0430 GMT is 0530 local time onboard BP Explorer. Its still dark, as the tropical southern nights are giving us some 11 hours of darkness a day. We, like the rest of the fleet, are currently sailing easy miles. The wind is dead astern, the spinnaker is permanently set, wind range is around 18-20kts and the yacht eats up the distance, heading straight for our waypoint on the equator. We are slowly gaining on the yachts in front and our rival Spirit of Sark is located 3 miles astern its lights doggedly following us all night.
The agonising of a few days ago is over. It was an annoying time and boats to the east Team Stelmar / VAIO and Barclays Adventurer made gains on us, but then so to the east did SAIC La Jolla. Stuck in the middle, ourselves and Spirit of Sark seemed to find a band of reduced wind that slowed us. It may have been better to have cracked off and slid east, but then again we might have prospered out to the west too. What we do know is that given equal conditions we feel that we can beat any boat in the fleet. This gives us a residual confidence that carries us through dissapointment and setback.
The very early morning is quite a convivial time onboard. From about 0430 the mother watch (this morning it is Giles M) start to knead out the bread in the galley, at 0500 a vast pan of porridge is placed on the stove and the smell of baking bread fills the boat. At 0530 the new watch are woken and drift bleary eyed into the saloon to spoon up their breakfast, before going on deck at 0600.
This leg, like all the others, has seen a slightly different relationship between myself and the crew. As the crews skills develop and their abilities increase, they need less direction from myself and want coaching, not instruction. An increasingly constructive relationship is possible, nicer for them and better for me. As long as I see that the crew want to constantly improve, I am encouraged. We have a whiteboard on the bulkhead (wall) on which one watch will write tips/improvements so that anything that they have learnt can be passed onto the other watch. What is there to learn after 23,000 plus miles I hear you wonder? Small things now, but that is the nature of constant improvement. This morning appeared ''watch out not to catch spinnaker on bottom of companionway steps when packing'' and when I looked two pieces of tape had appeared on the bottom of the steps to prevent the kite from snagging as it is dragged around the inside of the yacht.
It might make you laugh but as a skipper this sort of detail is tremendously encouraging. If the crew are interested in the small things, then invariably the larger issues are covered with the same amount of concern. We have tried to foster a constant learning culture with the opportunity to swap jobs and roles onboard the boat and I think that the yacht is the better for it.
If the bread that I can smell baking is good at 0600 then that to me is a sign that the person who cooked it is motivated and that the boat as a whole is thinking about winning. The feeling that I am not pushing 17 people forward anymore, but racing alongside 17 other motivated crewmembers is very positive indeed.
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