper: 13:48:54
6. Nova Scotia: 14:08:19
7. Qingdao: 14:27:48
8. Durban 2010 and Beyond: 14:43:00
9. New York: 15:56:58
Uniquely Singapore retired due to rule infringement.

The democracy 250 race.

Thursday 12th June, 13.30, (17.30 UK) and we have just left Halifax for the short Democracy 250 race to Sydney to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Democratic Government in Nova Scotia, the oldest democracy in North America.
The good people of Halifax have fully embraced the arrival of the 10 Clippers in their City and have made us hugely welcome, putting on a series of events and welcome parties. Halifax is a lovely City which, for 2 out of the 4 days we were there, was shrouded in fog and mist. Apparently that type of weather is quite normal for the area. The City has a mix of chocolate box type wooden slat painted houses and concrete port buildings of her industrial quarter.
Her residents must be some of the most polite people we have ever met. We were indeed treated royally. And so on to Sydney where we are promised similar wonderful hospitality.
Currently we are making 6 knots in very light airs and are gaining on our fellow competitors. I'd like to suggest our current watch of 'haircut 100' Jon B, Katie, Dan and myself are rushed off our feet but the contrary is honestly the case. This is one of those "single tack, little wind and little
to trim" moments, hence my being able to write a piece for the site in the cool sushine of the afternoon, whilst still just in sight of land so that the e mail can be sent. Life is very peaceful aboard JAMAICA currently. So in roughly 36 hours we should be in Sydney, ahead of two and a half days before the start of our Atlantic crossing to Cork, a journey expected to take 14 days. It will be our penultimate chance to win a pennant for our team.
If you're so inclined please say a few words to Neptune and see if he can smile favourably on the Rasta Rocket. That way we'll arrive in Cork in good time to meet with past crew members, family and friends for a JAMAICA party which has been organised by fellow crew member and Irish dynamo Mick Moran.
Another hard day at the office .....
Nick

Posted by JG

A right stitch up!

Now I most profess that stitching was a big part of my 2 legs aboard JAMAICA. JB and I spent many hours stitching things on the mast and Lucy Mayo, Neil 'Whipman' Bone and I were often seen stropping together of a quiet moment.

However I've never seen such a 'stitch-up' as that ofj JB by fellow crew mates Lucy Jones and Lisa Gill who have kindly sent in the following picture of JB in Halifax. A prize to the person who can name the best haircut for our lovable watchleader, I think it has slight throwbacks to the 1930's, what what?!

And it wouldn't be fair if I didn't do the same for Lisa on JB's behalf!

Enjoy!

Kindest,

Jon

The best of JAMAICA Clipper

The good ship JAMAICA and her crew looking at their best

Spinnaker up and sailing down-wind
Pink flowers in JAMAICA, matching the new JAMAICA team shirts

