Race 15 - Day 4
Skipper Report
27 July

As we left Derry~Londonderry, I told the Imagine your Korea crew that this last short race could include any kind of weather and all types of sailing - a circumnavigation compressed into a week. Turns out I was right: so far we have used every sail on board except the trisail, in winds ranging from nothing to gale force. With a large dose of seasickness from the lumpy passage between Northern Ireland and Scotland, we have been slightly underpowered and slightly overworked with all the sail changes, but everyone is pulling together and giving it their best.

In racing terms, this certainly seems to be a ‘rich getting richer' situation - the boats that started best seem to have stayed in better wind, whilst at our end of the fleet it’s getting lighter all the time as we try to stay ahead of another wind hole. This gives us an opportunity to admire the stunning Scottish coastline though - yesterday we had breakfast watching St Kilda appear out of the clouds and decided it could be Mordor. We then spent the day watching clouds and sunbeams chase each other across Harris and Lewis. This morning Orkney is getting closer as we start to thread the needle through the Pentland Firth and its fearsome tidal gate.

Cheers, Rob