Green Dragon Leg 4 Day 8

Happy Chinese New Year from the Green Dragon crew!

At 0945 GMT today, after nearly 24 hours at anchor we resumed racing. It took about 12 hours for the boatbuilding crew to fix up the broken forward bulkhead as best they could and about 10 hours for the sail making crew to put back together our mainsail, J4 and J5. Some people managed to put in a performance for both projects and after an awesome effort we managed to leave our anchorage before nightfall.

Unfortunately the beautiful locals in canoes offering us chilled beer in my dreams never arrived, but we did end up being greeted by a customs man. He was most put out that we hadn't reported to him, but a bag of chocolate bars and one of my team shirts seemed to pacify him. Guillermo Altadill from Delta Lloyd must have had similar thoughts to me as he went ashore by canoe and came back an hour later with a crate of San Miguel beer for his crew.

Since leaving harbour, things have not gone so well for us. We proceeded very carefully into a wicked head sea and it wasn't long before Neal (Neal McDonald/GBR) and I heard two dreaded cracks. We were inspecting the bow repair at the time and while the repair held firm, the bulkhead let go either side of it.

Since then I have been agonising over how best to proceed. Do we go to Hong Kong, Xiamen or even Shanghai to make repairs? Do we go back to Subic Bay? Is it safe to cross the Straits in the current weather? Should we soldier on slowly and nurse the boat to Qingdao - maybe even get there without retiring and using the engine?

Right now, we are doing just that, but more damage could rapidly change things. We are currently sailing in 37 knots with storm jib and trysail (it is very hard to nurse your boat in 30+ knots!). If we get through the next 12 hours intact, conditions should very much improve for a couple of days before another 'cold push' (gales from the North) will pass over us.  This will be hard for us to deal with as it will be bang on the nose.

As always my crew have been fantastic. Everyone is fully focused on getting the Green Dragon to Qingdao. There is nothing we want more right now than to sail into Qingdao, however long it takes us. We have no more repair materials onboard, so we must prevent any further damage in order to do this.

The Singapore to Qingdao leg of the Volvo Ocean Race will stick in my mind for some time to come- and we are only just over halfway!

Ian Walker - Skipper