Nova Scotia leads Clipper 07-08 fleet into Halifax

Nova Scotia led the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race fleet into Halifax yesterday at the start of an eight-day stopover in the province.
They were welcomed by crowds lining Halifax Waterfront and the iconic Canadian figure of a Mountie – a member of Canada’s Royal Mounted Police Force. The fleet sailed in formation, past George’s Island and Dartmouth before arriving at Cable Wharf at Halifax Waterfront, where they will be berthed for the next four days.
Among the welcoming party was Nova Scotia’s Minister of Immigration, the Honourable Len Goucher, who was instrumental in bringing the fleet to the Province. At the official welcome and prize giving ceremony the Minister said, "I want my Nova Scotia crew to know that I was Minister of Tourism when this all started and we’re very proud to have you all here and very
proud to have the province involved in all this. When I saw the Nova Scotia pull into the pier today my heart went about this big so it’s just great and I want to say how appreciative we are of everything you’ve done. Welcome and thank you for making Nova Scotia and myself and everybody else here so proud.
"On behalf of the Government of Nova Scotia I’d like to just take a moment to welcome you all to Nova Scotia and hope you enjoy your stay with us and enjoy all Nova Scotia has to offer.
"The spirit of the race perfectly captures the spirit of our province it’s a great opportunity to promote and boost Nova Scotia around the world. Along with our partners we’re very pleased to host the Clipper 07-08 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race here in Halifax and later this week in Sydney. And to all the crews, families and friends visiting us here today, I hope you enjoy
the time here in Nova Scotia and take time to experience all the wonderful things and beautiful scenery this Province has to offer."
Overnight the fleet arrived at Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, where they were welcomed with cold beers and hot food at the end of Race 12 from New York.
During the stopover the ten internationally-backed yachts competing in Clipper 07-08 will take part in the Democracy 250 Race from Halifax to Sydney, one of a number of events to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of democracy in the Province. The teams will set off from Halifax Waterfront at 8.00am local time (1100 GMT) on Thursday and will arrive in Sydney on Friday evening. They will set off from Sydney on their final Atlantic crossing on Monday 16 June.
During the eight days the crews will spend in Nova Scotia they will be treated to the hospitality for which the Province is famed. No sooner had they arrived and attended the welcome ceremony and prize giving than they were whisked off to be served chowder cooked by some of the best chefs in Halifax, followed by a tour of Keith’s Brewery, a reception at the Red Stag
Bar followed by more partying at the Lower Deck. On Wednesday crews will enjoy a guided tour of Halifax.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race was founded by legendary yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail solo non-stop around the world. Speaking at the welcome ceremony yesterday, Sir Robin said, "Thanks so much for a fabulous welcome for Clipper and particularly our crews to your lovely port of Halifax. I love this waterfront. I’ve only been here
once before, two years ago when I hit a whale and thought I’d better come in and do something about it. I know we are going to have a great time here."

Message from the boat as they approach Nova Scotia

Fantastic to have such a detailed report of race 12 from Nick. Today's email gives you a real feeling of life on board, the highs and lows and that sometimes there is no rythmn nor reason for what happens out on the water. This for me was one of the most difficult things to cope with, human natures makes us want to analyse what went wrong. At sea a whole combination of factors effecting you and the other boats all add together to give the results they do. The most important thing is the relationships that are formed and the happiness and safety of the boat and as Nick says the JAMAICA boat leads the way in these fields!

Onboard JAMAICA

First, apologies to all readers that we have not been able to send daily messages. We have had a communications problem on the good ship JAMAICA which has meant we have neither been able to receive nor send.

This has been an eventful race to say the least. We left NY one person down as Claire Maloney was flying back to Blighty for her brother's wedding. We look forward to her rejoining us in Nova Scotia. We set sail from New York on Wednesday morning having been told the day before that the forecast was for a super speedy sail North East to Halifax, probably to arrive Friday evening. How wrong could that forecast have been. The race was due to start at midday but the leg 7 jinx hit again as calm winds meant we had to motor further than expected and a new race start was convened for 5pm.

The Le Mans start saw JAMAICA pull away in 3rd then move to 2nd and 1st as other boats of the fleet actually had swung 180 degrees and were sailing backwards, so fickle was the wind. As you probably know by now that wonderful start has come to nought as we've just finished in - er - 10th. Sounds better than "last" but only marginally. We went from no winds to strong winds and high seas with the wind on our nose as opposed to the "winds up the chuff" (apparently a nautical term) that had been predicted at our race briefing. Wednesday morning saw the bright sunshine we had had for our short 48 hour stopover in New York exchanged for thick fog. It meant the photo shoots in front of the Statue of Liberty had to be cancelled. Indeed fog has been prevalent for much of this race. A first for me and really eerie that we have been sailing literally into the unknown. We left New York without having filled our fuel tanks as were the instructions for the whole fleet. Having made very slow progress we would have expected the race to have been called earlier so we could motor into Halifax for the scheduled arrival time of the early hours of Saturday morning so as to be in time for a Saturday afternoon planned welcome. Well it's now 4.30 pm on Saturday and we still have 12 hours to go before our new ETA ...... That is if our fuel holds out. The race committee asked us all to confirm our fuel stocks before they shortened the race. Scraping every last drop out of all tanks and jerry cans we calculated we have 250 litres. Our capacity is 1680 litres. It's going to be touch and go if the fuel lasts until Halifax so we are motoring very very gingerly indeed.

