Just after sunset our heroic boat builders and all the other guys and girls that have been making our crazy fix possible waved us farewell. We left their tired but happy faces behind and are now on our way to the start line.

It was yesterday evening when we said goodbye to Hualien and Taiwan and are now heading towards Qingdao.

We were expecting heavy air - about 30 to 40 knots to come in during the night. After a couple of hours of motoring east and the breeze set in. We were doing 20 to 25 knots with our biggest asymmetric and life was wonderful for a while.

Everyone was tired from the intense period of dealing with the boat and everything that comes with it. To add to that we have been preparing for the next leg, changed skipper and got two new guys into the team. It’s a bit overwhelming but still it feels good and we are very motivated for the next leg.

Unfortunately we will first see our new crewmembers and Eivind Melleby, who had a pause during leg four in Qingdao. Now we are only eight guys onboard and we will certainly be warmed up and in full offshore mode by the time we get there.

Back to yesterday: Unluckily the breeze did not last all night. When we reached the waypoint where we suspended racing there was no wind at all. We were trying to get east where the big breeze was but we were just drifting around. There was a lot of frustration at this moment, it was already extremely tight for us to make the start line in time and this did not make it easier.

But luckily, after a couple of hours the breeze came back and we are now driving slalom trough a crowd of Chinese fishing boats in 22 knots of wind about the same boatspeed and pretty flat water. It’s fantastic conditions, a huge contrast from what we experienced in these waters two weeks ago.

Gustav Morin - MCM.

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The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008 with in-port racing, it will, for the first time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the history of the race.

Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, stopping at 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier yacht race for professional racing crews.