‘ello folks,
Well, still in Stealth Mode so I don’t want to give too much away, but know we are pushing the boat, in-between meal times and we have sacrificed brunch and afternoon tea for the sake of performance.
All is well onboard. We found ourselves having a giggly breakfast, I think it might be a mixture of tiredness and excitement, and again we had pancakes for breakfast! I think that’s the third time in a week!
We had some odd tunes to eat our lunch to, supplied by resident DJ Mark; Ned the Kelly Pollard AKA pretty boy, (you can find his face in a London tube station near you). Songs such as Bloodhound Gang - Discovery Channel and System of a Down - Chop Suey were played, it’s fair to say Mike Firby and JB were not fans, however Jacqui Webb was bobbing and tapping her feet quite happily.
It’s odd I don’t often miss the other watch due to our wheels of life making the watches forever mingled, but I felt like I have missed half the crew this leg. I suppose there was not much time in Cape Town to meet and greet and get to know them and it’s been a tiring and cold leg, meaning you go from on deck straight to your bunk without seeing some crew members, so I guess we will have to make a few outings as a crew when we get to land.
Josh, Hugo and the crew of Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam
P.S. The blog yesterday may have read a bit odd. Blair Goslin challenged me to get as many Master and Commander quotes in as I could, hence why it might of read slightly odder than my other blogs
A note from the AQP
We almost crossed an ocean, with only albatross and a few other birds to keep us company. And this morning, after smoothly switching from Code 2 to Code 1, Jacqueline points somewhere on the ocean behind us "'shoot', look what's behind us". 4404 nautical miles, 16 days and eight hours that we took to the start line in Cape Town, and our nearest competitor is within a few miles from us...
When I enrolled with the Clipper Race as First Mate, one of my fears was that there wouldn't be much competition, everyone crossing the finish at their own pace and meeting from port to port for some mundane gathering. So even if our boats are not as competitive as IMOCA 60s and even if we don't push our crew as hard as on the Volvo Ocean Race, it is still pretty close racing!