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Jesse Jackson, Cayman’s Laser Standard sailor, had a slow start to his Pan American debut after facing multiple challenges delivered by Paracas Bay on the first two days of the Games.

Light air led to problematic starts for several sailing classes on Saturday, August 3 and Sunday, August 4 causing two days of cancellations.

Despite another long postponement on day three of the sailing event, Jackson and 22 competitors in the Men’s Laser Standard class were able to complete the first two races of the Pan American Games regatta on Monday, August 5.

Scheduled to start at noon, with two races slated for the day the sailors began their first sail shortly after 2:00 pm CT. Due to the light and shifty conditions, the sailors were forced to abandon the initial race course causing further delays for the second race.

“Today wasn’t the best and I was kind of disappointed. I was just thinking about the first start […], I had a perfect start, but after the start I got some nerves in me and nerves really killed my performance,” Jackson comments.

Up against 22 athletes from around the Pan American region in Laser Standard, Jackson was the 22nd sailor to cross the finish line in race one and finished ahead of Cuba and Paraguay in race two.

Jackson must complete a total of 10 qualifying races. He is scheduled to compete in three races tomorrow, Tuesday, August 6 and three races on Wednesday, August 7. On Thursday, August 8, Jackson has two races with Friday, August 9 reserved for the medaling race.

“With this fleet, you need to be on your top game and need to be perfect or else the guys will just pass you, so that’s what happened today.” Jackson adds, “I got kind of frustrated. Frustration and the nerves kicked in, which is not a good combination and it was a downhill battle. When we started the second race I was kind of nervous still, nerves were kicking in, memories of the last race were still there and sadly it almost was a little bit of a repeat.”

For the Pan American Games regatta, the top 50% of the fleet will progress to the medal race. To advance to the final, the athletes must collect as few points as possible; the first boat gets one point, the second boat gets two points and so forth.

Heavier winds are predicted for today. The Race Committee of the Pan American Games Lima 2019 has scheduled the races an hour earlier, starting at 11:00 am CT.