Race 3 - Day 12
Skipper Report
04 November

Good morning,

We have been busy again, whizzing along and eating up miles. By the time you get to read this, we will have less than 1000nm to Cape Town and of course a cold beer.

Yesterday was a special day, being Sunday, not for religious reasons or for the end of a great sporting weekend but because on Imagine your Korea it was the day that the need to change underwear seemed to be greater than the effort of doing so at 40 degrees. So it was clean undercrackers day, more significant than you might think!

We all stayed in last night, largely because at 35 57s 005 35w there are not too many cinemas, restaurants or bars, so we just focused on sailing our magnificent sailing machine fast and straight. Our ranking is currently 6th but we have no idea how the computer works that out. We reckon we are 4th but nothing counts until the horn at the finishing line in any event.

The smell in our port tunnel (where half of the crew sleep) got worse so Jo decided to take it upon herself to track down the source of the smell. Like a bloodhound, her sense of smell led her straight to the culprit, it was Sam. Unknown to Sam, one of the crew had been sorting the freezer which is right next to his bunk and presumably put a bag of chicken under his bunk while they shuffled the contents of the freezer. Clearly, I’m guessing and hoping, they forgot that they had put it there and so it progressively festered. The good news is that Sam doesn't smell as much as Jo originally thought!

Kate has been helming at night for the first time. She joined us in Punta del Este and drove like a demon in a laser-straight line focused on a star that appeared to be over Cape Town (remind you of another story?). And that was great, as she sped through the sea creating a white wash and some colourful luminous, until the star disappeared behind a cloud and her orientation went. She then appeared to start scribing her name in the sea with the same wash. I need to tell you that her full name is Jekaterina Gaplevskaja and this caused us some issues and so Kate took a rest from the helm until a new star appeared or she got a shorter name.

Gao and Richard have been in the galley today and we have had some wonderful food, thank you Gao. What great cooks they are! Gao has specifically told me not to tell his wife that he can cook, so I haven't told her.

We will be in the Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint by the time you read this and the forecast is that we should have plenty of wind powering us progressively closer to Cape Town. Although, at the time of writing this, we seem to have run out of some puff, so fingers crossed. The South Atlantic is all or nothing from a wind perspective.

Rob has been busy suppressing his delight of South Africa's win in the rugby, largely because of the high content of English crew and the depth of the water. I'm quite sure he will celebrate when he gets shoreside in his home country and the table turns.

Thiery has been busy collecting more data and doing his planning for our 06.00 meeting to discuss tactics for the day. This all seems to be working very well, thanks to our resident Swissman.

Normal love and regards,

Mike, Sam and he crew of Imagine your Korea