Race 9 - Day 23
Crew Diary - Race 9 Day 23: Qingdao to Seattle
15 April

Sustained Force 11 winds, gusts to 110 knots, and the terrifyingly rare Phenomenal Z state combined to make this week on the North Pacific one that I will never forget. Neptune picked up this yacht in his palm, like a grain of salt, and blew her across the ocean. It was yet another reminder that our passage across this ocean is rare for good reason. While we do everything in our power to hold fast and keep each other safe, we are not in control of this world.

There were no major injuries to the crew and repairs are underway to the damage wrought on our sails and rig. Lizzie invited me to help sew our mainsail back together, and we used tools that would not have been out of place on the sea hundreds of years ago. The sail cloth of our main is so tough that each pass of thread requires the hammering of an awl to pierce the weave. Know that we are applying that same effort and resolve to cross each mile back to port as safely and swiftly as possible.

We worked on the sail most of the afternoon, on the cold deck, as the yacht swayed beneath our work. Waves that a month ago would have been marvellous swelled around us, but having seen them as towering giants we won't see normal waves, or our lives, the same way again.