Leg 1 Day 30 : East of Rio Grande

We all came on watch after Saturday's 24-hour marathon looking very tired. What sleep we did manage to get was often interrupted by noise on deck. Every shout, every clatter of sheets and grinding of the winches echoes through the hull and it's difficult to just count sheep when the next 'everyone on deck' could be moments away. So, tired and physically exhausted we start our watches but throughout the day we all talk about the events of the night before and a strong sense of camaraderie builds. As we recount our individual stories of heroics from helm to foredeck thought of returning to our bunks disappear and we remember why we wanted to do this thing in the first place. It is at these times that the two watches tend to overlap more.

During the day people arrive on deck and muck-in with sail changes whether they are on watch or not and soon we are a dynamic team again and patting each other on the back. Spirits lifted, we view the fleet positions not with a defeated gloom but an optimistic 'right that's the problem - let's try fix it'. The problem is not a small one, we pulled five miles back on Barclays Adventurer in the afternoon only to lose it again during the night and they took 11 miles from us over the 24 hour period. Samsung and VAIO have increased their lead over us by 8 and 20 miles respectively and although we were only 1.8 miles from BG SPIRIT yesterday morning they pulled away too and are now about nine miles in front. We did however take 20 miles from Spirit of Sark. The leading five yachts are quite spread out now with most of them further west than BP Explorer. At the moment we are far enough apart to be experiencing different conditions and trying to match the yachts performance like for like is impossible. The next two and a half days will be very interesting as we all converge on a waypoint at the mouth of the River Plate and aim for a piece of ocean one tenth of a mile wide. The challenge will be to get the best possible position before the waypoint hoping that conditions are better for us further east. After that it's a straight race up the River Plate to the finish.

Halloween brought it's sailing horrors to the deck but during the day a friendly witch by the name of Laura Alexander promised to cast a 'good luck' spell over the chart table. We've no doubt of her abilities in the snake pit let's hope the spell works as well.

Leg 1 Day 12 : Heading for Cape Verde Islands

David said it all in his log yesterday, we've all read it and are 100% behind him. Control the things we are able to control, do our very best then try and find that little bit extra, it's the bit extra that will make the difference. We are playing a cat and mouse game with Spirit of Sark and the first thing we ask as we start our watch is "where are they?" It's a three horse race for us over the next couple of days and every bit of weather information is eagerly awaited, it's hot and sunny and definitely shorts and T-shirts on deck.



Below decks are like a Turkish sauna. We are wearing precious little when we retire to our bunks - except maybe a silk sleeping bag liner to cover our warps and fenders. Sasha Zamorouev got a surprise today when we celebrated his birthday nine months early. He is doing this leg as a member of our BP crew so we presented him with a card, some gifts and a message and promise from every crewmember.

They included; doing the washing up when it's his turn, donating their day's treats and even washing his socks! We have received loads of fantastic e-mails from our friends and relatives. They include messages from excited nieces, nephews following the race and checking our position when they wake, when they get home from school and again before they go to bed. Our older fans have been texting each other every snippet of information from the Challenge website and a few have even placed considerable bets. Every mail we receive just lifts us higher and adds to our drive to do that bit extra. We saw our first Sperm whale today and I can't help thinking just how lucky we are to be experiencing this adventure and sharing this incredible environment with them.

Goldie Raley's thought for today is "We still have a long way to go and a lot to do before we get there".

Leg 1 Day 11 : 27°03'00.0"N 16°39'00.0"W

Well I suppose you would all like to know how you take a boat from first to the back of the pack in a few days. The answer is to take a holiday in the canaries. A lifetime ago we came out of a big storm battered but in front. The fleet had been scattered by the winds over a large distance and a new low pressure system was out to the west disrupting the more normal north easterly winds. To the east lay the Canaries. I have been planning weather for this trip for nearly a year and you always in the research try and avoid them, but our close rivals BG SPIRIT and Spirit of Sark were heading that way, some of the others in the fleet were heading west. Which way to go? We have always really rated BG SPIRIT and Spirit of Sark and so it a kind of fixed mindset I decided to go that way. it was something of a gamble and required going between Gran Canaria and Tenerife (at this point experienced sailors roll their eyes). So BG SPIRIT, Spirit of Sark and BP Explorer headed down between these islands in a kind of collective madness. We needed the wind to hold for this to work and inevitably it did not. We sailed slowly..... oh so slowly, between the islands and every position schedule showed a worse and worse picture. It was hell, there is nothing worse than being a skipper and leading your boat into a poor strategic position. I felt tense, anxious and miserable the whole day, it was so bad that I had stomach cramps. The only consolation was that we were not on our own. For most of this time Spirit of Sark were within close sight. First and second favourites, according to the bookies anyway, stuck behind an island where they should know better - ridiculous.

Well we are on our way again. We are out to the east and consider ourselves to be in a three boat race for the next week. Slightly higher speed trade winds are forecast out here and so we should be able to slowly claw back some mileage. Realistically we are not going to see any big changes in the short term. Things should be shaken into place by the Cape Verde islands which are a few days away yet. Of course it doesn't look good, but the thing to remember that this is a long race. So much has happened and we have only been going about 10 days there is probably another 25 days left to sort this mess out.

When I realised the true horror of the situation I sent a rather down email to my wife Kate. She replied that ''the lessons we are meant to learn in life are the ones we fear the most''. So here I am learning how to be a good skipper and not be in the lead. The crew are unperturbed and supportive. We have decided to work this one out as a team - control the controllables and let the rest do what they will.