Race 11 - Day 20
Crew Diary - Time twisters are not only found in Harry Potter.
19 May

The boat runs on UTC, as do the computers, so the date on this blog is indeed 19th, although in our -6 hour time zone, it is tea time for the off watch at 18:00 on 18th May, and we have left the cooling deck as the sun sets for the galley and saloon (or is that salon, a saloon might be wishful thinking). It can get very confusing with the log at times, and for my sextant practice.

The previous watch, Balam (aka starboard, Wind in Korean) had a busy morning with code down, wind seeker up, main down and up, windseeker down, code back up, just in time for our watch Pado (Wave in Korean) to settle in for a long afternoon of kite flying. Just a few tidy up jobs with the excitement being tying a rolling hitch for a riding turn.

Lots of chat, water drunk and suntan lotion slapped on.

Many tan lines are being worked on and my family will be aghast at the thought of me rolling up my long sleeves, unzipping my multipart trousers and actually working on a little bit of a tan - not my usual thing.

We've had shoals of flying fish, diving boobies, and the masked ones which look awfully like typical Gannets. I had to move one of last night's jumping squid off the deck as Jo had been hit a couple of times last night by something - either squid or flying fish - we found a fish last night. As the sun sets we see groups of Brown Boobies. Not quite matching yesterday's sighting of another species of whale aiming straight at the boat from 200m out - long back, tiny fin placed well back, so possibly a Fin whale, and if so a small one given only Blue are bigger.

On board now we are moving there are better spirits and everyone seems to have adjusted to the heat a little so it all seems a bit calmer and happier. Much talk of when we arrive in Panama with some team members, I'll let you guess who, pushing hard to arrive before a football match.

The break in Panama will be very welcome and there is anticipation of our canal passage. Time to talk to relatives will be welcome. The end of the leg and the start of the last leg approach with equal measures of thrill and trepidation - a lot has been personally invested by all of us and our families in this adventure.

Shout out to my amazing wife and son, Jane and George: thanks for all your support and see you soon!