So what happened in this race for us to drop from 1st (albeit briefly) to not-quite-1st ? Very difficult for us to say. It appears that at some stage / stages we took a wrong turn. You can't believe how difficult it is to see the mid Atlantic sign posts in dense fog. There were also boats who made potentially risky tactical decisions which paid off : for instance Western Australia who went from 10th to 1st by sailing right over the shallow George Shoals when we sailed around them. Well we have a saying on board JAMAICA that safety never takes a day off so most definitely better to be safe not sorry, as I am sure all of you loved ones will be delighted to hear. In spite of our not terribly great performance morale on board remains good although obviously we are disappointed. We have proved we can sail as good as the best but this was not to be our race. As a fresh faced legger who joined in Jamaica it is clear that there are a number of people on board who are so tired they are counting the days to 5th July. That does not mean they commit anything less than 100%. On the contrary the effort is immense. However, having been on board for just a couple of weeks I already feel jaded so my fellow crew members who have been on many legs or indeed almost around the whole globe have got to be absolutely knackered (another nautical term I understand). Old hands or new hands regardless, there would be nothing that would make us prouder than to get a podium place to show our appreciation for all the magnificent support we have been shown by you all. We really must have the best supporters of the whole fleet. There's nothing better than to arrive in port to see so many JAMAICA shirts. Absolutely brilliant.

The shortened stopovers and corporate and PR tasks we have to carry out during those oh so short times on shore make recharging batteries almost impossible. In Simon we have a wonderful skipper who is trying so hard to be super human. Although he generally succeeds in this objective - as confirmed by his wearing his Y fronts over his trousers - he is fatigued to the core. His aim in Halifax is to lock himself away in a hotel room for a day or two seeing no-one other than room service. I hope land based duties give him the time to do that. A very lonely job this being a skipper.

Before I sign off I must stress the thoughts expressed above are purely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of either our crew or indeed Clipper Ventures. Indeed we receive a paucity of information on board so you will probably know more about this race and the tactics of other boats than we do. And so to Nova Scotia where we are due to arrive in the wee small hours of Sunday morning (a time of the day which henceforth will always be known by me as "Clipper Time" as it appears this is the only time of the day when we are allowed to arrive in port!).

We will arrive at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron (don't you know!?) at around 4am to be met by beer and breakfast. No doubt, after 4 long days at sea it'll be 1 beer then sleepytime. We are told immigration will take until midday. We will then sail in formation to the Marina in Halifax which will be our home for the next 4 days. The good people of Nova Scotia have prepared a full schedule of events for almost every hour of our stay in Halifax. I just hope our combined tiredness doesn't prevent us from collectively returning their generous hospitality. Thursday we sail to Sydney, NS, where we arrive on Friday with more corporate events and parties organised. Then to Monday and the start of Race 13, the Atlantic crossing to Cork when we will arrive first, yes we will, you know we will. Well, as long as we arrive safely and happily it will have been a successful voyage. Finally, I'll leave you with the one word which describes this race : "relentless".

