“Hit and run”

That is what the police call it when bandits break into buildings with a big car to steal everything in just a couple of minutes, and then take off again with full throttle.

Yesterday we did what is the probably the closest you can come to a hit and run in a yacht race.

We hit the dock in Qingdao at 2000 local time. That was seven hours after the start of leg five and we were pretty keen on leaving as soon as possible. Richard Mason, who is not sailing the next leg due to a back injury, flew to China while we were sailing to prepare for our arrival together with the shore crew.

We got quite a welcome.

We reached the near coast of Qingdao early afternoon in what most people would call beautiful conditions. And it was, for sure. We had about five to 10 knots plus and the sun was shining. But, there was absolutely no wind for a couple of hours. It has been a long time since I last saw Magnus Olsson that frustrated…

But the breeze did eventually pick up and we reached the massive skyscrapers with their neon shining fronts and we were welcomed by heavy fireworks and an energetic shore crew.

As soon as we hit the dock the boat was full of people running around.  They checked the bow and the fix, installed a fuel tank went through  all the safety gear with Volvo, loaded the boat with new sails, a huge  amount of food, extra clothes and three new crewmembers.

Everyone in both the sailing team and the shore crew were working like crazy and from when we hit the dock until we were about to hoist our new main can’t have been more than 90 minutes.

So, we managed to reach our first goal. We have crossed the start line of leg 5, prepared to sail to Rio. Only problem was that we were already 70 miles behind the others. Except Telefónica Blue who hit a rock and had to suspend racing for repairs.

During the night the breeze picked up pretty quickly and we were soon reaching along in 20 knots of boatspeed. The boats in front were still in the light air and in just a couple of hours we had gained more than 30 miles.

Now, at 9.00 local time, the breeze has picked up even more and we are sailing in between 21 to 25 knots, still reaching. We really have to fight the cold in these speeds. It is really tough when the freezing water is spraying us all the time. Fortunately the sea is flat and we are cutting through the water very smoothly. According to our navigator Aksel Magdahl’s calculations, we are only two hours behind. Incredible thinking about what we have been through.

A big thanks to our shore crew for all the help making this happen. I think you should get some well deserved time off while we make the best of your effort and ‘battle on’, as Magnus always says, to catch up even more.

Gustav Morin - MCM