38o55N 63o44W

The stage is set for the final few days of this leg; it looks like it's going to be a bit of a nail-biter. For all our friends and family watching the website at home I'm sure it'll be the start of an anxious few days. For us too trying to defend our current position and maybe, just maybe steal another place before the finish line, it's going to be a finger tapping, position report watching, 48 hours. For BG SPIRIT the leg is almost over but they will be watching with interest to see where Spirit of Sark and we come in because that will affect the overall positions going into the next leg to La Rochelle. We need fourth or better to maintain our lead; it is going to be
tough. Barclays Adventurer are 90 miles ahead of us, VAIO are 50. These are miles that could disappear in one day but it would require a lot of luck to be on our side. Next in fourth place, at the moment, is SAIC La Jolla, that's who we have our sights on. It has happened before, we've thought the positions were pretty much set and then on the last day everything has changed.

The weather still has a couple of hands to play and it is set to go light again in the next 24 hours which could create an opening for us - conversely it could also create an opening for those behind. It has been so close this leg and it will go down to the last few hours I'm sure. Spirit of Sark, our constant companions on this leg, are only eight miles behind and Imagine It Done less than a mile. Seeing them on the radar and occasionally over our shoulders has the affect of keeping us very, very focused. On the white board one of the crew has put the message 'it ain't over until the fat lady sings' and we know from previous legs it certainly isn't.

We all start planning our stopover activities about now. Unfortunately we may only have one day off in Boston so we are not going to be able to do much. Shopping is top of the list for most of us. The excellent exchange rate means that most things are going to be about half the price they are in
the UK. Casual enquiries as to what are the best laptops have been made to Richard and myself and it looks like the electronics shops of Boston may do very well out of this crew at least.

It's strange to think that the 2004-5 Global Challenge is almost over. This is the last of the long legs and the next two are a couple of weeks and less than a week. That would have been a long sail back when I started the training, now they are short hops. I'm sure all too soon I'll miss it all and I'll wonder why I wished away the days, at this precise moment, I can't
wait to get into Boston.