A good start and hoist of the medium-weight spinnaker meant that team Derry~Londonderry~Doire was soon into 1st place coming off the start line and leaving the Marsdiep.
Unfortunately a question over which buoy was the correct buoy to go around meant there was enough doubt in my mind to make a small detour dropping our kite, re-rounding buoy "T1" not "TX1" re-hoisting our newly mended lightweight spinnaker and re-joining the pack. This dropped us back from first to last but a shifting light wind and great work from the crew allowed us to work our way back amongst the top few boats.
LMAX Exchange was putting its Skipper Olivier's match racing skills to good use and it became apparent that no amount of quick or sneaky tacking was going to allow us to break free from LMAX Exchange’s cover so we focussed on sailing fast, got into some clean wind and have since been able to sail our own race.
We are currently approaching the second mark of the course and will soon turn south west towards the entrance to the Thames where we'll have sandbanks, tides and 11 other yachts all eager to win into London and boost their overall result to contend with.
For now however the crew and the boat are both going well and ticking off the final miles while we push hard in the final stages of Race 14 and the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.