Race 9 - Day 20
Crew Diary - Race 9 Day 20: Qingdao to Seattle
12 April

Dare To Lead has become a roller-coaster over the last 48 hours. Waves, wind and hail stones have been battering the deck while we try and find some stability as the boat lurches from port to starboard with the occasional crash as we fall off the back of a wave.

Mother Watch is no longer a reprieve from being on deck. Instead you spend your time dodging items as they fly across the Galley and out from the cupboards. Our sugar pot has flow out of the cupboard the past two mornings meaning the pot has had to be refilled, we won't dwell on the mess that it makes in a very damp environment!

Breakfast can be a little repetitive, condiments and cereals are the same everyday but one particular legger is starting to cause a stir which seems to be catching on. It all started with Charlie M and his porridge with peanut butter and honey, now he is taking his toast with Nutella and jam! Other crew members are starting to mix it up a little, combos have included; Peanut butter and Marmalade and, Peanut butter and jam (Fairly common). I think the crew are missing the luxury of variety.

Winds have been seen in the high 50-60 knots but as we are currently downwind we are having a much smoother ride than if we were trying to face it head on. Which means our miles are still counting down towards Seattle...under 2,000NM!!

For now, we are all wrapping up in many layers both above and below decks, hand warmers are out in force and spirits are still high. It amazes me how much you get both annoyed and amused each time you are hit by a wave escaping across the deck, laughter and shouts are heard each time as the on deck crew compared how much they were hammered by the wave compared to the person sat next to them. The round the worlders have become quite adept at knowing when a wave will be rolling across, there's a sound that they make just before which gives you that extra second to prepare or if you're below deck it gives you the chance to ensure you are away from the danger zone that is the companion way.

Sam had an unfortunate encounter with the contents of the grey tank yesterday morning as she attempted to use the heads. The sinks were backed up for the second time on this leg only, this time instead of just sitting in the sink the plug was actually regurgitating black, smelly liquid. The first we knew about it was the yelp followed by a few choice words, at first I thought the worst had happened...I'll leave you to think of what the worse could be (For those that do not know let me just say that there is no push button flush but instead a hand pump on our toilets).What we later found out was that the boys had already been in the heads, seen the mess and just left it there – Sam was about to see red when luckily Dani our On Board Reporter for this leg stepped in and kindly offered to clean up the mess so that Sam could get her head down for some vital sleep.