26/04/2026
Possibly the hardest leg so far. We expected big downwind surfing conditions across the North Pacific and quick progress but instead after rounding Japan, we were beating into 30-40kn blowing against the 4kn Kuroshio Current. We banged the corner and made one long tack along the south coast of Japan, knowing that we’d be in worse conditions but a faster boat. This paid off for us and we were now in third place. 2000NM in, we suddenly got rounded up in 40kn downwind and couldn’t control the boat. We threw in another reef and dropped the Yankee only to be pulled around still. We checked the steering cables which were all fine so it must be the rudder. We checked, and our port rudder had snapped, making it very difficult to steer. We sailed the remaining 4000NM across the North Pacific with a broken rudder. Ater 31 days at sea, we made it into Seattle!! 🌊 more on the rudder later 👋
