What a battle.
The race for the Scoring Gate was hard fought. Perseverance made us really work for the points. In the past 24 hours we did five sail changes. Three of them spinnaker hoists. Sailed within 200m of them only for the gap to go back out to 1nm on several occasions.
The whole team really came together and were giving there all. Maximum concentration on the helm, constant updates on the wind, and watching the other boat avidly to try and work out how they were going so fast. We finally managed to get past them in the last few miles, as both boats entered a squall. We may be in the middle of nowhere, but for us at that moment, the Scoring Gate was as important as the finish line of the race!
Once across, we had a nice chat on the radio to congratulate Perseverance on a hard-fought race. Many of the crew stated that it was some of the best racing they had seen, and despite all the hard work really enjoyed close quarters racing.
Now we set our sights on getting back into the front pack of the fleet, and to the next mark of the course Virtual Mark Light in approximately 1900nm. Ha Long Bay, here we come!
Dan, Laura and the UNICEF team