After we broke our rudder we were underway with wind coming from the wrong side for some time. With the good rudder on the windward side we had to make sure the boat stayed more or less level as to not lift the rudder out of the water. Correspondingly the sail plan has to be chosen conservatively, which meant our progress was slow.

After the wind turned and we had it on our favourable side we could gear up a bit and get back racing. For about two days we were the fastest boat of the fleet and could thus at least fortify our lead on the last boat. We made good progress and the miles kept passing by.

And thus we reached another milestone of our circumnavigation. We crossed the 180th degree of longitude and thus the international date line on Monday morning. This effectively threw us back by 24 hours, making this arguably the longest Easter weekend I have ever had. Paired with a little sunshine and some dolphins which accompanied us for a couple of minutes this was truly a great time. Only downside were the waves which kept breaking above the deck every so often. At single digit temperatures this gets really chilly. Thus I am very happy with my dry suit which keeps most of me dry and thus prevents the worst.

The weather will be more unstable in the next few days. We will continue to head eastward and hope that the damaged rudder will not impact us too much. Then we should be able to defend our position across the finish line and maybe even benefit from mistakes by the boats ahead of us.