One great big huge love to you all, Nick

Posted by Jon Gibbard

westernaustralia2011.com wins Race 12

westernaustralia2011.com has won Race 12 from New York to Nova Scotia in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race. Glasgow: Scotland with styleClipper finished in second place, earning them a sixth appearance on thepodium in this edition of the biennial race. Qingdao maintained their recentconsistent good form to take third place. Clipper 07-08 Race Director, Joff Bailey, says, “The crews have worked hardfor the last few weeks in frustrating conditions and had a whistlestop visitto New York where there was a packed corporate programme. In Nova Scotiathey will be able to relax and enjoy what will be a great welcome in Halifaxand Sydney. The province is renowned for its hospitality and I know theywill be very well taken care of here. Following the welcome and prizegivingthere are several events, including a tour of Alexander Keith’s brewery andparties at the Red Stag Inn and Lower Deck. Some of the best chefs inHalifax are going to compete to cook them the best chowder as well. And that’s just the first day!” The yachts are expected to arrive between 0100 and 0600 local time(0400-0900 GMT) at Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron where they will completeimmigration formalities and refuel before leaving for the formal arrival atHalifax Waterfront. The boats will gather just off Point Pleasant to position themselves for theparade of sail which begin at 1400 local time (1700 GMT) and take them pastGeorge’s Island, Dartmouth, MacDonald Bridge and Halifax Waterfront, beforemooring at Cable Wharf, where they will be based until Thursday 12 June. Thebest locations to view the fleet include Point Pleasant Park and the HalifaxWaterfront boardwalk from the Cruise Ship Dock to Cable Wharf.

Countdown to conclusion of Race 12 underway

The ten crews taking part in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Raceare trying to squeeze out every last little bit of boat speed on Fridaynight as Race 12 from New York to Halifax draws to a conclusion. Earliertoday the Race Committee informed the fleet that it will be using FinishGate 1 as the finish line approximately 100 miles from the leading boats’current positions. If they do not reach the gate by 1200 GMT on 7 June, therace will finish at that time and finish positions will be calculatedaccording to each yacht’s distance to the finish. Clipper Race Director Joff Bailey said: “Earlier today we informed the fleetthat we will be using Finish Gate 1, a gate detailed in the sailinginstructions that is located in an offshore position, due to the conditionsthe fleet is experiencing. Light airs and fog have hampered the teams’progress, and due to a busy programme of events for the crews in NovaScotia, it was decided to use the offshore finish gate rather than theinshore gate located 100 miles further north.” Earlier on Saturday, skippers reported limited visibility as they made theirway towards Halifax in painstakingly light airs. “Still appalling visibilitybut every time it clears we find ourselves within spitting distance of theother boats. All exciting stuff playing dodgems with blindfolds on!” saysQingdao skipper, Marcus Cholerton-Brown.

Meanwhile on board JAMAICA Frustration for Nick & JAMAICA Clipper Blog readers as his E Mail system is down but he has managed to send a very brief message this a.m. via John Braithwaite: I am using John's mail as mine is down. The boat mail system has been downfrom New York then when eventually it came back yesterday, I sent a long message to the blog site but it bounced back today. I have had to deactivemy account for 24 hours. Will probably be in Nova Scotia by then so I willsend a long mail from there. It has been a frustrating race. The start wasdelayed due to light wind then when we did start the wind was so light thatsome boats went backwards! Good start for JAMAICA - 3rd then 2nd. However,in rough weather we dropped to 10th place. Now very little wind. Four hoursto the finish line then we will motor to Nova Scotia to arrive on Sunday.

From JAMAICA Blog readers: We would just like to say a huge thank you to the JAMAICA crew for all theirefforts in the most difficult of conditions. A special thank you thismorning to John for allowing Nick to use his E Mail account to send info to the JAMAICA Blog - what team work !!. We do appreciate how valuable thesevery limited E mail accounts are when they are the only connection to family& friends so THANK YOU JOHN. GO JAMAICA !

Jamaica 9th

JAMAICA in 9th as the boats head north and with only 12 miles splitting the whole fleet there's all to play for with 400 miles to go to Nova Scotia.

I'm sure the crew of JAMAICA will be 'bouyed' from there success in the last leg and although JAMAICA are good friends with the Nova Scotia crew I'm sure they'll be wanting to see them come in a close 2nd behind JAMMA!

As you can see from the weather charts below the teams should be beating into a 15 knot head wind, this should allow them to use full mains and no 1 yankees but this will make life onboard fairly uncomfortable as there will be a good 20 degrees of heel!
Hopefully we'll hear from the crews shortly how life onboard is on this short sprint north!

