Update from the boat

Ireland to the left of me, Anglesey to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you. Well it's midday on our penultimate day. The sun has got his hat on and the seas are calm. Having left Cork yesterday at midday the fleet has made excellent progress. The very light winds which had been forecast before the race have not transpired and although they have currently dropped to 10 knots we're pushing along quite nicely. So much so that we are way ahead of time. In theory we could be a few hours away from Liverpool but as the arrangements have been made for the big arrival tomorrow we anticipate there will be a number of new gates put into our routing which will mean we have to zig zag further North for another 12 hours or so before mustering somewhere off the coast to await the Mersey Dash fun race tomorrow morning at 9.30. Yesterday was glorious weather with decent winds allowing all clippers to fly their spinnakers. It was actually the battle of the mid weight and, as you know, we were not invited to that challenge. Flying our heavy weight we saw the whole fleet sail past us. However we have managed to stick as close to the fleet as possible and are currently in joint 7th place which is a reasonable place to be. We are fighting head to head with Durban who, ironically, shared our last party in Cork and 6 miles behind the front of the fleet. The calm before the storm ..... We understand there are very heavy winds forecast for later today which should make the sea state decidedly choppy. With this progress it would have been lovely if we could have turned right and popped into Holyhead for an evening to shelter from the ravages of the storm but it would appear that we shall be left to Bob up and down at the entrance to the Mersey overnight. With the weather as beautiful as it is now it is almost impossible to imagine a storm is on its way yet as we all know the Irish Sea can be very unpredictable. Indeed we have just been joined by 2 dolphins - what a beautiful welcome that it. We are all looking forward to seeing all of you good folks who are able to come to Liverpool tomorrow.

Nick Jacobs