Race 12 - Day 12
Skipper Report
08 July

Good morning folks,

It is bitterly cold both on deck and below as we chase the remnants of the front east towards the Donegal coastline. From this time yesterday, we've been through the spinnaker wardrobe and are now on our lightweight, trying to squeeze as many miles as possible out of each knot of wind. We have a long following swell which initially makes helming difficult but then pushes you onto a surf as each wave passes.

Yesterday was also a photo shoot day for Patsy, our newest crewmember, he's been just next to the helm for most of this trip but took a wander around the boat helping out on the bow, sweating halyards, cleaning the heads, and doing some navigation amongst other things. It seems he has a soft spot for peanut butter and those Lindt chocolates, but being offshore for so long who doesn't I suppose.

We've had the schedule of events for Derry arrive in the email inbox yesterday and it looks to be packed with exciting stuff. The boats who took the southern route way back and the Scoring Gate points have clearly now come good and will be finishing soon, Unicef, Visit Seattle and Garmin have sailed a great race, well done.

We are watching out for Dare To Lead and Sanya Serenity Coast whom we sailed north with then, we haven't seen another Clipper Race boat in over a week, I wonder who we will meet up with before the finish? We remain 300 miles to go and eeking every last bit of speed out of the good ship HotelPlanner.com and regardless of our finish position we know we've all had a good time and a tough challenge. #bringingpeopletogether