Good day from a sunny Dare To Lead,
There has been some chat this weekend, perhaps instigated by myself about how nice it would be to be at home with friends and family, braai/BBQ burning away, cooler box full of cold drinks, people swimming in the pool, and some good tunes playing!
Think especially us round the worlders we are starting to miss home, and at times the day to day shore life, but we are enjoying a sunny day on board, music is playing, and the afternoon 'Dare' watch are getting sails rigged for the windy night ahead whilst 'Lead' watch take a well-deserved rest after a delicious Fajita wrap lunch.
On the racing side, we are back within the fleet after having trailed behind the first two to three days, we caught up nicely rounding Taiwan, choosing an inside route to transit the east coast of Taiwan. But unfortunately, this didn't pay off, so the front boats got stronger winds and took off, creating a big 100 nautical mile gap now. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. It's frustrating and you do feel the pressure of choosing the best routing as the Skipper, however that's sailing, and it's never over until you cross the Finish Line.
Wind has been very light since yesterday evening so we are currently making progress with the Code 1 spinnaker and mainsail in a NE direction and should have the NNE stronger winds fill in late evening making for some strong upwind conditions again towards the mainland, up towards Shanghai, and then perhaps some better conditions for the last part of the race.
Bye for now,
Ryan, Charlie and our happy Crew!