Sam Davies' daily log - An albatross on a bicycle and other beautiful memories
"Hello everyone!
I've just been out on deck, having taken a reef. Roxy is reaching in 20-25 knots of wind and there's a nice sea. After finishing the reef, I sat up on top of my Fleet 77 dome, and marvelled at my surroundings. It was just another normal day in the Southern Ocean, crisp and cold, a whiteish grey light, and grey-blue sea. I looked aft, and there were two polar dolphins jumping in our wake. They've been following Roxy since last night (when I was on deck trimming in the night they were swimming alongside). They are beautiful and stripy, and as far as I can see, they don't have a dorsal fin like their Atlantic cousins. There was an albatross circling around us, and every so often he dipped towards the waves and when he climbed up again he was pedalling his feet like he was riding a bicycle - very comical! Maybe he was just doing it to show off in front of me! At the same time, Roxy was hooning along, occasionally dipping her pole in the water and then zooming off at 23 knots down a wave, the pilot happily in control. I was just riveted to my perch on the dome, taking it all in! It's hard to do the scene justice with words, or even photos, but I couldn't stop smiling at how awesome this is and how amazingly lucky I am to be out here experiencing days like this. That's why I'm writing it down; not just to share with you, but to try and store all my memories of this race - the good ones and the tough ones - so they're not forgotten.
S x"
At 1100 UK time, Sam Davies aboard Roxy was in 8th position, 1477 miles from race leader Michel Desjoyeaux aboard Foncia
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