Having signed up for the full circumnavigation I was gutted to have to get off the yacht in Qingdao.

Travelling around SE Asia for 6 weeks I was weighing up the pro's and cons of rejoining the race.

I decided to rejoin in Santa Cruz for 3 main reasons:

1) To traverse the Panama canal,
2) To ensure my back was 100% okay, and
3) I had a lot of personal 'stuff' onboard (including EPIRB, GPS, binoculars, rig cutters, other electrical equipment, not to say my personal gear).

The leg to Jamaica was good but a couple of days before we arrived I decided to call it a day on the Clipper race.

Had I sailed all the way to Jamaica (and not missed the Pacific crossing) there's no way I'd have got off but, that not being the case, and all that's left was another Atlantic crossing, I made the decision to depart.

I really enjoyed the vast majority the race, learnt a lot from it, saw some fantastic sights and places, met some brilliant people but, in the end, enough was enough.

I'd achieved all I really could in the time I was there and didn't feel that staying till the end would be what I really wanted.

Next chapter begins...

A Le Mans start sees the start to the race to Jamaica.

This leg is a little under 500 miles so will take under three days, a short leg in comparison.

We get a fairly good start and are hopeful of improving over the next couple of days.

During the race we can see at least 6/7 of the other boats and as we approach the waypoint off of the east coast of Jamaica we are in 4th place with Hull & Humber, New York and Glasgow in front of us. Glasgow, less than half-a-mile away.

Closing on us are Uniquely Singapore and Qingdao. Just behind are Durban so a tight finish beckons.

Rounding the Morant Lighthouse the wind drops off and Singapore and Qingdao squeeze in front of us.

Singapore decide to take the inshore route and we manage - just - to beat them over the finish line but, unfortunately, we don't manage to close on any of the other yachts and finish 5th.

Well done to all for an exciting race, especially to Hull & Humber, New York and Glasgow who take podium positions.

The last of the Clipper yachts to go through the Panama Canal we traverse with Jamaica, Qingdao and Nova Scotia.

Won't write much about it here (hooray) but if you want to know more, click on this link to the Wikipedia website: (Wikepedia - Panama Canal).

A pretty grey miserable day to start with (hey, that's life! )

Once the pilot boarded, we moved off towards the canal:

...and through the locks:

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... to the Caribbean.

It's an amazing feat of engineering and I'm pleased to have travelled it. (Corinth canal was better though )