Hi

Happy 4th July to all our American friends! We'll be having some Independence Day fun here onboard Nasdaq, and hope you do too.

Having spent the past few days converging around the end of our Virtual Ice Limit, the fleet has scattered now that we have passed the mark. Nasdaq had been chasing Unicef and Garmin for the Scoring Gate until Visit Seattle popped out of stealth mode ahead of us - good sneaking Nikki and great sailing by all three teams - well done.

We're now heading north-ish through some very tricky weather - big wind shifts, rain and limited visibility. Of course this darkest, moonless night would be when our compass light failed - leading to some intuitive helming by Ineke van der Weijden and some electrical repairs by Damien Egan and Johnny Cole (although you wouldn't pay them by the hour!). Having gybed under spinnaker a few times earlier today, and tacked under Yankee tonight, we are now back on Starboard tack, where we have spent the entire distance from New York ... and everybody feels comfortable again because they know where they are.

Some of today's disorientation and discombobulation amongst the crew was probably due directly to Vincent Rikkink (Legs 1 & 8). In the Nasdaq Bistro today, he misread the instructions on packs of Kool-Aid (a powdered squash equivalent) and produced two litres of a 'drink' around 50 times more concentrated than it should have been. The steaming viscous gloop twisted the face of anyone foolish enough to drink it - think battery acid mixed with limoncello. We have been diluting it ever since (before it dissolves its container!), so if any of the other boats want to join us for 4th July cocktails, just come on over.

Cheers, Rob