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/marine/weather?03&LANG=en&WIND=g148

Kindest,

Jon

Race 11 Photos

JB Trimming on Race 11

Glasgow: Scotland with style to leeward

JAMAICA ON POLE

09:30 (13:30 UK) and we are motoring up the Hudson River to assemble near to the starting point of our race to Nova Scotia, which will be the Ambroselighthouse.

JAMAICA has been drawn in 1st place for the Le Mans start. Inreality this doesn't give us an advantage but we'll take every omen we can! Also as we slipped from the North Cove marina at 08:00 we were the last boatto leave. As the good book says "The last shall be first" so let's hope The Good Lord shines on the Rasta Rocket. If He does He'll be the only one shining this morning. After 2 days of bright sunshine in NY the overnight downpours have left a very foggy morning. The fleet photo calls in front of the Statue of Liberty have had to be aborted. Indeed fog is forecast for much of this short leg so a vigilant look out will have to be kept at all time.
Simon has briefed us and explained that the forecast if for winds of 20knots to the beam. Apparently that means approx 20 mph blowing from the side of the boat to you non sailors like me. It should lead to a fast race North. However we've just been told the wind will be highly variable ie changing direction constantly so that will be challenging. If the wind does blow we should make Halifax in just under 3 days so it could be late Friday night / Saturday morning when we arrive ..... Which will fit nicely in to the Clipper tradition of ensuring that the crews arrive in the middle of the night when there's sod all open! Which is exactly how we arrived in NY.
We arrived at 03:00 Monday morning and were told that we could not leave theMarina before immigration proceedings at 12:00. Given we knew we would be leaving again in under 48 hours this was a source of huge frustration. In fact we only were processed at 2pm so that really curtailed our already short stay.
The Jamaica Tourist Board asked us to attend a promotional street party at 4pm on Monday before the Race awards at 6pm so Monday was written off with Clipper and associated tasks. I should make mention of the street party where various acts came on stageto entertain the punters.
One who deserves mention was the Jew Maican - the only Jewish Jamaican rapper. No expense spared then. Yesterday (Tuesday) we had a corporate sail for the Jamaican Tourist Board when we sailed into the Hudson River for a photo call in front of the Statue of Liberty. With such a short stopover these events can be a burden however in the bright sunshine and having the pleasure of 12 happy Jamaicans onboard we had a great time. We were accompanied by the Jamaican Minister for Tourism who had come to NY especially, having seen is off from Port Antonio. Resplendent in his Jamaica Clipper shocking pink tee shirt he reminded me of those wonderful pictures of Nelson Mandela wearing a Springbok rugby shirt when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup. Could you ever imagine a UK Minister similarly dressed? I don't think so! That's typical of the wonderful Jamaicans we have met and they are getting more and more involved as this race proceeds. Having been the last sponsor to sign up to this race they now see the benefit to begained by this global race and are fully committed to it. We also had the honour of the Lady Director General for the JTB and also Sir Robin Knox Johnston, head of Clipper Ventures and probably the most famous yachtsman in the World. With such dignitaries supporting us we can hope for a smooth passage to Halifax. In conversation with Sir Robin he said that he and Clipper Ventures believe we are the happiest crew of the fleet. Robin doesn't suffer fools gladly and would not have said that if he didn't truly believe it. A great accolade for Skipper Simon and the way he runs his ship.
On a personal note I had a wonderful surprise when my sister and brother inlaw surprised me on the quayside. I had no idea they were coming to NY so inthe short half day I had off we had a great time catching up. And so, as we pass under the Verazano bridge I shall sign off before I lose signal. Back to the abbreviated boat based e mails for the next 3 days as we head North hopefully amongst the leaders of this race. On behalf of the whole crew sincere thanks for all of your support. Nick the cabin boy.

Thanks Nick for that splendiforous report.

