The stopover in Qingdao has been one of the busiest so far, as all teams prepared their boats for the mighty Pacific Ocean and the city had planned numerous activities for the crew members, ranging from cultural exchange tours, a football match and a school visit.

On March 15th I had the privilege to visit the Zhujiang Road Primary School in Qingdao. The children were extremely open and keen to know everything about the race. We were shown how to play traditional instruments, practice Chinese Kung Fu and how to write Chinese characters with I was very impressed to learn that sailing and robotics were two normal courses in their day-to-day routine.

The Qingdao stopover marks the finish of leg 5 and start of leg 6, meaning that we will once more have a change in the crew - seven people leaving, six joining. Interestingly, now nearly 50% of the crew will be women, which definitely will give a different touch to the crew dynamics and life on board. But I am very much looking forward to it.

Same as in leg 5, I will once more have to privilege of being one of the two watch leaders on the boat. The watch leaders ensure that the skipper’s tactics are being followed and that on-watch is rotated around the roles, whilst continually ensuring that concentration levels remain high and maximum boat speed is achieved at all times. For the past six weeks, I have truly enjoyed this task and surely have not only learned more about sailing, but probably most about people – especially how to deal, react and motivate team members. At the beginning I was not entirely sure if this job would suit me, as I am one of the youngest crew members of the boat, however, my team supported me with this role as best as they could and I am certainly looking forward to the next four weeks ahead of us.

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