Race 11 - Day 13
Crew Diary - Race 11 Day 13
13 May
Qingdao has always maintained a good speed and condition. It is hundreds of nautical miles ahead of the furthest fleet. Except for sailing into the wind for the first three days from Seattle, the rest of the time it was sailing downwind with a huge spinnaker. Teamwork also began to have a tactical understanding and proficiency in cooperation. We are still heading south along Mexico and are expected to enter Guatemala in a week, then along El Salvador, Nicaragua to Costa Rica to refuel the ship, and finally reach the finish line of this stop, Panama.
It was originally expected that the weather would be hot after passing Los Angeles, but it is still a comfortable temperature. I will still put on more clothes before going on the deck at night. According to the weather forecast, there will be a tropical storm in about five days. Everyone will discuss it in the crew meeting. I don’t know what route to take through this storm, and I will most likely experience winds exceeding 60 knots. I like the saying, “I recognize the storm and am as excited as the sea.” But I also look forward to the calm after the storm and the stars that will guide me home.
Some mini-games are often set up during long voyages. When we crossed the Ocean Sprint a few days ago, everyone took a guess at when we would cross the Ocean Sprint Finish Line. I won the first place in the guess, with a time difference of about three hours. Now everyone I started guessing when we could cross the first finish line. My answer was set at around the 18th - in five days. Let’s see how accurate it is then.
Brother Tian made stewed chicken with potatoes and mushrooms during Mother Watch and received unanimous praise. The day before yesterday, he made tomato and egg noodles and also made cold dishes with cabbage. This is really suitable for a Northwester's appetite, and he eats the most on the ship. They serve a variety of pasta and rice, and they bake bread and cakes every day. Branden’s baked bread is of imperial dining room standard. Yesterday, Cate made egg fried rice, frying it in pots for everyone. It reminded me of the night in Hangzhou. At the roadside stall at the entrance of the community, I started to take some photos of everyone cooking and share them later.
There were 22 crew members on Qingdao for this race. Tim temporarily disembarked due to physical discomfort when setting off from Seattle. We look forward to welcoming him back to Panama. Teammates come from the UK, the US, Germany, Sweden, Australia, South Africa and China. When we chatted, we found that everyone has a story collection. When our group was on duty, Andre would talk about theories related to financial investment, from investment to stocks and securities, markets, and brand and business management. Gio was so serious that I wanted to give him a small notebook to take notes every time. Anyway, I have a lot of words. I didn’t understand. I’ve been reading two books in the past two days. My friend recommended them to me when I was in New York. I’ll see if I can share my insights after reading them.
After seeing the gray whale last time, I haven't seen any large animals recently. In the past two days, there was a pod of about 20 dolphins jumping and swimming away from the bow of our boat. Foreman Wang no longer talks about jellyfish these days but turns his attention from jellyfish to squids. In the past few days, more than ten squids jumped from the sea to the deck every night. Foreman Wang is on the deck every day as if chasing the sea. After collecting these squids, the two of them found a dozen dead squids on the deck one night. They found a plastic biscuit barrel and filled half a barrel of seawater into it. They were thinking of doing something with it, such as giving it as a gift to the captain. In the end, I took a photo and fell back into the sea without doing anything. It is said that the skipper of Zhuhai took the lead in holding a funeral for these small marine animals, and James also delivered a speech.
Shi Jianglong
From onboard Qingdao 13 May 2024