The final race of Leg 5 was a very short sprint from Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam to Zhuhai in China’s ‘Bay Area’ – located next to Macau and relatively near to Hong Kong.
It was a Le Mans start, which means all boats line up out at sea and start with the same sails and course for ten minutes before changing and sailing the rest of the race as you choose. The reason is that sailing through hundreds of islands, commercial ships and fishing boats wouldn't be the safest option.
Unfortunately Dare To Lead didn’t have a very good start to the race. Skipper Ryan Gibson reported: “We fell back quickly, trying to get our Code 2 spinnaker set up and a few other small issues, which was in hindsight the wrong sail. Charlie and I perhaps favour it too much on certain wind angles so during the night we decided to change eventually to the Code 1.
“We had it flying when we noticed the sheet had a knot in it which I ignored due to light winds. The wind picked up suddenly of course, and the working sheet snapped taking the non-working sheet completely out like a rocket, so we had no sheets left and a flogging Code 1. We retrieved the kite by attaching a spare sheet to the tack and a few drowsy crew had a pile of both spinnakers around them in the galley, wondering what was going on.”
Wind holes presented a wide range of challenges too, generating a lot of close racing as the fleet closed up. AQP Charlie explained the situation on day 4: “We’re currently in the thick of it, racing closely against Washington, DC, Our Isles and Oceans, UNICEF, Zhuhai, Yacht Club Punta del Este, and Perseverance… Any gains or losses are much harder to claw back in a shorter space of time.
“We turned the corner last night onto what is effectively the home stretch and have been racing in close proximity to most of the fleet ever since. Now the debate is whether we change back to the Code 2 or stick with the 1 for a little longer to see if we can ride things through before the signature Clipper Race end-of-race wind-hole.”
The fleet remained tightly packed and Dare To Lead worked its way towards the front to get itself in contention for a podium place. In the last day of racing a massive windless zone loomed and with the boats separated by less than 30 nautical miles the order over the line was anyone’s guess.
But the prospect of a very slow boat to China finish, Clipper Race officials decided to cut the race short and declared racing would finish at midnight so the fleet could then make best speed, under motor, to make the tight transition window into Zhuhai marina on 6 March. The outcome was that Dare To Lead clinched third place on the podium with a healthy 9 points added to the leader board.
This was the last race for Ntokozo Msiya before handing over to the next DTL-Liyaba ambassador for Leg 6. On the last day she wrote: “Time really flies when you’re having fun. We just started the race not so long ago and now we have less then 24 hours before the race ends. Life on board is still amazing, loving the team spirit and positivity around me. We are making good progress in the race thanks to our new rudder and good tactics but mostly staying motivated and keeping up the good team spirit.
“The first few days were a bit tough as most of us suffered from flu, resulting in low energy but regardless of that we still kept going and good news is that we are recovering very well. The hospitality on board is amazing, David made me a special delicious dinner today boiled potatoes and corn beef, with no onions, all thanks to Lisa who kept reminding everyone on galley watch ‘NO ONIONS FOR TK!’
“All in all I think that everyone on board makes good chefs because I’ve never came across any bad food. OHHH how can I forget Gary, he also makes delicious baked potatoes for me. So far, it’s been Champagne sailing for us, we started off in 9th position and now we are fighting for 3rd position with Yacht Club Punta Del Este. Catch you all in Zhuhai.”