Knut Frostad, skipper of djuice dragons, reveals his feelings about finishing seventh on Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race and talks about his plans for the final two legs.

How was the Atlantic crossing?

It was torture. It was pretty good in the beginning but we had a screw up the first night when we blew out our reaching spinnaker, so we ended up having to cross the Gulf Stream back and forth for the first two days so we lost everything there. We managed to get back on Amer Sports One and News Corp and went 10 miles inside them and that was enough to get hammered by the high, so it was torture.

We lost the halyard locks a couple of days ago, so we had to tie the halyards up in the rig and things like that but that problem we can overcome.

So you still can’t find that magic boatspeed?

We obviously had conditions on this leg that we should be fast in but we were missing a sail for 36 hours. When we hoisted the sail, we were as fast as anyone. I don’t think it was a big boat speed issue. Obviously we lack a little bit sometimes and that is making it hard for us. We will come back on the next leg. However, I’ve said that before and we are starting to run out of time.

The positions are beginning to be fixed now, so what can you hope for in the last two legs?

The decisions are not fixed for the legs so I think the next leg should be a good one. I am looking forward to it. I know the waters fairly well. We are straightening a few things on the boat and we will do whatever we can.

What about crew morale?

Not good. With most of the crew below trying to repair the sail as quickly as possible at a critical stage in the race morale was very low. There really is nothing you can do from the back. We did everything we could but it was torture, slow torture.