Here's the latest update from Jelte onboard Jamaica:
Well we've just had a pretty shitty 12 hours. Last night there was a small "thunk" and the boat started to play up. Not responding as well as she should and getting no where near the boat speed we should given the apparent wind we were getting.
We got the GoPro out and filmed the keel, rudders and prop and found there was something stuck on the keel. We couldn't do much overnight, so we lost massively to the other boats. At first light this morning, we dropped the kite and sent Adash (watchleader) over the side for a swim. Result: one massive fishing net with a dead giant sea turtle!
Having now removed the offending bit of netting, our boat speed is back up and we're back on course due East. We managed to hold on to our second place (according to our calculations rather than Yellow Brick; as they are measuring to the wrong finish line), but we have some serious catching up to do!
Ladies and gentleman: please fasten your seat belts, and prepare for WARP
SPEED!
PS. fishing for turtles is highly illegal... we're not sure if this net was intentional or if the turtle was simply unlucky... sad
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Sunday, 27 April 2014
One week in...
Here's another update from Jelte:
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.
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!
Pete Stirling, skipper of Jamaica Get All Right, racing to its home port, knows the race is still far from decided.
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| Jamaica Lime Green - 28 April 10AM |
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!
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| 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.Windholes and Mexico
Just received another quick update from Jelte onboard Jamaica:
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| Jamaica - Lime Coloured |
Windhole
Looks like our tactics to go north of a windhole (which we predicted would stop everyone else) hasn't paid off so far. But we shall see in the next 24 hours if going inshore in Mexico pays off. It's a bit of a gamble, but then you got to try something.
It's boiling hot here now, and having spent the last 6 hours in almost no wind it's impossible to keep cool. There's also almost no shade as the sun beams down from high in the sky.
Note from the Skipper Report
"The wind is getting lighter and the temperatures are getting hotter. The racing is still very close and each schedule we make some gains and we make some losses on the rest of the fleet.
Gains and losses are largely down to which tack boats are sailing on as there is most definitely a losing one and a making one but in order to make our way south east we all have to gybe our way downwind. Snippet from Skipper Report - Pete Stirling"
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| Fingers crossed the in-shore tactics will pay off! |
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