Although New Jersey was a fantastic stopover, Derry-Londonderry triumphed in every way. It seemed that everybody in the city and indeed the county knew of the race and welcomed every one of us. The people and the city organised and run the best festival of the sea I have seen.
If Carlsberg made Clipper Race stopovers Derry-Londonderry would be the one.
On the racing front the Race Start was exciting to say the least. The huge crowds we come to expect from this stopover giving us a great send-off both the city and at the start line at the aptly named Greencastle. Qingdao got off to a great start on port tack and I called the tack to starboard late - apologies to Skipper Ash and the Garminion Garmin crew who gave room on a poor call from me.
This - the penultimate not so short sprint in this Clipper Race - which has taken hundreds of people from around the globe - many of them soon to be circumnavigators in a year-long odyssey visiting the far flung corners of the world. The racing has been fantastic and the port visits spectacular.
Overnight we have traded positions several times. We are presently sailing north along the west coast of the Outer Hebrides having just passed the island of Barra barely eight miles away but invisible in the drizzle and rain.
Our position is not good at the moment and we need to overtake Mission Performance and ClipperTelemed+ before the arrival in Den Helder. They both have places to gain and we have to defend our placing. They are both visible on our AIS (Automatic Identification System) and we are working hard to catch them.
Until tomorrow,
Cheers, Bob