An emotional Southern Ocean leg from Auckland to Itajai

An emotional Southern Ocean leg from Auckland to Itajai

Our plan at the start was to keep it simple with no mistakes and then aim to stay with the fleet as we reached East Cape 24 hours later. We managed to executed this plan and this made life easy for the whole crew, including our tactician, Frederico. Without additional...
Auckland to Itajai

Auckland to Itajai

On Sunday, we set off on what is generally regarded as the ‘big leg’. Our Volvo Ocean Race journey will take us round the notorious landmark of Cape Horn, a special and unique place for any sailor and a new experience for many of our crew as we head back into the...
Leg 6 Hong Kong to Auckland

Leg 6 Hong Kong to Auckland

Our start out of Hong Kong was not our best. Not only did we lack speed, we didn’t get the lifts or pressure that everyone else was taking advantage of. Using the MH0 and the endless tacking did not allow us to pick up the pace for any decent manoeuvres and we often...
Auckland Bound

Auckland Bound

Hong Kong has been an amazing venue to visit. It is a bustling city, with a fusion of cultures and a very dramatic skyline to sail into. Although the weather has been cold (almost as cold as the Southern Ocean) we have received a very warm welcome from everyone. The...
Leg 4 – Melbourne to Hong Kong

Leg 4 – Melbourne to Hong Kong

Sir Ben Ainslie was quoted as saying, ‘it is better to be lucky than good’. On this leg we were good but sadly not lucky and the others, well, they were both good and lucky. We had just one week of rest after Leg 3, which was a wet, cold and tiring leg. We were able...
Hong Kong on the horizon

Hong Kong on the horizon

So with Christmas now a distant memory, we are looking ahead to Leg 4 starts on Tuesday 2nd January. For this leg we have three planned crew changes. Brian Thompson steps in for Nico as navigator and, having wracked up more speed records than any other sailor, he is...