Yet again a very eventful day onboard Ericsson 4. This morning we were parked off the mid-east coast of Taiwan, with a  really messy leftover wave pattern it was hard to get going - we struggled with this all day and wondered how you could get such extremes in a relatively short time.

It became apparent from the weather files that we were due for some more strong northerlies - hurrah we thought - its not as  if we have done much  upwind sailing so far this leg!!

At around 3pm local time we got the news that the breeze was on its way and with a fair amount of strength. We all set about getting the  boat ready - reefs in, some sails below, storm sails ready and for me  it was time to get the roast dinner on - or at least boil the water  for the freeze dried roast chicken which was on the menu, as this could  be tricky in the nasty conditions. Some of the boys even hopped into their survival suits ready for the fight to continue

In less than 40 minutes we had gone from code zero to a three-reefed mainsail and storm jib in 40+kts of cold wind. It was very surreal.

Then we had a bit of a nightmare when, in a particularly nasty gust, the  padeye for the tack of the storm jib and a small amount of  surrounding deck decided to leave the vessel.  No further damage - but it’s left us without the storm jib for now.  It was a pretty good bang though, and means our mighty boat builders have a fair amount of work to do! Sorry lads!

Dave (Dave Endean) came up trumps once again and has managed to repair the hole in  the deck - I wouldn’t be surprised if TVNZ does a remake of  MacGuiver series with Dave in the lead role - as himself!

Now it’s back to an upwind bashing and the hard slog to China.

The words ‘Daddy - how much further is it?’ are ringing in my ears.

Guy Salter - MCM