Here we are, still cruising along. Although now on a more uncomfortable close-hauled point of sail, in building wind and sea state. Seems we have finally reached the outer edges of the Hawaiian low that much has been written about already. But as it moves away at about the same rate as we are going, we will probably not get anything heavy from it. On the other hand, it keeps changing its mind on course and speed, so who knows.
We are still in our little pack with Qingdao and UNICEF. Still each doing our own thing, which is still very much the exact same as the boat next door. Zhuhai has realized we've got a good thing going so is trying hard to get in on the action. Understandable, but we will make them work hard for that privilege. Can't just let anybody in, I am sure you'd understand.
So, what has changed since my last blog? Well, the wind has gone north and with that the temperature has plummeted. Being on deck is painful now, so we have gone to cold weather rotations where people get time down below to warm up. Respect for the northern pack who has had to deal with this for way longer. If I ever do this race again (for the record: which I won't [editor's note- they always say that!]), I will opt for the southerly route just for some warmth!
On other major news, we had the most amazing, crazy close encounter with a very, very large whale. We think it was a fin whale (only a blue whale is bigger) and it popped up 5 meters to our port and a minute later 5 meters to our starboard. It was clearly curious and stayed for a bit, but when more and more people appeared on deck and the GoPro came out, it decided it had enough. Camera-shy it seems. Respect for Amanda who just steered a perfectly straight course through the whole thing. That's a sighting that will be hard to beat.
Ineke, Joss and some severely chilled Sea Dogs