Delta Lloyd Leg 4 Day 8

First my apologies for not having sent in our QFB yesterday. I had other things on my mind then.

As you all are aware, we had to take shelter after ripping our mainsail whilst trying to start the crossing to Taiwan. We set up the trysail and searched the chart for a good place to anchor. We found a nice spot in the bay of Salomague Harbour. Nicely secluded and giving perfect shelter. First, we all took a rest. After all, it had been a very exciting day. During the night, Green Dragon also arrived in his bay.

After sunrise all gathered on deck and soon we picked up the jobs that needed our attention. The mainsail repairs being the biggest job was taken care of by Stuart Wilson/NZL, Johnny (Gerd Jan Poortman/NED) and Morgan White/AUS.  David Pella/ESP. fixed the steering wheel, which was broken on the outer ring

Meanwhile all sorts of other tasks were done, of which cleaning out the boat was an important one. Luckily, some local fishermen came alongside and were willing to take our garbage ashore. Good riddance…

Progress went well and in the afternoon, we were able to prepare the mainsail. Our goal was to sail at 1800 hours, but, after seeing Green Dragon weighing anchor, the work speed increased even more and we managed to raise the anchor at 1710 (LT).

At present, we are sailing on a swell that has the character of yesterday’s storm. Still high, but under the current conditions (11.5 knots wind), no problem. The spirit among us all is to sail as fast as possible to Qingdao. Strangely enough, some of us even long for the cold weather in China...

Frits Koek - Navigator