And we're off! Yes, after an enjoyable but prolonged stopover in Airlie Beach, it's good to get out on the water again. For anyone who hadn't already heard, the whole fleet was delayed with watermaker issues - this really puts into perspective the fundraising that the Clipper Race is doing for Unicef. We delayed starting our yacht race in a holiday destination, whilst part of Unicef's work provides water to schools and villages in poorer countries, which would otherwise never have access to clean water. Please reflect on this and how fortunate most of us are, and give generously:www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rob-graham-imagine-your-korea is my donations page, but if you are supporting other crew they might have their own - all donations go to Unicef, and all donations make a difference. There is more information on Unicef fundraising and projects on the Clipper Race website.

Imagine your Korea had a major crew changeover in Airlie Beach, and joining us here are: Imogen (more of her later), Annette Rolfe, Tim Devine, Phillip Gabriel, David Rankin, Katja Mravlak, Tom Bedford, HP Bichelmeier, Elaine Leigh, our two Korean sailing ambassadors Inbeom Kim and Yooyoun Cho, and 1080 Media crew Maeva Bardy.

A total of 22 people on board makes for a very cosy boat, especially through the tropics. We are expecting light and variable conditions initially, before (hopefully!) finding a steady monsoon wind if King Neptune allows us to cross his Equator. We also have the tactical decisions around the Doldrums Corridor, plus the usual Scoring Gate, Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint and Stealth Mode...so Race 6 is nearly as much thinking as sailing!

Right now though, we're motorsailing through the Whitsunday Islands and enjoying the sight of so much serenity. Our Le Mans start area is outside the Great Barrier Reef, and we plan to start there tomorrow afternoon local time (UTC +10).

Cheers, Rob

Imagine your Korea and the fleet had a gentle introduction to Leg 5, motoring out through the Great Barrier Reef for our Le Mans start. We did some refresher training along the way, to help bring our newly-joined crew up to speed with how things are run onboard. Most people know the Great Barrier Reef as one of the world's top diving locations, but Imagine your Korea's AQP Sam Cooper chose ascent over descent this morning: he climbed the mast to attach a spinnaker halyard. From his bird's eye view, he claims to have spotted a huge sea snake swimming alongside us, which was completely invisible (and possibly imaginary) from deck level.

Unfortunately, the weather is not going along with our racing plans - having been able to sail overnight, right now we have insufficient wind to begin, so we are still motoring along our route waiting for the breeze to fill in. Imagine your Korea is the lead boat for the Le Mans start, meaning that we make the decisions on whether, where and when to start, the sail plan, and the heading. So, I should stop typing and check conditions on deck.

Cheers, Rob

Ahh, silence at last...the engine went off at 06:59 local time this morning, with the fleet lined up either side of us for the Le Mans start (our first of this race). Rob was acting as race officer, so we were right in the middle and he had the unenviable task of corralling eleven Clipper 70s in to a straight line. With a little bit of breeze and the slightest bit of rain in the start sequence this happened without much fuss and our race to Sanya began cleanly.

As Rob blew his whistle, the crew launched forward and hoisted the staysail and Yankee 1 simultaneously. For the first couple of hours, it was slow but steady progress almost due North. Our Korean ambassador Inbeom Kim settled in to the pulpit and kept us in trim, Hans-Peter Bichelmeier (HP) kept up a running commentary on the other boats and the wind so that I could focus on driving. A few boats opted to go higher and slower, one tacked off early, and we worked hard and were rewarded with the sight of most of the fleet behind and below us. Qingdao got their noses out in front, so we focused on reeling them slowly back in. The fleet then began to split, as boats took their turn on the pretty awful but probably necessary port tack, with the exception of a few who held out and kept pushing North. Unfortunately, since those blissfully simple early hours the wind has abandoned us almost completely. Despite the wild optimism of our weather routing software, which suggests that even in our current 3.3kts of wind that we should be going steadily North-East, we are in fact barely drifting along in a much less useful direction. The windseeker is doing about as much work as the laundry hanging on our pushpit, and the on watch are just glad that sitting low and forward happens to coincide with the one patch of shade on deck. Down below the silence is broken only by the buzzing of a dozen mini fans, including one which has already had its decibel level compared to that of a fighter jet. In these conditions there is no way out other than to keep making the best of what little puffs you can find. This can be frustrating and tiring in a way that heavy weather sailing is not - many people find that continually mustering the energy to focus and keep changing things when there is so little reward for your efforts is much more draining than getting beaten up by wind and waves. And with that in mind, I'd better go back up and stop hiding in the nav station...

All the best from Imagine your Korea,

Sam and Rob.