Singapore. Batam was an awesome resort with the marina out infront
of it and it was nice to have our own space and aircon in one of the
chalets. We arrived to a hero's welcome with the crew from the 6 other
boats already arrived out on the marina to greet us and the rescued
Cork crew. Then we all grabed our free beer and lunch before jumping in
the pool and throwing our skipper in as he was trying to do an
interview.
It was an early start 4 days later after having 2 nicghts in a row where
we were provided a buffet dinner and entertainment. We motored across
to Singapore each boat flying an ireland flag off our spreaders to
represent Cork left behind on the rocks. Keppel Bay Marina put on a
fantastic welcome ceremony and prize giving for us again with free food
and drinks. Some how we managed to make it into the VIP area so we even
got table service and dessert!! Singapore was quite expensive,
especially to go out to the bars spending NZ$ so i saved money by
sleeping on the boat. It was too hot down below so each night saw a
slumber party with our matresses dragged out on deck. It meant a nice
cool sleep until the sun came up and woke you at about 8 as it was
getting too hot!
It was another early start for race day with alot of us still feeling
the effects of too many late nights out! It was another great send off
after having breakfast put on for us at the marina. Mixed emotions
given it was my last start day on board, couldn't help but think about
how i would be feeling next time watching the team sail away without me
:( I cant believe i only have 2.5 weeks of racing left!
The Aussies and us have taken a slightly different route to the rest of
the fleet initially having us in 1st and 2nd position but more recently
puting us in 2nd last and last place but hopefully it will pay off
later! The Aussies have been in our sights for well over 24 hours now,
yesterday morning they tacked behind us putting us infront as we yelled
a very happy good morning to them off our stern! However as i keep
saying things change quickly and during the night they got a better lift
coming closer in around one of the islands and came out infront of us
again. But we're hot on their tails clawing them down! 6nm, 5, 3.5,
2.4, 1.7..... It's fairly nice sailing conditions at the moment, 10-14
knots true wind so we're heading along at a calm 7-8 knots. It's still
REALLY hot down below but not quite as bad as our run in to Singapore
and we're being careful what we wish for as in the back of our minds we
know that given another 10 days or so as we head up towards and past
Taiwan, conditions will be anything other than hot calm conditions!!
Lunch time
xx
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