Hello Everyone,
Hope it's been a good, productive week back on land and you are all looking forward to the weekend ahead!
Life is good on board Dare To Lead. The cold temperatures are definitely getting felt now and the dry suits are starting to be used quite a bit. You really look forward to jumping in your nice warm sleeping bag after watch and it's always easier getting a good sleep in cold conditions over extremely hot conditions. The hard part is getting out your warm sleeping bag into a cold boat and putting on what feels like 25 layers of clothing!
Our Ambassador Des just helmed for the first time ever! He's always been extremely scared to try, so since he has now conquered all other areas, even the bow in bad weather, I managed to convince him to take the helm. He was nailing it, so I asked how he was enjoying it and he replied, “I'm so scared still that my right leg is shaking so badly.” Think the nerves will disappear soon and he will be back for more helming that's for sure, what a champion!
Otherwise, progress has been very good. Together with our friends on PSP Logistics, we are busy transiting between two high pressure systems, so this afternoon the sea state was extremely confused, wind very shifty up and down, sky wanted to open up from time to time, plus the rain was on and off the entire day. Due to this, speeds were a bit lower than usual, but we should be back to good averages tonight while we ride this high pressure for the next day or so before catching up to a very big low-pressure system later this weekend. This should bring us some top speeds and exhilarating conditions, hopefully throwing us downwind almost to the Ocean Sprint!
Oh, and I guess you don't have a long weekend like we do on board Dare To Lead? We are crossing the International Date Line tomorrow afternoon meaning we go back one full day, bring on the long weekend!
Bye for now,
Ryan, Charlie and our troopers