31 29 S 13 51 E

Start days are always adrenalin fuelled affairs and are practically the only time the whole crew are on deck at the same time. They are also the most tiring. Having started the day at about 7:00 and after the emotional roller coaster of the send-off at 11:00 there is a pause of about two hours for the start gun when we just want to get going. Then through all the excitement of the initial jockeying for best position we start to settle into the routine tasks and thereafter get into our watches. Olly's watch stayed on until 22:00 and we were getting pretty tired by the time we hit our bunks. With only four hours of sleep in 22 hours we were up again at 02:00 and didn't hit our bunks again until 06:00.

Our first night at sea was very exciting starting with 30 knots of wind and the flanker up. To our left and just ahead were Team Stelmar, Spirit of Sark and SAIC La Jolla. We watched nervously as the wind rose and more pressure was put on our straining spinnaker. We watched as Team Stelmar's flanker wrapped and flapped in the wind, at one point I'm sure I saw it rip in two but I couldn't be sure. They downed it quickly and went to a poled-out no 1 yankee but they lost ground and we came to within calling distance. We couldn't hold on any longer - the risk was too great. We went up to prepare the yankee for a hoist and as we did so went into a broach. Water cascaded over the deck and BP Explorer heeled at an alarming angle. We tripped the flanker (releasing one of the 3 corners causing it to de-power and flap like a flag). The guys in the cockpit struggled like mad to pull it in and at one point it got the better of us and fought back dragging Olly across the deck before he finally had to let go. With thoughts of past legs, when flankers have been lost and points deducted, we renewed our efforts, with everyone pulling, we got it all below deck without further incident. We poled-out the yankee and there it has remained.

Six hours of sleep was very welcome at 6 this morning and we awoke to stories of yachts blowing flankers and boat speeds in excess of 20 knots though none have been confirmed. We have been steaming along at over 13 knots average and we are well and truly back to proper sailing again.

At lunchtime today we celebrated Jasper's 1st birthday (David Melville's son) and David was presented with the first bottle of Champagne of the leg, which I'm pleased to say he shared amongst the crew. We also celebrated Cop's birthday, which was actually last week but any excuse for some chocolate cake is a good one in my book.

A quick one from the skipper: "happy birthday jasper, you make me smile every day'' love daddy