Race 11 - Day 17
Crew Diary - Race 11 Day 17
21 May

Newbies on the blog

Hola from the tropical latitudes,

As new joiners for Leg 7 we were quite curious how the vibe on Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam would be. We`ve been welcomed with open arms and the backbone of this boat is very willing to teach us their tricks… Turns out the crew have gotten quite greedy for those first-place flags. Everyone is putting in the extra effort to make this boat go a little bit faster. If it’s eating breakfast on the low side, going up the mast or standing on the grinder for four hours, we are here for it!

Although, at this moment, fast is a relative concept as we sit here crawling forward at a whooping 4 knots.

The first week gave us a range of conditions to freshen up our skills. We went from bashing waves upwind to some `spicy` downwind surfing with our Code 3 aka the beast in some `nippy` temperatures.

The highlight of our first week was overtaking Zhuhai at such a close distance they could see the smirks on our faces. Unfortunately, they managed to sneak in front of us just before the scoring gate. Well played!

As conditions calmed down it's all about perfecting our gybing skills, trimming spinnakers and trying to find the right ratio of lemonade to water, and fan position in our bunks for that perfect cooling effect.

Off to take a bucket shower now on the back of the boat. Talk to you soon, Liz and Camilla