Race 1 - Day 28
Crew Diary - Race 1 Day 28: Liverpool to Punta del Este
17 September

Samantha Harper
Samantha Harper
Team Dare To Lead
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Greetings from somewhere off the coast of Brazil!

Lots to report here on CV25 today, with the headline of the day being Dare To Lead's new speed record of 21.2 knots, set just this morning by our Bosun Dan Clifton. This smashes the previous record held by Assistant Watch Leader Nqoba, who threw down the gauntlet with a speed of 19.8 less than an hour before. We feel the need for speed today on Dare To Lead!

Excitement is building as we are creeping up on the fleet and we are hoping to keep the pressure on for the final few days. Some of our competitors are in Stealth Mode and given that the race position updates (aka “Scheds”) are only provided to us every 6 hours, we are never 100% sure where we stand. That's right folks, you readers at home know more about where we are than we do! At any rate, we are ready to remind the world never to discount the Dark Horses!

In other news, the forecast for life on deck continues to be sunny with a chance of complete drenching by rogue waves (or sadistic helmsmen). Foul weather gear remains the order of the day and a few epic soakings have been had. Also on deck, yesterday was the opening session of Skipper Dale's informal course on Celestial Navigation including practice on a real sextant. Very cool, Dale!

As many readers back home know, no Equator Crossing ceremony was held on board CV25 due to 45 knot winds and our Medevac. On other boats, King Neptune is a costumed, pontificating overlord who initiates hapless Pollywogs in a grandiose ceremony. On Dare To Lead, Neptune is a sneaky 36-year old South African man who takes delight in pelting unsuspecting subjects with meatball sauce at random. Stephen Carter (and Dan who happened to be standing next to him) were “initiated” yesterday afternoon, leaving only 17 more Pollywogs to go. We have all been placed on high alert and today's Mothers were very quick to dispose of leftover porridge and bacon grease from breakfast.

And yes folks, today (being Sunday) is Bacon Day on Dare To Lead! Everyone's favourite breakfast day, even David our lone vegetarian – he gets treated to scrambled eggs.

Bacon days are beautiful on Dare to Lead! That's it for now folks – stay tuned for more updates on our final few days! On wards to Punta del Este!

Samantha Harper