As I write we are just approaching the finish line and by the time you read this we should be nicely tucked away in Marinehaven Willsoord.
It was another close competition with GREAT Britain as we neared the line, but their better wind angle gave them the edge in the end and they pipped us by just a few miles, so well done to Skipper Pete and crew. The bigger concern at the end was in fact Unicef which suddenly appeared from nowhere and made the closing stages extremely nervous from our point of view. Happily we were able to just hold them off and cross the line just a few hundred metres ahead.
The result for us is disappointing but not so bad when you consider where we were in the fleet just a few days ago. The team dug in brilliantly and worked extremely hard to gain back some places. Their heads never dropped for one minute and for that they deserve a huge amount of credit.
It's probably worth noting that this will be my second-last blog of the entire race, so therefore I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge some crew who deserve recognition for what they have bought to the team:
Mal Anderson (Leg 1-4), for leading his watch with care and humour throughout the first half of the race. Leo Bowen (Leg 1-4) for having no fear. Lumi Holban (Leg 1-3), Jenn Burgis (Leg 5-8) and Kersten Kroehl (Leg 4 and 5) for taking up the victualler role (probably the toughest job of all!) and working so hard at it. Holly Kitching (Leg 5-8) for her enthusiasm, her energy and looking after us all. Pete Fitch (Leg 1, 4 and 8) for always smiling and laughing. Charlotte Willis (Leg 7 and 8) for the same and her fantastic work on social media.
Hayley Wimpory (Circumnavigator) for her versatility and organisation. Catherine Anderson (Leg 2-8) for her brilliant abilities with a sewing machine and her die-hard attitude. Rich Perkins (Circumnavigator) for his twisted humour and great work on the media front. Ross Ham (Circumnavigator) for his passion and for teaching crew how to sail...fast. Campbell Mackie (Circumnavigator) for his ingenuity, being a jack of all trades and keeping the boat very well maintained and seaworthy.
Mike Turner (Leg 1, 2-8) for his patience, competitive spirit and fearlessly stepping in to lead his watch through some tough times. Mike Adams (Circumnavigator) for superb people skills in command of his watch through the entire race and for his smart reasoning.
Finally, Andy Kerrison (Circumnavigator) who is probably the best team co-ordinator that one could wish for, always keeping us organised and taking a huge amount of the workload off me and onto his shoulders.
These are just a select few of the individuals who have made our team so strong and fun. I could go on and list many, many more who have contributed so much to Garmin throughout the race. I am immensely proud of them all for what we have achieved as a team and how we went about doing it.
Anyway, I've rambled on for much too long now so I will leave it here and I'll see you one more time on the grand finale in just under a weeks' time.
A clogged up Garmin, out.
Ash