The race goes on for round the world sailor Mike Williams.

For the last few days the 51-year-old dad from Merstham has been enjoying the sights and sounds of Victoria, Canada, after completing the fifth leg of the Clipper 05-06 race from China.

He has managed to find time to send the Life an update on his journey on board the Durban Clipper.

"We were very honoured two days before the start of the latest race, as Dame Ellen MacArthur arrived in the Olympic harbour in China.

"She had sailed in on her giant 75ft trimaran and moored alongside our boat.

"Qingdao put on a good farewell for the fleet and Dame Ellen boarded every boat to wish them good luck. Her trimaran B&Q led the fleet out of the harbour to the start line.

"The weather for the start of the race seemed to set the pattern as it was blowing a force eight gale and we had to reduce our sail plan to cope with the wind.

"The course we had to sail was south of Japan and then north into the Pacific. The sail to the south of Japan was about 1,000 miles, which took about six days.

"As we sailed up the coast the sun finally came out. Our boat looked like a Chinese laundry as everyone took the opportunity to dry as much kit as they could.

"After leaving the coast of Japan we were finally in the north Pacific. Many crews worried this leg would be rough and very tough.

"We were not disappointed, as for 17 of the first 20 days we were in either gale force eight or gale force nine winds.

"The wind was not the only problem. It was very cold and the lowest water temperature was 2.5 degrees.

"The race seemed to split into two halves, with the first five boats hundreds of miles in front of the other five.

"We spent most of our time in second place, with the Victoria-sponsored boat leading.

"As we approached the Canadian coast we sailed into a wind hole and lost the lead on the third boat. We then had to dig very deep to fight back and regain second place.

"Victoria won this leg and took 36 hours to sail up the channel to the finish due to the lack of wind.

"We finished in second place, taking just six hours to sail to the finish.

"We arrived to a great welcome of a barbecue and beer. It was nice to have real meat as we had been eating soya for the last two weeks.

"We had also started to run low on wet wipes and toilet rolls. Running low on the wet wipes was the main worry as the crew was starting to smell.

"I have learnt three things crossing the north Pacific only sail it once, nothing is waterproof and you can never wear enough clothes."

The fleet is due to set sail for Panama today (Wednesday). To see pictures and to keep up to date with how Mike and the Durban crew are getting on, log on to www.clipper-ventures.co.uk.