Jon

Clipper teams tuck into the Big Apple

The ten-strong Clipper fleet was moored up in Lower Manhattan’s North Cove
Marina on Monday after arriving overnight at the end of Race 11 from Port
Antonio, Jamaica.
After just a few hours in the city, crews gathered at the marina for the prize giving party for Race 12. Commodore of the Manhattan Sailing Club Michael Fortenbaugh said: "I would like to welcome the Clipper sailors here to North Cove. It’s a great thrill for us to have you all here."
New York Sports Commissioner Kenneth Podziba, who presented commemorative
plaques to each of the ten skippers on behalf of the Mayor of New York, also awarded the top three yachts with their pennants for Race 11. He said he was particularly proud to hand the winners’ pennant to the New York crew.

The JAMAICAN team, buoyed by their recent stopover in Port Antonio, was keen to catch up on some Jamaican culture on Monday and headed for the Jamaica Day celebrations at South Street Seaport. Simon Bradley and his team enjoyed some Jamaican music and food to remind them of their recent visit to their home port.

Do you want the challenge of a life time?
Berths are now available for the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race.
Those interested in participating in the world’s only round the yacht race
for non-professionals can find out more by contacting Clipper Ventures on
+44 (0) 2392 526000 or email oceanracer@clipperroundtheworld.com

Ship shape

Once again on JAMAICA we are cleaning… We’ve scrubbed the floor boards out on deck, cleaned the heads, emptied all cupboards in the galley and attacked the dirt. We’ve pumped the bilges then scrubbed them too, waded through kit in the sleeping area and drowned any germs in anti-bac. The saloon lockers have been dried, cleaned and foodstores re-bagged and recorded on the inventory. Who’s to say life on the open sea isn’t all glamour?!

JB, Chris and Lucy pictured here on the way into NY cleaning the boards from the saloon.

Fleet arrive in NY

The ten-strong fleet competing in the Clipper 07-08 Race has arrived in NewYork at the end of Race 11 of the 35,000 mile race around the world.

The fleet of internationally-sponsored racing yachts will be berthed atLower Manhattan’s North Cove Marina, Battery Park City, for the duration ofthe three-day stopover. The marina has a webcam for those wishing to see the boats once they have arrived in the ‘Big Apple’ which can be viewed at http://www.thenorthcove.com/ .

Upon arrival the crews will have a busy couple of days getting their boats prepared for the next race to Halifax, Nova Scotia, which is scheduled tostart on Wednesday 4 June. Prize Giving for Race 11 will take place next tothe boats at North Cove Marina this evening at 18:00.

Well done JAMAICA

Congratulations to the JAMAICA clipper team on an excellent 6th place result. We are really proud of you.

Thanks to Bruce Braithewaite for providing this picture of the team on there departure from JAMAICA.

Whilst in JAMAICA the support crew and leg 7 crew were treated to a restful and relaxed time. We made lots of friends but I would like to extend a special JAMAICA clipper thanks to the following: Wayne the coach driver for taking us around Port Antio and making sure we were always smiling and had a drink in our hands.

The Jamaica Palace Hotel, our excellent hosts for the duration, Garfield and the other waiters made sure we were well looked after.

The Mocking Bird hotel, for throwing us a drinks party with the JAMAICAN tourist board! Dan kindly presented the JTB with an RNLI flag and card signed by the leg 7 crew.

Finally I'd like to thank Woody's restaurant where we had 3 excellent meals (4 if you include Nick's romantic dinner with Karen ;-) ). They looked after us very well!

Quotes of the week that will last with me for a long time:

Nick & Jon causing trouble - 'I think we got away with that' & Jon, Dan and Nick's early morning runs, yes it was a little hot!

The kind hostess at Woody's who announced the menu with such gusto - 'For starters we have Jamaican vegetable soup, made with alllllllllll vegetables................., no meat'

The crazy hostess at the marina - Lucy M: 'What's in the Jamaican salad?' Waitress: 'tomatoes.........etc' Lucy: 'Anything else?' Waitress 'Salad etc...........(then pushed for more details)....all the colours of Jamaica' Lucy: 'so there are pepper?' Waitress (little uncertain)....'yes'. Understandably Lucy didn't have the salad.

Kindest,

Jon G