One week in...

Here's another update from Jelte:

Jamaica Lime Green - 28 April 10AM

One Week In

Actually, it's a little over one week since we set sail from San Francisco. But after a few days, you start to lose track of actual days of the week. Everything on board evolves around the watches. You live from one to another and don't think about days as such.

After an exciting start tacking underneath the Golden Gate bridge, we headed for the first scoring gate along our route down to Panama. Unfortunately we missed out on points as we ended up without wind and saw the other boats cross the gate in front of us.

But since then we decided to go more inshore than any of the other boats, as we wanted to avoid a massive windhole along the route. This tactic has paid off, as we are now at the top of the leader board. The trick now is to stay there, which is not going to be easy.

Wind is Dying Going South

As we get further south, the wind is dying (as expected). All the boats are desperately trying to eek out every last knot of boat speed, and focus on their VMG. All of which requires a *lot* of focus and concentration for the person on the helm. And that is tricky when temperatures are rising to a scorching 40 degrees below deck, and even more in direct sunlight (which is usually what the helmsman finds him/herself in). Since we are now in different water to the rest of the fleet, we could find ourselves becalmed when they are not, and there by lose positions.

Fingers crossed it is them and not us that will run out of wind!

Positions 28 April 10AM

Notes From Clipper

Pete Stirling, skipper of Jamaica Get All Right, racing to its home port, knows the race is still far from decided.

“Going east seems to have paid off for the moment as YellowBrick had us in first place at the last position update we received at 00:00 UTC. This is great news but there is still a long way to go in this race and as conditions get lighter it will require a lot of focus from the crew and good tactics to maintain a position at the front end of the fleet,” he said.

Stealth Mode

Derry~Londonderry~Doire and Team Garmin have both selected to activate Stealth Mode. Derry~Londonderry~Doire’s position will be hidden from the rest of the fleet and the Race Viewer until 0600 UTC tomorrow. Team Garmin’s position will be hidden until 1200 UTC tomorrow.