A very tricky night with wind speeds from zero to 20 knots in matter of seconds, going 360 around the clock, plus it was pitch dark, a sailor’s night mare condition.

Lots of sail changes, which means all hands on deck, so no time to catch up on a full three hour rest. You can see the guys are worn, but no complaints; they wake up, stumble on deck, do their work and crash out down below again, hoping not to be woken up again.

I made it on deck as well, and drove for about 10 minutes, when we had a spinnaker up, for a brief moment, but had to lie down again as my back is still hurting too much.

This morning we could see the coastline clearly, with what seems a big nuclear power station, sticking out and polluting the sky. Still 40 miles to the top of Taiwan, and I think once there, the breeze will settle in.

Bouwe Bekking - Skipper