Race 8 - Day 7
Skipper Report
11 March

Bonjour, Ça va?

Joyeux jour des meres pour toutes les meres et amies de notre equipe sur le bateau a voile qui s'appelle GREAT Britain :-)XX

Happy Mother’s Day, June (my mother) hope you are enjoying a great weekend, look forward to seeing you in August. I know June will be enjoying the penultimate 6 Nations weekend, possibly watching the Wales v Italy game this afternoon with a glass of something. Well done Ireland, 2018 Championship winners I understand. Grand Slam for them next week? Looking forward to getting the latest rugby updates later from our own Scrum5 reporter; thanks Steve.

Well, what a difference a day makes, this morning awoken with a mug of tea and reports of a stunning display around the boat. So up on deck to see what was occurring and was greeted with the impressive sight of the coast of Taiwan [a visit to a pound shop is never going to be quite the same again having now seen the source of so many products]. The bright blue skies, dotted with Simpson clouds - fair weather cumulus – the coastline and the overall good feel start to the morning was somewhat blighted by the fact that there. clear about four miles to our port beam, was a Clipper 70, “Qingdao” (Morning Cap'n Kobusch), which has made a gain over the last day, in what has been a challenging last 24 hours in terms of an ever-changing wind angle.

The crew have clearly reflected on my slight outburst yesterday and the work ethic displayed has been fantastic, truly great all round. The helming in what can only be described as a moody wind, with the TWD (True Wind Direction) swinging this way, then back 45 degrees in a matter of minutes has been awesome. One minute we are being lifted then the next minute completely headed. They have been changing broken staysail hanks on the foredeck while the boat was heeled over at about 40 degrees. They have been shaking reefs out, conducting head sail changes in the middle of the night; currently preparing another one. We have moved over the last 24 hours from a three-reefed main, Staysail and Yankee 3 to a full main, Staysail and Yankee 1. Considering moving to the Windseeker, imminently. Yet another sail change which, I am sure, the Watches will throw themselves into; although I have noticed that some crew are developing a look that could kill a person straight then and there when I come up with another sail plan; I won't name them as it would not be fair, would it Alanna?

Now I would like to clear up my earlier statement, that I was “awoken”, which was true. Yesterday I mentioned that there was a semblance of late spring in the air, which was supported by Nikki from Visit Seattle in her blog, Hi Nikki... So, overnight I did get to my bunk and there was a noticeable cooler temperature down below so I decided to get my new sleeping bag out. Well, it was the first time I had got it out of the bag and like a couple, set up by friends who have good intentions, it did not get off to a good start. It’s very large and took up nearly all of the bunk before I got in as well. Then it couldn't make up its mind over which side the zip wanted to be, the right side or the left, one minute it was back towards me, then front towards. Then it appeared to want to keep itself warm and wrapped itself up refusing to allow me to get any cover at all. So, I didn't really get a good sleep. Not a good start to our relationship, but with Leg 6 less than 14 days away, I think it's worth working on. So, if you have any advice or guidance, please can you let me know, via the GREAT Britain boat, CV30, 23 45.8N 122 00.33E.

A “MD” (Mention in Despatches) for Matthias Stocker for his outstanding performance in the Galley. It started with some excellent fresh Bircher muesli. The food got better as the day went on, even producing a pasta bake dish, yes pasta on a boat again, that made you feel you actually wanted more pasta!

Some stats for you to consider in between the Sunday papers; DTF 770nm; over 51% of the passage has been run; Distance run last 24 hours was 188nm of which 141nm was DMG. Oh, did you know, Stewardesses is the longest word only typed with the left hand, and the 'dot' on the letter 'i' is called a 'tittle'!

Standing by the channel – out.

Dave