Guo's giant leap

As the only Chinese crewmember onboard Green Dragon, Guo Chuan felt like an outsider as the yacht left the Spanish port of Alicante in October to embark on one of the world's toughest races.

Unlike the rest of the crew, made up of professional sailors, including former world champions and Olympic medalists, Guo was hired to write diaries and upload photos, often in extreme conditions, as the boat's media crew.

English not being his native language, it was hard to understand what people were saying, let alone fit in.