Race start took place in a wind hole….A recurring feature of this half of the race, it seems. At one point H&H were actually pointing 180 degrees in the wrong direction. Happily, we are becoming very swift at sail changes so after 6 hours of continual changes we and NY seemed to separate from the fleet just as the wind picked up. What has followed has been 48 hours of the most challenging sailing I have done so far. Bitterly cold battering to windward in 30kts, fog & rain with just occasional glimpses of NY as we changed lead. It looked like all was finally going to go our way until, you guessed it, we found a wind hole, allowing WA and Qingdao to pass. Typical. After showing our ability to sail faster than the others it is absolutely infuriating that once again we are about to drop back due to lack of wind. Perhaps we are actually Uniquely unlucky? Oh well, 128 miles to go unless 1200UTC comes first. Looks like yet another lengthy motor in. Not sure we have enough diesel.