Day 29 :27' 11S 40' 30W

Not BP Explorer's finest hour... or rather 24. Hour by painful hour our fortunes have moved from bad to worse to the downright dangerous. There was admittedly one sunny interlude yesterday when the spinnaker tripped itself and floated free without warning. This unforseen and inconvenient spinnaker drop turned out to be a blessing in disguise - yes it meant lost miles as we slowed down, but in the process we found a hole in a seam which could so easily have led to a blown kite and a final nightmarish week below decks stitching. As it was, the repair took minutes thanks to our crack sewing circle (Goldie and Sasha). Apart from this good fortune, however, it has been a day which we would rather forget. The peels, drops, re-hoists and polings-out have been endless (we pole-out when the wind gets too strong for a spinnaker and we fly a headsail on either side of the boat, the yankee being kept out with the spinnaker pole). The work has been very, very tiring, with something seeming to happen at the end of every watch, the result of which being that precious opportunities to sleep leak away.

As night fell we entered a more dramatic and potentially dangerous phase. As the wind rose we dropped the 1.5 kite and had to temporarily pole out to sort out some twisted halyards. The wind shifted and we gybed, got the flanker on deck, and hoisted it inside its22m launching tube. As the kite breaks out, the tube normally trails harmlessly behind the yacht and is gathered in after the hoist. This time it appeared to bag up in the water, creating a large amount of drag and pulling the bowman off his feet. Back on the helm the boat powered up to nearly 11knots and there was a concerned ''the helm does not feel right''. The metres of thick, strong, white nylon then wrapped themselves around our rudder, massing themselves into an horrendous knot.

The feeling on the helm was akin to driving a car at night, at full speed, in the outside lane of the motorway. There are no brakes and no way of slowing down -suddenly your steering lock starts to go on and off..........

As the helm slowly locked up and the boat remained at full speed the situation became downright dangerous. The flanker had to be dropped and then the mainsail. With all sail down in the strong winds we were still making way and wallowing badly in the swell. In the torchlight 22m of thick nylon launching tube trailed, jammed under the rudder 2m underwater.After initial attempts to recover the launching tube failed, it became obvious that we would have to completely stop the boat, and perhaps send someone over the side for a closer look (i.e. the skipper). The back of the boat began to look like a dive site as ladders, boathook, torches of every shape and size and extra lines of all kinds were called for and handed over. But the launching tube would not budge, despite the fact that we had dragged enough of it back on board starboard side for a good six or seven people to heave on, tug-of-war style. After 45 minutes and as a midnight swim was looking more and more likely, we managed to free the other end of the tube.

This we dragged out on port side. Each free end was then attached to a winch with a section of rope, then winched in turn; one eventually began to give, although the tube still would not come free. Having secured both ends we cut the tube in two and winched the two halves separately - finally they were hauled into the cockpit to a relieved cheer all round and the tidy-up began.

Then it was back to the original goal - the flanker. We had been stopped in the water for at least an hour, so estimated that our minimum loss would be around ten miles. Time was of the essence - but it was not to be. In the heat of the moment of the re-hoist, and no doubt due to the fact that everyone was getting more and more exhausted, a staysail halyard which must and have become twisted at the top of the mast when we dropped all our sails was missed. This then fouled the spinnaker halyard during the hoist and the whole thing hand to come down again immediately and be sent below to the packing-station (which by this time was full of very worn spinnaker packers). With everything stowed we opted for tea and either a raw flapjack or, in some cases, a damp roll-up to calm our frayed nerves.

At 2a.m. we read that inevitably we had lost miles to everyone, but as we now await the morning's position reports there is an air of tension about the place. Things are not looking good. Whatever the result though we will fight on! It isn't over yet.

Skippers note: All of this was ''achieved'' without injury to the crew. Our primary goal of ''safe'' is maintained. The crew are tired but nothing a few hours sleep wont sort out, so that takes care of ''happy''. As for ''faster'' well we are working on it.

BP Explorer - Safe - Happy - Faster