After Sunday's desperate search for wind which included Christian Talpo scaling our 85ft mast in search of any signs, finally at 5:40 the winds returned to our sails and we were off again, but not without cost. The light airs gave the rest of the fleet time to catch up and the position reports made disappointing reading. Spirit of Sark had crept up on us over night and loomed like an ominous shadow on the horizon. VAIO, Team SAIC and Samsung were out to the west and had benefited from favourable winds and had caught up and taken over the lead. BG SPIRIT and Barclays Adventurer had also gained.
The winds stayed with us all day Monday and each watch gave their total concentration to regain lost ground. Far from being beaten, our resolve increased and the desire to get the most out of BP Explorer rose to new levels. A healthy competition built up between watches where the old watch gave the new watch target speeds. As I write this I can hear the watch on deck whooping at beating our record. We are not down, our lead has been taken but it is early yet. Gambles on the part of the other yachts in the fleet have paid off but as every gambler should know, you don't always win and consistency is the key. We know we can get back the lead and confidence is high in fact we are enjoying the challenge, we don't want it too easy after all.
(Skipper) David has been rescued from patrolling the decks in bare feet by Major Mahli who has given him his flip-flops. I asked Major today what he was most looking forward to in Buenos Aires, he said a cold beer.
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