Well,
It’s been a very traditional start to the final race of this year long expedition around the world. As I write this (0800, sorry Comms Team!) We have Zhuhai sitting about a mile away from us, heading in about the same direction, on the complete opposite tack. I will not be missing these windholes. In good time the wind should fill back in and we’ll be racing downwind round the back of Ireland, but for now it's incredibly slow and steady, at least this one time we can take solace in the fact that we’re guaranteed to be in port on Saturday…
We’d like to say a massive thank you to Oban for being such amazing hosts. When we were sailing in, we weren't quite sure what to expect, we were looking forward to it, especially given how many things we already knew were going on, however we couldn't have anticipated such a warm and friendly not just welcome but entire stay. It was truly amazing to see the whole town decked out with their own clipper windows and stalls (it may have also enticed me into a few too many shops, collecting little bits and pieces for back at home). Thank you, Oban.
Looking forward, it feels quite surreal to be in the final race, I still don’t think it’s sunk in for most of the crew, though Idid have a small moment of realization in that final parade of the boats. I've said it a few times before, but it’s been such an amazingadventure, and I could quite happily keep sailing round after a little break. The dynamics onboard are such that it’s never really felt like a job, we’re just a whole team set with the goal of getting to the next port. Through the round the world’ers have learnt to live with each other, and we've grown to appreciate everyone's little quirks, it’s going to be very odd in two weeks' time when we’d ordinarily be going back to sea to just be sitting at home resting still, not meeting up with this lovely bunch to take on another offshore passage.
Anyway that’s all for now, Sav has started to get the boat moving so we’d best start capitalizing on it.
Cheers,Charlie, Ryan and the Dare To Lead team.