Telefonica Blue Leg 4 Day 3 Qingdao

Today has been a pretty good day at sea despite the morning being a little stressful, as we had to weave our way through some nasty shoals.  I think it probably made it worse that I had taken the time to read the Admiralty Sailing Directions, which described them as both 'badly charted' and 'possibly in error by many miles'. 

Giving lots of distance away to take the easy way round wasn't really an option after fighting for every inch so as a result it was a nervous few minutes as we passed through the worst of it watching the depth sounder drop to just a few metres several times over. With our rivals has set us in good stead. Whether it gives the leverage we need to gain back some miles on Puma and Ericsson 4 we will see over the course of the next few scheds.

Apart from the surprise I got when the depth sounder plummeted from 100 metres to three, there was another surprise for me today but this time a whole lot nicer.  Maria had managed to sneak aboard some birthday presents for me - A small bottle of Sangria from Spain and some Chinese 'lucky cat fortune chocolates'.  A taste of where we have come from at the beginning of the race and a taste of where we are headed next!  Given that all I was expecting for my 31st birthday was freeze dried food and a lack of sleep, it came as a very pleasant surprise indeed.  I am hoping that the lucky chocolates really are lucky, as well as just tasty and as for the sangria, hopefully it will warm us a little when the weather gets colder.  I gave a little of it to Neptune too in order to see that he looks after us on our passage to China.

As a final treat before the sun set, we given a pretty good fishing demonstration by a sea bird that was making the most of the flying fish scared out of the water by the hull of our Volvo 70.  Circling round the rigging he would swoop down at speed and catch the fish in mid air.  Very impressive indeed.

However, the sun is setting now and with it the wind dropping so I am off on deck as we hoist the Code 0 to get us rumbling again in the lighter airs.

Simon Fisher - Navigator