Date 1 June 2005
Location 800 miles to go
Weather About to be windy
Heading To Boston
Current postion 7th
Yesterday was a deja vue for us onboard 'Imagine it. Done.' With some slight differences from lessons learnt previously.
We were happily sailing along having left SAIC the day before, to wake up to two masthead lights to leeward and astern of us. As the sun rose and we identified the yachts as Spirit of Sark and BP Explorer we were smiling as we had seen from the last sched of the fleet that they were ahead of us and now overnight we had sailed straight past them. As the morning progressed, another yacht appeared on the horizon, it was Stelmar.
Memories of the last two days leading into Cape Town were revisited. It was a scenario we really wanted to forget but yet again the same yachts were all present and to really rein act those last couple of days of leg four we had zero wind for several hours during the afternoon. All of us were within sight of each other all day and yet again each yacht was inching forward very slowly. The difference being from last time that now it is dark and we can still see them all by their masthead lights. We have not lost touch with them and do not intend to. They have sailed slightly further west than us but we have continued to make good ground to Boston.
This is a sweet revenge for us and we are finding it slightly strange that after all these miles we have sailed on this leg, with all the different weather we have encountered, that the same four yachts should be sat within five miles of each other again nearing the end of a leg. It is a scenario I would have preferred to take place closer to the finish line but with 800 miles to go it is still anyone's opportunity within this group of four yachts.
There are lots of weather systems ahead that can change someone's fortune very easily and we need to remain clever, sailing them to our full advantage all the time.
This leg continues to illustrate how close the racing is during this Global Challenge Race. Also even when you think something is all over, it isn't, there is always a chance and unfortunately that is the lottery of offshore sailing.
Dee Caffari/Yachting World, 1 June 2005
