So near yet so far

There's still plenty of work for the Volvo fleet to do before the finish of leg eight

An e-mail from John Kostecki aboard illbruck explains why backing down has been such a vital part of leg eight.

We are currently in a drag race across the North Sea. We have much of the fleet in sight still, which is not surprising. Every team seems determined to win this leg. The story so far has been just sailing consistent and fast. Also, seaweed has played a big role in this leg so far. All the teams have performed "back downs". This normally means dropping your headsail or spinnaker and turning the boat into the wind, which allows the boat to stop, and slowly go in reverse for a few moments to let the sea weed come off the keel, strut, and rudder. Each back down move you make you can lose anywhere from 0.5 to 2 miles. Making the back down move could mean losing 2-4 places. That is one of the reasons the boats are changing positions all of the time on this leg.

On our last back down, we had seaweed wrapped around our strut, so Tony went for a swim in the chilly water of the North Sea to clear it off. No one was excited about swimming this morning, but Tony, the youngest crewmember onboard, stuck his hand up and said, " I will do it" and everyone else onboard was relieved and happy that Tony went swimming.

300 miles to go to the finish and a tight race. Should be an exciting finish!