We have sailed around the world!
An hour ago, we passed the western longitude of 54 degrees which means we have circumnavigated the globe: over 40,000 nautical miles, a team of 65 people, 12 races and six continents has truly made for one hell of a ride, with a couple more races still in play! Maybe in the next edition they’ll add an Antarctica stopover to make it even cooler. I won’t lie, I kind of expected something crazier to happen upon crossing the line, an incarnation of wisdom maybe to descend on each of the round the worlders in a halo-like fashion? A flash of lightning or rainbow? None sighted yet. I am sure at one point all of us will be begging for an avenue to share the stories of the time we sailed around the world, but for the moment, nothing has changed for us and there is a lot of racing, and close positions on the cards to focus on before that can happen.
We have had beautiful sailing so far. By day, blue skies, consistent breeze with the kite up. By night, incredible stars and dry weather. Average speeds above 10 knots, and nice smooth evolutions. Qingdao and Our Isles and Oceans are pushing hard beside us and we are trying to keep up with them and keep our sails in tact, a tricky balance. The southern pack are following the Gulf Stream current and have committed to a longer route, while us northerners are sticking close to the Rhumb Line to Oban. Only time will tell which pack has made the right call. We are quite literally taking both the high, and the low road to Scotland, and I cannot wait to belt that song out in one of Oban’s fine public houses on the other side. Vamos Oban.
Laura, Dan and the UNICEF team