Well this IS what I came for. Woke to the sounds of the yacht surfing down waves. Up on deck the cloud was breaking up and there is lots of blue sky.The wind is 25 to 30 knots . The task is to steer a 120 to 130 degree wind angle and go fast. There is a mixed sea state with the main swell of 2 to 4 metres and building , across us and a left over swell travelling in the same direction as our course. Take the helm and first surf down a wave is at 16 knots . It’s easy to get lost however in surfing the wave and bear away too much and lose speed , better to stay up on the power and get the trough of the next wave. The yacht is behaving super nice with one reef in the main and the yankee 2 and not tending to round up. It’s all fun and fast with occasional breaking waves on the stern quarter and every so often a wave dowsing the whole crew. We cycle all our current helms , me , Su and Ming through the wheel and all do a good job. Jorge appears from the companionway smiling. Our Nav computer had been out of action for 24 hours so we have no access to the positions of the other yachts .We are nearing the end of the “Ocean Sprint ” (335 miles). Jorge has spoken to the AQP on Halong Bay and has information. We are now the most Easterly yacht (but also most North )apart from Qingdao . Bermuda behind us may be travelling faster. It seems we are in a good position overall. All will be revealed as we close on the South African coast .