Gabriele Olivo/Equipo Telefonica
If leg three was hard work on that long port tack, then leg four takes hard to another level. Qingdao lies dead upwind, across the South China Sea and into the north-east trades. The fleet may choose to duck south of Taiwan to avoid the south-west flowing current against them in the Taiwan Straits, standing out into the East China Sea before the long leg north into the Yellow Sea and Qingdao, which lies at 36N.
By the time they arrive it won’t be champagne sailing any more – it will be January and winter in Qingdao – but the breeze is still very likely to be out of the north or north-west. This one will be an upwind marathon.
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