As the fleet comes down to the last few hundred miles and the obligatory final wind hole of the race, we look back on the last few weeks we’ve just had at sea. It’s been everything the Pacific promised with high seas, high winds, coldness, wetness (above and below deck), knocks and bruises, gigantic sea birds, incredible spinnaker runs and of course, the kitemares to match.
Now we showdown with the light winds as our distance to finish ticks onto our final 100nm and with doing so, very much hopefully, makes this our final blog of the race.
Our little crew of 14 have made me so incredibly proud. Each of the 12 crew members have shown up and found energy reserves and levels to their performance I’m sure they didn’t know was there. I’m sure I’ve never seen every single crew member work as hard on any of the races that I’ve done as they have the past four weeks. The overall character of this group of people is one of extreme grit and determination, in any and all conditions, sacrificing sleep and physical energy for the sake of the boat, their fellow crew members and our common goal of making our Joker count into Seattle.
As far as the race is concerned, we’d love to get the job done and take that win over the hunting hounds behind us, but despite the race, I’m immensely happy with the performance of the boat nonetheless.
If you’re reading this blog retrospectively guys, very well done. Be proud. You’ve put on a show.
Hooroo cobbers,
Cam, Bob and the immense Ha Long Bay crew