It is sad and unbelievable that 7,500 miles from Sydney to Cape Town across the Southern Ocean with winds reaching 50 knots should end in a floating match race in 1 knot of wind with 0.1 knot of boat speed. Some 40 miles from the finish line, we sailed into a hole that we were hoping we would beat.
After a couple of frustrating hours we were joined by Spirit of Sark and BP Explorer, which sailed straight in behind us. All day was spent in each other's company trying to get the boat to move in the right direction first. Later in the afternoon we even saw Stelmar had joined us on the float.
It is frustrating for the crew that after all their hard work for 37 days, the race is basically coming down to who can find a lucky puff of wind before the other boat, in order to get to the line first. It is a shame that you can work so hard and fight for every mile and it can all disappear within a few hours on the last day.
I am devastated to have led the whole leg for so long, not only to lose it but also to not even make the podium. The whole crew are tired, frustrated, cold, wet and miserable and for weeks we have been buzzing from what we envisaged for our arrival. Now the disappointment is too difficult to hide. So it will be a low-key affair, until everyone has time to deal with the feeling that we have tonight of being kicked in the teeth.
"It is not the critic that counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
This is a quote from [Theodore Roosevelt] and was sent to me during this leg of the race. I saved it on the desktop of the aft computer for all the crew to read. It was there as a reminder of the magnitude of what they were doing, sailing across the Southern Ocean against the prevailing winds and currents.
Having just spent nearly six weeks together all doing the same thing it is very easy to become nonchalant about what we have just endured. When everybody is doing the same thing, it becomes the norm. When we arrive ashore and meet the millions of race viewer addicts who are following the race, it will seem a little excessive how much everyone else, who hasn't physically been onboard the yacht with us, thinks we are brave, courageous and have accomplished an amazing feat.
That fact is true. It is an amazing feat achieved by all onboard. However, the reality of it hasn't really hit the crew yet. Over time, that will change, and the realisation will hit. The war stories of the massive wave, the nightmare sail change and the awesome surf will come in the bar room chat and then they will start to accept that they are heroes.
1st place or 12th is not important when appreciating what all 12 yachts in the Global Challenge have achieved to date, completing the Southern Ocean, rounding three Capes and clocking up approximately 22,000 miles.
Dee Caffari, skipper Imagine it. Done
Dee Caffari - press report/Yachting World, 6 April 2005
