Welcome back!

For those of you who are just tuning in, Liverpool 2018 has returned from Stealth Mode and well... at least we're still in fourth place.

To be honest, I'm in a bit of a state of shock at the moment - mostly because something I said has actually come true. Let's face it, I may have in the past been known to embellish a Skipper's blog or two, and maybe I like to stretch the truth a little bit here and there, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect one of my silly stories to come true. Last night I jokingly said that we might end up giving the boats behind us a surprise hello when we popped back up on AIS (Automatic Identification System) and let me tell you, I was equally surprised when we actually went and did just that! Sanya Serenity Coast and Visit Seattle were right on top of us at the end of our 24 hours in darkness and goodness me do we need to start racing again.

I won't elaborate too much on the dark hours but if you catch me in the pub in Cape Town, I may divulge a few stories on what we are calling 24 hours in frustration!

Yet again we have been caught in a wind hole and it has been incredibly frustrating as the rest of the fleet catch us up. What's worse is that it looks like the three boats at the front have managed to escape and will be able to continue their run all the way to Cape Town. Grrr. The winds are now hitting a low 10 knots but the crew are still sailing well.

The calm weather has, however, allowed us to do some work on the boat and I'm very pleased to say that we have managed to fix most of the issues that we incurred on that spooky day a few nights ago.

After hours of tireless work, Steven 'Sharky' Finn and I identified that the generator had an electrical fuse problem with its fuel pump and had its wires crossed (much like most of our crew). So, we've fixed its wires, got it back up and running and the crew are all excited to be eating toast for breakfast again.

We've also managed to re-attach the steering wheel on our port helm, screw in a pesky little compass light bulb and clean out the day tank and fuel filters of all the dirt that we had churned up.

We also sent our resident Australian up the mast and through the dynamic use of his excellent balance and the sheer power of his salt and pepper hair, Redman has been able to re-rig a pull-down line for our mainsail reefing lines. It would have taken him half the time, though, if he wasn't too busy pouting for selfies.

So yes, it's been a big day of progress and all this work means that the team and I will have a lot less maintenance to do during our Cape Town stop over. I say we, but in truth it is a very 'Royal We', as in reality most of the hard work is done by Jay Haller and his tireless maintenance team (Harry, Henry, Greg, Tim and Blake) who follow us to every port.

Now is probably a good moment to say that these guys are legitimate rock stars and without them, none of the boats would be able to sail at all. So just know that we've been thinking of you guys, because we know you put in a lot of extra work to get our mates on PSP Logistics back up and running and we've been trying to reduce the bill for you from our end. Also, we need you to have some time off so that Harry can join us for karaoke again!

In other repair news, our resident seamstresses’ have been back at it. Right now, in the dead of the night, if I poke my head out the Nav Station I can see some makeshift black curtains (empty garbage bags taped to the ceiling) which have blocked off the port side of our saloon. If I wasn't wearing my pink hot shorts and was brave enough to venture down there, behind these curtains I would find two of the hardest workers on our boat. Helen 'The Huntress' Lane and 'Mad Mikey' Kidwell.

Yesterday, just before we hit the wind hole, we managed to literally explode one of our spinnakers (I can't tell you which one because in all the damage, the little label was ripped off). It was very quickly and professionally pulled in under the guidance of James 'McSmokey' Macfee (not a real doctor, aspiring dentist) and his assistant watch leader Carrie 'The Fish Whisperer' Rich, and then sheepishly left below for our sail repair team to inspect. Without even blinking, these two master crafts-people have been working day and night to repair the sail. Keep in mind as well that I told them the repair could wait until Cape Town and yet they are determined to keep working on it now. These guys are legends and the team are definitely in their debt.

So now our minds are turning to Cape Town and to all the beers and biltong that we are going to eat.

We've got roughly 500 nautical miles to go and here's hoping that our upcoming hosts will be as hospitable and welcoming as our previous hosts in Punta del Este. I'm 100 per cent sure that we will be well looked after and I can't wait to see everyone there!

Ta,

Lance