Yesterday evening we got buzzed by a Japanese coastal guard plane accompanied by a call on the VHF radio, I love having a bit of a chat on the radio, especially when the usual question asked is, last port of call and next port of call , once I explained there was 11 of us out here having a yacht race he was quiet happy and wished us well, imagine back at the pub with a glass of Saki he will be telling his mates about these crazy people doing a lap around his islands.
We have finished our Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint and now is the agony of just waiting, not to sure how we went but we gave it a good go.
Overnight we were all set to round the virtual mark Ward OBE, this is just a set of coordinates on our chart that we have to leave to a certain side of the boat. Then once passed it would be a kite hoist and off we would go, whoop whoop, except the idiot on the helm (me), misjudged it and missed the mark. Lucky for me I realised before we had passed the mark that we were not going to make it, so it was a quick tack, re-round the mark on the correct slice and then hoist. The crew did a great job as the kite was all ready to go, the thing that was so tough was that we spent all day taking about 2 miles out of Visit Sanya (hi Seamus and team), then just suddenly it was all gone, so I hit myself over the head a few times and now am trying to move on. Later the next morning another boat did the same thing at another mark but didn't realise till they had sailed a bit passed it, so now I don't feel quite so bad.
We are currently sailing up wind in a nice tight pack of Visit Sanya, China,Punta del Este and Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam a few miles up ahead, this is great as it keeps us all so motivated. Eventually the wind will come from behind just like last time we passed through here with a bit of punch so that is something to look forward to.
All is well on board and it is nice to be going around the top of the islands ready to race back down.
Where's the romance, certainly not at a virtual mark.
love youse all
Wendo, James and crew plus our legendary guest crew.