Race 5 - Day 20
Skipper Report
11 January

For the last time on Leg 4, good morning Black Betty fans. The tension on board could be cut with a knife! It's 0421 UTC and we have 52.34 miles between us and the finish line. Over night we managed to hold Qingdao off, but they have been chasing us hard. I left it a little too late to call the change from Mr Medium Weight the 3rd to the Code 1 Kite, with us having to work a little harder to keep the Kite inflated Qingdao managed to make up some miles on us. For our swap of Kites my hand was forced, we hadn't done any peels yet on this leg, but with another boat chewing on our stern we had no option other than to peel to keep Black Betty moving. The change went without a hitch. Late morning they managed to sail over the top of us after a bit of luffing I decided that it was not sensible to be trying to push them up, as we were having to go so far off course in order to achieve this.

Now the chased has become the chaser, so we are hot on their stern, with the helm concentrating on every move of the wheel, every roll of the boat, every ripple that moves across the Kite.

This really is looking like it’s going to be a photo finish, with a gybe required to get us to the line, losses and gains have the potential to be made, and finally it’s going to be a Kite drop as we cross the line, before we run out of navigable water!

We are all looking forward to arriving, Leg 5 crew we are coming for you, I hope to see you on the dock later tonight. The beers are not that far away now, but it’s going to be a fight right to the line.

BLACK BETTY OUT!