Race 14 - Day 3
Crew Diary - Race 14 Day 3
01 July

Day 3 racing on board Qingdao, now we’re sailing in the North Atlantic, positioned at latitude 38 and longitude 65.

I can’t believe it’s Leg 8 already. Time flies and looking back at the last ten months at sea, the Qingdao yacht voyaged through various oceans of the world. I’m reluctant to believe that I’m leaving when Qingdao finishes the Clipper 2019-20 Race.

Maybe I’ve gotten used to this way of life, it’s pretty rough at sea, although I’ve always looked at this as a test of life pushing personal boundaries and forcing myself to blend in as soon as I can at extremes.

At age of 26, I’ve already got nearly 80,000 miles under my belt. This process began when I pushed 20. By way of sailing, I’ve experienced different marine cultures and reached various ports of the world. I think this is something worth recalling for a lifetime.

Since leaving New York, Qingdao has been sailing south west, although the destination Derry~Londonderry is actually in the east, but we are seeking a better route by going for the Gulf Stream, which starts from Mexico and runs northwest to Europe. Qingdao wanted to get into this ‘express’, which would help increase our speed by 2-3 knots. On the the first day of sailing during the daytime, we kept at a speed of 11-12 knots, which was very decent!

Due to a bad call from the First Mate in the morning, Qingdao ran off from the ‘express’, and by the time we realised this, we were way off the edge of the current, which was fatal. Our original plan was to take advantage of the current while going into Stealth Mode for 24 hours for a better position, but now it looks like a very different picture.

During the last 24 hours, Qingdao dropped from a decent tactical position to tenth, which brought even more challenges to us. However it’s just Day 3, and there’s still about 2500 miles to go, so there’s all to play for. What we need to do now is to ‘figure out how to make the boat go faster.’

The marine blue of the Atlantic is fascinating: dolphins, sharks and whales keep showing up. Looking at this marine wildlife living a free life here makes me happy for them. However the last thing we want to see here is waste in the ocean, no matter how far these waters are from human habitats, you can always see garbage, and this is the last thing we want to see.

Now we continue to sail northwest hoping that we can catch up with the others ahead. Qingdao has just got its rhythm, which is not to be spoiled. Fair winds and safe sailing to us, may we reach Derry~Londonderry as soon as we can.