The relentless sprint for swift progress continues for the fleet at the start of Race 11: #SailConnected with SENA with all eleven boats vying to get as far down the track as possible before the inevitable light air slows our way.
On Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam we’ve managed to pick up a point from the Scoring Gate. We spent the best part of two days chasing down Our Isles and Oceans and there was roughly 30 seconds between the two of us, and only 5nm ahead of them was Zhuhai, that managed to scoop the full three points by going on a nice little move towards the stronger breeze before cutting back out on a nice angle. Although slightly disappointed with only notching up the one point, it’s still a point and congratulations on the great racing was shared briefly over VHF between the three boats before we resumed the great charge to Panama.
Poor Flore, our OBR, has been thrown in at the deep end and has perhaps too much content with an extremely busy series of evolutions spanning across several days, as well as some incredible wildlife including breaching humpback whales (AMAZING), porpoises and carpets of millions of box jellyfish at sunset.
The few days of tricky helming has made it slightly difficult to try out new helms with only a few making it on so far. To try someone out while pushing a Code 2 in 30kts may be a little ambitious?! The evolutions, as tricky as they’ve been, however, have been impeccable. We achieved our cleanest spinnaker peel so far, our best drop/gybe/hoist kite change and a very tough Code 2 drop - as you might imagine given the wind strength. It’s very nice to see the new crew becoming more confident around the deck as we attempt more and more ambitious evolutions and there’s some great strengths that add a lot to the team.
Thought of the day: If doctors eat apples, who are they keeping away?
Finally, happy birthday to my Nana, Jean! Lots of love and I hope you have a lovely day