Hello Qingers!!
Oh no! What have they done?!? What are they thinking? I’m sure you’re still saying it. To be honest we have been too. Especially when we worked out that the weather system was about 60 miles from where we believed it should have been. Now 60 miles in a big ocean is nothing, but we were working to fine margins and found ourselves just on the wrong side of it where we didn’t want to be. We’ve passed that now and we’re back on track, although we still won’t know how good or bad this route is until the fleet converges again, possibly in two or three days. Let’s see.
It was always a shot in the dark and one which the crew wanted to take. It’s fun to do but doesn’t often win races.
During the last weather system, we had great fun surfing waves and everyone on the helm has clocked in excess of 20 knots lots of times. We held our Code 3 (smallest spinnaker) up for the whole time so a lot of concentration was required to keep the boat on its feet and surf the waves.
In the pitch black of night, it was indeed fun only seeing the white water at the top of the waves as they approached the boat, then digging the bows in before going for a surf, everyone trying to hold each surf as long as they could before waiting on the next.
Life on board is good at the minute. The rain has passed for the moment and it’s a lovely day out with decent wind and not cold. Spirits are high among the crew and although we’re enjoying the moment, all are very much looking to our next stop in Seattle. Go the Seattle Mariners!
We’ll update in a couple of days and hopefully, fingers crossed, we will have a little better news.
Talk soon.
Love to those at home,
Phil, Henry and the dragon riders