I am currently enjoying a pint of cider in a great little bar (The Taproom on 1st Ave) near the boats berthed in Seattle, after crossing the poorly-named Pacific Ocean in a leg that actually wasn’t as bad as I expected. I was promised horrendous conditions and awful weather; although we started and finished in wind holes, and enjoyed (for some definitions of ‘enjoy’) 72 knots of wind at one point giving some exciting downwind sailing of up to 28 knots on the surfs down the ~10 metre high waves, in general the weather was very kind to us. Downwind nearly all the way certainly made it easier! Despite all this, I am more physically tired now than after any other leg so far. A week off would be nice. Might have to settle for a month off in August.

Starting with crossing back over the Yellow Sea through all the Chinese fishing fleets, then rounding the south of Japan past the active volcano of Mount Io, then finally the fleet spread out once we reached the Pacific proper. Even so, just 10 (nautical) miles off the finish line a wind hole compacted the fleet again and we had six boats in sight for a while in the fight for second place.

Seattle is so far a lovely city, and the weather here is actually sunny – great views today to Mount Rainier and the mountains of the Olympic National Park from my apartment – booked by my mum who came out here to see me!

About seven days here for boat maintenance and preparation for the next leg down to the Panama Canal and up to New York; we leave on 29th April. Hopefully I might even get a day off for tourism stuff with mum… or maybe just to sleep…