So, it’s been an eventful few days on Dare To Lead. We had a quick dash through the Ocean Sprint. The small depression the whole fleet went through, and now we’ve just had a quick stop in the Philippines too!
The Ocean Sprint was good fun, it was nice to see the crew get an extra spend of energy to try and get a few extra points, and the small depression made it all the more interesting. The Clipper 70s are good boats to sail, but they really come alive when you give them a bit of strong breeze and heavy swell to play in. We had sustained 35 knots for around 12 hours, and though the Luzon Straits lived up to their reputation and gave us some very confused seas, we still managed to find a pattern to catch a few waves. Unfortunately, a few days prior to the Ocean Sprint one of our crew members sustained an injury to his wrist, and though it wasn’t an emergency to get him off, it was decided that it was better for him to step off the boat sooner rather than in a weeks' time in Ha Long Bay. The drop off went smoothly and we’re already back on our way, making good speeds toward Virtual mark Light. Despite the setback, the crew is in high spirits. We all wish the best of luck to Anton, a speedy recovery, and we hope to see him again at some point there’ll in the future. Now, we look forward to the last 1000nm to Ha Long Bay, it’s looking like there’ll be lots of more idyllic downwind kite running before finally turning north onto the final stretch into Ha Long Bay. For now, we're probably about as anxious as the rest of you to see where seemingly half the fleet will pop up out of Stealth Mode, not just to see who’s in what place, but also to see what routes are paying off. Although we get a lot of weather information, when you’re further back in the fleet you get the benefit of the rest of the fleet’s hindsight, seeing where looks to have better winds and currents in comparison to what the forecast is saying. Unfortunately, that’s all we have for today, as I write this, we’re just getting ready to round Virtual mark Light and there will be a few sail changes associated with that.
Charlie, Ryan, and the Dare To Lead Crew