Here we are in the beautiful Atlantic. Deep blue water, blue sky, lovely clouds everywhere and eleven Clipper Race yachts pushing the limits. Yesterday we had a back-to-back battle with Qingdao. We took the western route earlier than them and we found some lulls in the way which made us lose some ground, nothing major but the lead is gone! Normal racing, you overtake, they overtake, that's what we do and although this time we are behind, it's fun.
Earlier today we committed west even more and we were waiting to gybe. We were all set when we saw PSP Logistics going west as well with their Code 2. It was nice to know we were not the only ones thinking of going this way. They are sailing well. We are currently fighting each other in light airs, which is also really fun. The rest of the fleet gybed west too, some of them earlier than others, let’s see who made it through these light airs to the safe zone.
In random news, the V&D bug attacked last night with a couple of casualties, nothing worrying but not pleasant when you see your crew throwing up and feeling crap. Luckily a couple of us are still in top shape. Laura is becoming a rock star sailor, she is one of our Watch Leaders and it’s nice to see her running her watch, focused and with hunger of podium. Cloe and Liz are our superstar helms, they are soft handed and I’m teaching them to be emotionless, so their mood doesn’t affect their helm. Mike loves the navigation art and is helping me with the tactics. Mac is an avalanche of hard work and quality hands, Victor has mastered the spinnaker but at night he blames his eyes when he gets off course, Steve is ON it, he is one of our fastest learners, he is gonna become our new Rod, as Rod after his four legs already is mastering absurdly well all spinnaker conditions, and everything else really. They are both marathon runners, so athletes are just good, and if they are not so much, they focus and train until they make it. David stayed covering the sick people with me for lots of watches, big kahunas David! Stephane, our phoenix, now makes art with the helm, he is our best helm. Gerry, what an inspiration for all of us, non-stop all the time making the boat more efficient, on deck and down below, he is the soul and spirit of this team, his attitude is unbeatable. Angus has survived the virus and is now creating apparent wind on the lightest of the airs, he already put 2nm on PSP Logistics and he is slowly getting back on tip top shape to blast the end of this race. I’m fine, trying my best to give this hard-working team a podium and I’m super happy that in DC I’ll be seeing my sister and her family, who I love very very much and we will have lots and lots of fun! Standing by over here for more tight racing! Send us good vibes!
Nano, Angus and the Punta Caribbean riders