After a brief glimpse of the sun yesterday, which was shortly followed by hail and rain, we today had the pleasure to experience some more sun up on deck - probably the most for the past week. Spirits were slightly lifted as sun glasses once again made their way up on deck. Wouldn't it be for the occasional waves and squalls, which assure that our foulies/dry suits did not have the chance to dry out, the conditions sometimes reminded me of skiing, especially since the temperatures seemed to have dropped once again.

The winds from the west have picked up, allowing us to make good progress east and achieve some great surfs (@Cameron: I have to inform you that "The Major" has beaten your boat speed record. Today, she did 22,8 knots. Sorry, mate!). The question – "How many days we have to go? 10? 11?" – is now raised more often, but since we still have at least 2000nm ahead of us (around 1700nm in a direct line), no one dares to speculate yet. However, Nicola and me have agreed today that each crew member should give an ETA two to three days before our arrival, like we did it in the earlier legs of the race. Regards to Tanja at this point. She was always the one that collected the ETAs from everyone and published them during lunch time. Since she had left the boat we never did it again... Let's see, if we can manage it this time.

In today's blog, I want to give you an insight into the role of the watch leaders. The watch leaders are two crew, who are selected by Max at the beginning of each race. Before the start both sit down with him, in order to divide the whole crew in two equal watches. During the race, they evaluate the race tactics and weather with Max and have the responsibility for everything that happens up on deck, when Max is not around. This includes making sure everyone is safe up on deck, leading through evolutions (sail changes), supervising crew on the helm, ensuring that the on-watch is rotated around the tasks on deck, etc. Since Max decided to have the two watch leaders continuously available, both have the privilege to be excluded from the mother watch, but still clean the heads and bilges. Furthermore, both also share the mate's bunk (port aft bunk, closest to the nav station), which allows to have a constant insight into the progress and performance of the boat. 

Interestingly, I have found that the role is much more about managing people than leading evolutions or supervising crew on deck. Therefore, it is important to be alert to the behaviour and mood of all crew, in order to make sure that the crew dynamics are working well. Since both current watch leaders, Pawel and me, are two of the youngest crew members, it is a great opportunity to experience leadership in an extreme environment with a very diverse group of people. So far, I have not only deepened my knowledge of sailing, but for sure have learnt a lot about people – how to deal with, react to and motivate them.