Leg 2 Day 2 : 37°47'00.0"S 56°27'00.0"W

This log (and those that follow) come to you from the 'graveyard shift' - the '2-6-er'. As friends and family move the pins in their globes back home, the logs are written earlier and earlier in the morning here on BP Explorer to arrive by 0900 GMT. Thus you may be hearing more about moonlight than sunrises, and your writers may be somewhat sleepier as they type quietly away by the night light which lends the media suite a red glow and anyone beavering away 'downstairs' the look of a submariner! The name of the game right now is making the best out of light winds. Not that this will be a long-term pattern of events; it is definitely the calm before the storm, as much heavier winds are forecast in the not-too-distant future. Those on mother watch (cooking and cleaning) are for once thanking their lucky stars that it is their go at the domestics, for they are able to work with the comfort of calm seas and a flat boat. At the top of the companionway steps meanwhile, we have been concentrating on keeping our attention on performance and 'controlling the controllables'. At 1800 local time we could see ten out of the eleven other boats - a situation which could easily make it hard to stay focused - but we have done our level best not to take our eye off the ball. Between 2100 and 2200 we decided that a gybe was in order then reflected that we should cover the other boats out to the east instead. Spirit of Sark later gybed behind us and as we prepared to follow in their wake the wind obligingly shifted, so we held our course and saved valuable time by avoiding the gybe. We have been level pegging with Spirit of Sark ever since; and although technically the position reports at 0145 GMT (1045 local time) had us in first place, it is a close-run thing. Now, one hour into the watch, we can see the lights of just two other boats - Spirit of Sark to port and Me To You (who earlier gave us a good run for our money) a little further out to starboard. Up on the wall in the saloon galley, have a few amusing pictures of our antics at sea (and in port!), and we also have a few aims for different stages of the long voyage ahead to New Zealand. Without giving too much away, the first reads 'top three out of the River Plate'. We have managed to achieve this by steering from brown waters out into the deep blue in second. The task now is to up the concentration, prepare for a blow and stick out our necks as we head south. Next stop, Cape Horn! Naomi Cudmore