Ello folks, well this might be me penultimate blog so here we go!

I'd like to dedicate this blog to my round the world crew, but before I get to them, I'd like to say thank you to the round the worlders who could not finish our journey.

Thank you to Phillip (wombat) for the use of your sleeping bag. It has made 50%(ish) of my race much more comfortable.

Thank you to Mike Firby for all your skilled efforts and dedication on our sails. The Code 3 still flies proud and strong, oh, and you've left your glasses in the nav station.

Also how could we forget our old watch leader of Baywatch, Jerome, your method for teaching crew how to helm still gets a mention to this day.

Lastly, there is John Broomfield, known to most of the Clipper Race as Haz. If you were wondering, Haz is short for Hazard and no it’s not a reference to a famous footballer - a real pleasure and occasional headache to have on board. My favourite saying he taught me is: "Yes is the answer... What was the question?” So from myself and the crew we are sorry you were not able to finish your journey with us. We look forward to sharing all our stories together again. Yes Haz, even the ones about your socks.

I'll start with the first round the worlder I met, Jim Day (Harpo). Before I'd even met him I'd heard stories of this guy. On his Level 2 training he was caught in a gale, and was getting a Yankee 2 sail down whilst feeding the fish, if you get my drift. I thought then we have a really solid crew member on our hands, and he hasn't disappointed. I remember when me and Hugo had just finished a weeks training and he came down to the boat to meet us both, my first impressions were he was very jolly and very keen and this has never stopped. A little of me feels I've failed Harpo - my work is teaching people how to sail, and I haven't been able to get Harpo confident on the helm. So for that I'm sorry Harpo, we will have to get you in a wetsuit and a dingy (while it’s still warm!)

Where Harpo has excelled is pretty much everywhere else, he is our figurehead on the foredeck, our primary teddy bear for kite drops and when leggers join the boat he is the first to show them the ropes. That's leading by example, from cleaning the heads to emptying the bilges. His role for our circumnavigation has been the boat’s victualler and apart from there being a worldwide shortage of tuna and olives, he says he can never find them, he has worked wonders. From London onwards, the crew and I have eaten incredibly well, we get fillet steak almost every week and heck, for the last two days we've been having smoked salmon rolls. I'm always finding packets of chocolate or biscuits in my bunk and occasionally even a can of coke. I really can't write enough about how well and how lucky we've been to have you on our little boat, so cheers Harpo. I suppose my closing quote for you as anyone who has sailed with you before would be: "Three more weeks!!!"

Next up is our secret dark horse of a weapon, Jacqui Webb (always said her full name, never just Jacqui). Our boat owes a lot of our podiums and success to this kind lady. She is a right demon on the helm and has been known to spend six hour stints behind the wheel, so hats off to her. The patience she shows in light winds, where me and Hugo would shrug our shoulders in despair and sulk off, she would be searching for that breeze like a Labrador* searching for its tennis ball in the long grass.

She has turned her talents to many things on board. She has been a Watch Leader (got a podium) and she helped Harpo in the first half of the race with victualling, and in the second half she took over from Mike Firby with sail repair. She took to it amazingly well. Jacqui has had a heck of a workload coming straight in from the Philippines, having to go through our nine sails with a fine tooth comb. We probably shouldn't mention Leg 8 too much, but Jacqui and her team got us back up and running.

She's been sailing all her life and I'd always go to her if / when I wasn't sure or wanted some advice. Always a safe bet for an honest pragmatic answer. But alas, nobody is perfect, she is still able to change the crew's mind that listening to death metal is an enjoyable experience. Although when I was home last Christmas, I did enjoy a listen of ‘Carol of the Bells’ by August Burns Red, but I'd never admit it to you in person.

*Labrador is a compliment - it's my favourite dog!

Right, on to the Baby Lamb - now upgraded to the Baby Ram, Mr Manuel Yersin. A man of few words so I'll keep this short. Without Manuel on board I don't know where we would be.... hopefully still somewhere around the top of Scotland though. He has led this boat in such a way it inspires me to try and replicate it. He's as dependable as your wrist watch, more Casio than Rolex, but who wants a Rolex? They don't even have a light and who really dives down to 200 metres? (Probably Manuel!) This chap has fixed everything from the top of the mast to the heads outlet pipe and everything in between. He's fixed watermakers, engines and generators… add to this he is one of our top helmsmen. Myself and the crew just can't thank you enough.

An example of how calm and cool he is was when we went into Derry~Londonderry and were 800m from the dock (yes Harpo one more week) and as I went to put the engine into stern, the throttle fell off in my hand. So there we are stuck in reverse going up the Foyle River! In a worried high pitched voice I shout to Manuel. Calm as you like, off to the engine room he pops with Gary, where they manually select the revs and gears.

I'm in awe of what he knows and can do, plus he's just a really nice bloke. I've never seen him lose his temper, he's just cool, calm, collected and gets on with it.

Sorry Manuel, I feel writing this and saying thanks doesn't really cut it, but from me and all the crew you're a star and we're lucky to have you. I can only apologise for you missing that crew photo when you were stuck in the engine room in the Philippines.

And lastly the Elephant Trainer, Jacqueline Kavanagh. This is going to be a tough one to condense down to a paragraph. If you've sailed with Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam then you know you've sailed with Jacqueline. She is the life and soul of this boat and epitomises all that we do. We try our hardest - yet hardly ever take ourselves too seriously.

Jacqueline would lighten up any watch as she does any room, whether that's by opening up the imaginary bar, or starting weird conversations in the middle of the night - most that I can't repeat here - but for example, who would you eat first if we were in the life raft?

Maybe selfishly, she has made this race a joy for me. I'm 99% of the time happy to see her face pop up from the companion way (the 1% is her scorppey face). If you know that one and you're reading this you're one of the lucky ones.

Thanks for subbing my blogs - I really do think I'm making progress. It's just the spelling, punctuation and grammar that still needs a little work. Thanks for the gazillion pancakes you've made and for all the guidance you've given me over the last few years. The crew, and me especially, are really thankful for all that you do and have done and sacrificed to be here with us. You truly are a wonderful human being.

I'm looking forward to the Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam cruise reunion already. I hope you enjoy singing the song of the day in only the way we all know you will, best of luck in the World ARC, and my sincerest thanks.....

Song of the day: Xavier Rudd, Follow the Sun.......follooowwwwwwwwww!

Josh Stickland.