Said John Jacoby, looking at his boat, “I don’t mind a bit of a storm. I reckon there’s only about an hour and a half until next landfall. She’ll be right.”

At sunset, Mark Burnett was on the radio with Tricia Middleton of Competitor Relations warning her that severe weather is reported in the forecast, with 40 knot winds and 6 foot swells, and torrential rains predicted. Teams were being instructed to stay on land unless they felt strong and confident enough to head out onto the open ocean from PC 7 to PC 8 and PC 8 to PC 9. Said Burnett, “Teams must treat this as an expedition, and that means they may have to stop tonight.

At 6:45 Team AussieSpirit.com pulled into Balasuan Island, PC 9, in first place. Despite the serious weather warnings, the spirited Aussies quickly had their passports signed, secured the required glowsticks onto their Perahus, and pushed back out into the growing waves. Said John Jacoby, looking at his boat, “I don’t mind a bit of a storm. I reckon there’s only about an hour and a half until next landfall. She’ll be right.” The Kiwis, Team Fairydown Fleet CookieTime, arrived at PC 9 about 25 minutes behind. Said Andrea Murray, “we’re in a good spot. This is actually where we want to be, not in the front.” Team captain, John Howard added, “we’re going to keep land in sight, that way we can go in if we need to.”

Team EarthLink [go to Team Bio] pulled in just ten minutes behind Fairydown Fleet CookieTime, and took off immediately. When they were told that the Aussies had estimated that it was about one and a half hours to the next land, Jason Middleton smiled, “yeah, but they’re Aussies. That means two hours for us.” The French squad Spie, and Eco-Internet, are also both making chase, but it is uncertain whether they will be allowed to depart Balasuan Island tonight.

Time, and the fickle Sabah weather, will dictate.