The last radio schedule revealed the extent of the damage in the fleet following the drama at the start of the race – Team Spirit has a broken pole, Vail Williams ‘sacrificed’ their spinnaker and John Quigley, the mate on Spirit of Hong Kong, was dunked twice while on the end of the pole. This is no doubt common knowledge back home, but on board LogicaCMG, our Mini M sat phone is not working so we rely on the 12 hourly ‘chat show,’ as it’s known, to glean what info we can.

We are in good shape at the front end of the fleet but we’re now experiencing lighter airs. We are edging our way towards Waypoint Alpha, covering only 38 miles in the last eight hours, with both BG Group and Spirit of Southampton in sight. The wind patterns are very localised which means as we track the closest Challenge boats on the radar, we can see them gaining and loosing as each they play the wind shifts.

We are pretty much into the routine of the watches now – boil in the bag hasn’t tasted so good since camping trips as a kid. And sleeping anytime, anywhere is just a matter of course. As I climbed into my ‘hotbunk’ after lunch yesterday to make the most of my six hours off, I noticed a series of marks on the wooden bulkhead above me. Closer inspection suggests that a previous occupant had been counting down the days – there were at least 30 marks, so perhaps made on a Southern Ocean crossing on a previous Global Challenge. Had that person been hateing every minute, hanging on for grim death? These are certainly not the emotions on board now, infact the thrill of close racing with at least two boats even after 521 miles is like nothing I’ve experienced and more than compensates for a bit of discomfort.