The arrival to Oban will likely remain in our memories for a long time. When I woke up and realised we were still in a similar position as in the evening before the disappointment was big. However, when I saw that the boat ahead of us  had hardly moved and was closer it lifted me up. What followed was an emotional rollercoaster. Sometimes we caught up a bit just to see Unicef pull away again. All within sight and depending on who found a little more wind.

To this came then suddenly the fear of being overtaken ourselves. The boats behind us had caught up and reached the same wind hole. And in there everything is possible depending on who gets a little breeze to carry them away. It was after lunch that we saw the two buoys marking the finish line. Unicef was still ahead of us but we had yet again reduced the gap. For the next two or three hours we were highly concentrated and tried to utilise every possible huff or puff. And we did so quite successfully. Only a few metres before the finish line we managed to push past Unicef and secure second place. Team Gosh had already crossed the line the evening before.

The time in Oban was longer than in recent stopovers but still too short to see everything. We were quickly done with our regular cleaning and maintenance work. So there was time for an excursion to the Scottish Highlands with a small hike, a tour of the Oban Distillery and a visit to the islands off the coast. Besides that I also took some time to recover. For this a visit to the sauna right at the beach  was perfect.

Since Sunday we are underway on our final stretch. The start was probably the best we had so far. Unfortunately, we did not get going as well as some of the other boats. While the team of Washington DC broke a shroud and had to return to shore for the repair, we broke our main halyard about two hours after the start. Our sail came down and we saw the other boats sail away. Fortunately, it only took us an hour to rerun the halyard and hoist the main sail again. And also Washington DC is sailing again.

This was just in time for us to secure a bonus point at the intermediate Scoring Gate off the west coast of Ireland. Meanwhile we have passed the southern end of the Ireland. But our course takes us further south at the moment to avoid the wind shadow south of the Irish island. It remains interesting and we expect to pass the finish line on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday morning follows a short sprint race before we arrive in Portsmouth with a big parade to celebrate our race. A race that had us sail several thousand nautical miles and gave us uncountable memories. What it means to have circumnavigated the world on a sail boat is still incomprehensible to me. There will be a livestream of the finish line crossing and the following parade from midday. The link can be found on the race’s website.