LAT 9 24.7N
LONG 079 54.3W
COG 030
SOG 8.5
At 0001 Panama local time Gold Coast Australia slipped lines from Shelter Bay Marina and proceeded to sea in company with Visit Finland as we commence to chase down the rest of the fleet prior to an expected race start tomorrow.
The departure was delayed following the failure of an international carrier to deliver an engineering part to Panama from the US last week, which resulted in a Clipper Race staff member flying in from the UK last night local time with a replacement.
The gear box arrived at about 2200 at night from the UK and maintenance guru Jay Haller and I worked flat out to install the new gear box that was shipped from the UK in multiple pieces in record time.
After a few tests we slipped lines and proceeded to sea and the all systems appear normal at this stage. I am confident that we will not have any problems with the new gear box but will be monitoring it closely over the next few hours.