received 16.12.08 1258 GMT
Hi there,
The last few days seem to have been unbelievably busy and yet so far in this leg we have only covered a few more miles than we could probably achieve in a day!
We spent much of the last 24 hours battling a massive amount of current, which was somewhat akin to spending all day running frantically on a treadmill. After many days spent in the gym last year I can tell you that I am not that fond of running on a treadmill and now, after 24 hours of battling 3-4 knots of current, I have decided that it's not that much more fun doing the nautical version either! The lack of progress has been a little frustrating but that said, we have being going quite well and the battle with the other boats has kept us on our toes and pushing hard.
Sleep has been somewhat scarce too as there have been lots of sail changes so far, imaginary marks to round and the wind constantly going up and down with all of this going on in sight of much of the fleet. It would be hard to imagine much closer racing right now. The few miles separation we have established between the boats now has given us a little breathing space, but will not let the pressure off at all.
Luckily, I managed to grab a few hours sleep somewhat sporadically over the course of last night, though, having found a nice comfy spot on top of one of the spinnakers. It would seem that did the trick and today, rather than feeling weary, I have been ready for battle once more. Just as well really, as the wind has continued shifting constantly and each sail change seems to be separated by minutes rather than hours! However, time to relax is not upon us yet - It looks like we are in for some more fun and games tonight as well as we have to manoeuvre our way through a trough of low pressure with the hope of finding somewhat more consistent breeze on the other side.
Cheers, for now,
Simon Fisher - navigator
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