Mainland sailor dreaming on an ocean wave
Vicky Song attempts to become the first Chinese woman to sail around the world in the good yacht Qingdao
Vicky Song Kun couldn't wait to get back to Qingdao - waiting in the marina would be her mum, who is battling cancer, and it has been seven months since she last saw her.
Song, a crew member of the boat Qingdao, one of 12 yachts in the 2013-14 Clipper Round the World Race is attempting to become the first Chinese woman to circumnavigate the globe.
She is halfway there and it has been a battle on two fronts - emotional as well as physical, trying to meet nature's many challenges out on the deep blue.
On the ocean you get a better perspective, especially when you know you can lose your life anytime.
"There are so many things in life you take for granted, but out on the ocean you get a better perspective, especially when you know you can lose your life anytime," said Song in Hong Kong last weekend when the Clipper fleet made an unscheduled stopover.
It was a "quick pit-stop" after three boats in the 12-strong fleet experienced rigging problems during the Singapore to Qingdao leg. All the boats were diverted to Hong Kong as a safety precaution where the rigging was changed.
Song, 32, was impatient to get going as the longer spent in Hong Kong meant less shore time in her hometown Qingdao, leaving her with just a few precious days with her mum.
"I have been keeping in touch with her as much as I can over the past seven months. Whenever we are in port I call her every day and when we are out I try to call her on the satellite phone, when it works, once a week at least. It is tough, I miss her. She has to time her hospital treatment so she can come and greet me at the marina," Song said.