Good morning,
Welcome to Leg 8. We had an incredible stopover in Washington, DC with one of the best departures yet, thank you to Events DC and everyone at Clipper Race who made the stopover one to remember.
After a tricky Le Mans Start, the fleet was dribbling along for a while, sticking a few gybes in here and there in a desperate attempt for some positive VMG. The wind is, on the whole, very light and variable, making for tricky sailing conditions and a rather slow start to our final ocean crossing. But, we have had a few puffs of wind to shuffle us along a bit faster. The wind has now swung around and is North-Easterly so we’re back to flying white sails. Our current aim is to try and keep the boat moving until we get into the Gulf Stream, which should help us put some miles under our belt.
Our new joiners are settling into life onboard and getting stuck into the sailing and jobs that come with that. RTWers are coming to terms with this being the last leg of the race and are soaking up every moment. There’s still 3,000nm to go so we best stop thinking about the end and crack on towards home turf.
Oban, here we come!
Also, we saw a submarine today which Hannah thought was top blog content.
Ella, Hannah, and the Washington, DC crew