Hello everyone, James here.

So, since the last blog we've finished the first Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint, seen two whales (I wasn't there but apparently so) and begun the second. This involved the traditional transition from our Code 1 Spinnaker to Yankee 1 which the crew performed admirably considering that for some, this was their first Kite drop in the dark. We rounded up through the second gate and headed north under a fantastically bright moon, a gently fading breeze and Seattle following closely behind us.

Beautiful sailing but not massively conducive if you are attempting to 'sprint'. At the moment we are doing more of an 'ocean amble', looking at the forecast it would seem that we're about to be engulfed by one of the China sea's finest windholes, a real swirling maze of wind punctuated by the odd moments of glassy calm. Frustrating as this maybe it does give us stragglers a chance to catch up to the front runners as the fleet compresses again.

There are few races in sport where this could happen, it would be like running a marathon only to discover that you've run down the wrong side of the road and now you have to stop for a day and watch as the person running dressed in the enormous penguin costume catches up. Also, whilst you're waiting, one of only two available toilets on the race has stopped flushing and there are 16 other people who are quite keen that you fix. So, we're muddling along with plenty still to play for, and actually as I've been typing this the breeze has picked and we're now making a tidy speed over ground of 7.5 knots so yeah, feel the heel! (Took hours to come up with that, still not sure if that’s how that kind of heel is spelt) [Editor’s note: you are correct James].

Best wishes from Wendy, myself and all who ride inside Kevin!