Derry to Den Helder was a race of two halves. Half of it was spent sailing, and half bobbing around in wind-holes or going backwards in tides and eddies. 

Frustrating would be an understatement, and arriving 7th into Den Helder is far from where we had hoped to be. 

However, I did manage to lay to rest my personal ghost of Cape Wrath, having had a rather traumatic experience rounding it in 1999. I’ve hardly changed since then. 

And neither has the weather…

The other corner – John o’Groats & Duncansby Head – was more clement and, unfortunately, we had rather more time to enjoy it, being stuck for several hours in a serious back-eddy. 

But nothing is forever, and we finally escaped its clutches and stated making our way to Holland; by then, the entire fleet had passed us and we were stone-cold last. It was good work by the whole crew that allowed us to claw back five places, although we failed to pass our nemesis GB: the gap between us and them now looks insurmountable, bar a minor miracle between here and London. 

Den Helder is a tidy working port about thirty miles north of Amsterdam, and is to the Dutch navy what Portsmouth is to the Royal Navy. In fact, a large proportion of the Dutch fleet seemed to be in residence as we arrived, and the naval museum entertained a few of us for an afternoon. 

There was also a bit of beer, a bit of partying, and genuine pleasure at seeing our crewmates from Visit Seattle, PSP, and DaNang claiming 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for this race. 

Just a couple more days here, a very short race across the North Sea, and then we’ll be heading back up the Thames, passing Greenwich once more, and tying up in St Kats, and the adventure will be over.