Atlantic Ocean

Well it's disappointing isn't it? You went to bed looking at us somewhere in first / second and you wake up and we're in 4th. More to the point Spirit of Sark safely vanquished to 30miles astern is now 4 miles in front.... How is that
possible? Answer: the doldrums.

It is to say the least very frustrating. Yesterday the wind went very fickle ranging from 090 to 180 to 270degrees. Giant grey cumulonimbus clouds towered all around with dark rain falling like arrows from underneath. The clouds often move far quicker than we can. In front of them is wind, underneath them all is still. Through this minefield we crept at modest speed. VAIO shadowed us and towards the middle of the night we met up with BG SPIRIT. They lodged port and starboard of us 1 mile astern. From 0200 until 0600 the night was filled with rain, then squall then calm. Headsails and spinnakers went up and down and the crew laboured in shorts and t-shirts, drenched to the skin.

At 0730 we looked to the schedules to see how we had faired. BG SPIRIT, Spirit of Sark and SAIC, all in front. BG SPIRIT by a stomach churning 7.5miles. Of course it wasn't all bad - VAIO had done worse and were 6 miles behind, but that didn't really take the sting out of it.

Things tend to go quiet when the schedules turn mean on us. We have been behind before and always bounce back., ''We'll soon get them'' is muttered encouragingly between crew, but there is a childish sense of ''its just not fair'' as well. The business of sailing makes it all go away, but the situation does not really lift until we feel that the winds have become constant across the fleet and sailing parity is achieved - making it possible for us to catch up again. This has not yet taken place. We are almost out of the doldrums, but not quite, there may still be a few surprises left. A slight air of anxiety hangs in the air.

It was during this busy night that BP Explorer passed a significant milestone. We crossed the outbound track made from Portsmouth to Buenos Aires and all became sailing circumnavigators. For some this means little, the return to Portsmouth being the conclusion. For others onboard this event really does have significance. For many of my crew initially knew nothing of sailing and the sea. They dreamt of sailing around the world in a yacht race and even when they left from Portsmouth, the deep ocean was such an unknown quantity that there was no guarantee that the adventure would end in success. My relationship with the circumnavigation is completely different. One bit of ocean is pretty much like the next and I knew that I would get
around. Not so all onboard, it was a bold and optimistic step into the unknown and even now not all can completely articulate, why they felt it necessary to take such drastic action. But you do not leave your home and family, spend over £28,000 and to be honest put your life at risk unless you feel compelled to do so. The crew have made significant sacrifices to make this trip and so have their families. It is a fantastic achievement for them all to have crossed the outbound track and completed a circumnavigation.

They cross the line seasoned ocean sailors and a fine professional crew that any skipper would be proud of - and this one particularly so. So ''tread softly for you tread on my dreams''. Anything is possible in this life if you want it enough, including passing a few yachts who got lucky in the doldrums.