Crew Blog

Feeling the excitement

27 May 2008

Jamaica ploughs through the Atlantic with another yacht in sight

You can feel the excitement in the air on Jamaica. It’s day three of sailing and we are up there at the front of the fleet. We’ve never sailed so close to the other Clippers before, other than at race starts. Both Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and Qingdao are just in front of us, New York are so close to starboard we can read their branding, and just a few miles behind us are the white sails of Hull & Humber and westernaustralia2011.com.

Yesterday, we managed to overtake Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper. It took us a good few hours of just steadily creeping up towards them, and we spent a fair while maintaining a parallel course to them, but eventually our perseverance paid off and we managed to slip past them on the windward side. Obviously Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper just saw it as a challenge, bore away for a while and now we’re chasing them again, but it was good while it lasted!

Being so close to the other yachts means we can all see each other’s sail plans. As soon as one boat shakes out a reef the others follow. One boat does a headsail change and immediately the rest of us are up there on the foredeck changing the yankee. Like the most devoted followers of fashion, we’d ideally like to lead the way, but certainly don’t want to be the last to join the new trend.

The stopover in Jamaica was sadly much shorter than planned, but most of our new crew joining us there flew out on the original dates anyway. It’s seemed to really help the dynamics, as they’re all now rested after their holiday and have bonded over Jamaican rum, rafting down the Rio Grande and drinking more Jamaican rum, from what I can work out! We’ve inherited a relaxed, happy and enthusiastic new crew and the rest of us are picking up the vibes.

You know by now what this Clipper racing business is like, and how difficult it will be for us to keep up with the likes of Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper, New York and Hull & Humber. But you know what: we’ll give it our very best shot!

1. Lyndsay Pearson, Birmingham 29 May 2008

Hi Chris and Jamaica crew.
You all sound very upbeat and determined! All at home are watching your great performance on this leg - GO JAMAICA!!!
One Love
Lyndsay, Dan, Lucy and everyone!! xx

2. siany reynolds, At at my desk! 29 May 2008

Come on The Black Pearl and my favourite non-black boat Jamaica.See you soon Bradders...Love Siany

3. Alexander Pescott, London 31 May 2008

Go Lucylou !!

Hope you’re having fun Lucy, go kick some arse !!!

Alex

4. Mike Durber, Isle of Man 01 June 2008

Andrew

well done in your present position. Make the best of New York. Good luck and fair winds for the rest of the trip. Love and best wishes Edna Mike Gillian Alison and Stephanie. See you soon.

5. Grade 5 Class, Cape Smokey Elementary, Ingonish, Nova Scotia 02 June 2008

Hi there! We are the grade five class from Cape Smokey Elementary in Ingonish, Nova Scoita. We have adopted your ship in the race and we are so excited! We really enjoy reading all about it. We sent cards to you and we hope you like them. We are looking forward to your arrival in Sydney Nova Scotia. We will be travelling (a two hour drive) to the port to visit you and see you off on June 16 as you leave port. Best of luck in the rest of your race. We are all cheering for you!

6. Andrew and June, Sutton Coldfield 02 June 2008

To Chris and the Jamaica crew
Good to see you on the windlass putting your back into it and to read your news! We hope you have a good birthday in Nova Scotia and look forward to seeing you later after your safe return
Love from June, Andrew, Joyce and the Pikelets

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