This morning we received the tragic news of the death of a crew member of team GB. Our thoughts are first and foremost with his family and friends and team mates. My sincere condolences to all.

The entire fleet celebrated a memorial service on all the boats today. It was good and I think we made it an adequate honouring of a fellow sailor. May he rest in peace.

We don’t have all the details, but it doesn’t look like that massive mistakes were made. He was an experienced sailor and a coxswain of the boat (like I am on our boat), a role which included some additional training upfront. It is just the danger which comes with this type of adventure. We all seem to not think about it and discard it as “this will not happen to me or our boat” but it can – despite all the safety measures we take. We (hotelplanner) have been a very safe boat so far, but we had also some accidents and injuries – which might look now like lucky escapes.

One of the most important lessons I take from this entire trip, is how to keep safe on board in different conditions and how important this is. I believe this gets to often neglected by “holiday sailors”, as safety equipment seem like a unnecessary inconvenience at times.

Everyone at sea or not please stay safe!