Day 3

Probably the most intense part of the trip we have had to date. With forecasts not expecting much more than 15knots, a 25knots south easter came through yesterday afternoon causing us to change down sails.

We have changed our shifts to a 3 hours on, 3 hours off routine. This was prompted by the heavier more taxing conditions. We drove the boat through the night starting with Rick, Brad and Mum on one shift, and Bren, Dad and I on the other.

The blow started off well, with five of us (even little Ryan) perched on the back of the boat, trying desperately to stop any nose-diving. The fun came in when the 'extreme video' shooting began, with Brad doing some serious Spielberg style video shooting with one of the waterproof cameras.

It consisted of, a shot of the wave as it approached, a frontal shot as we accelerated down the wave, a shot of the speedometer, a shot of facial expression, back to the wave, and then mad celebration when a new 'top speed' was reached. Fun times indeed.

As sunset approached, the five hooligans were given the 'I think we should consider how we are planning on slowing this boat down for the night'. However, as much as we tried slowing down, the wind continued to climb. A decision to remain with the black spinnaker was taken, but everyone knew it meant we were in for a big night ahead.

"Grind", "Hold", "Ease" were the words that would dominate the next 12hours. And even as I sit here you can here similar words being muttered. With one person on the helm, one on the spinnaker winch, and one on the vang, you would try drive the boat as hard possible on your shift. Night time sessions are where one can really attack, and now was that time.

Probably the hardest part is managing to get yourself up after your three hour sleep to start your next watch. After lying in your bunk, listening to the waves crashing on the side, and feeling the little vibrations as the boat accelerates down the waves, you know it is your time to go back up and face the elements once more. Not just face the elements, but be fully focused to sail the boat as hard possible in already difficult conditions, on very little sleep.

Last night, we never saw the boat speed dropping below 12knots (24km/h). To put this in perspective, this was a 'top speed' for that morning. During the afternoon, we saw a new top speed of 17.9 of which everyone nearly lost their mind. Ricky (helming at the time) described it as a move from brown knuckles and white underpants, to white knuckles and brown underpants.

Little did we know, that last night would see a top speed of 24.5knots being achieved (before midnight), and a top speed of 29.8knots (60km/h) being achieved in the early hours of this morning. That one can safely describe as F&%^ing Shunting!

You will be aware from the tracker that we have chosen to go quite far north. Our thoughts surround a high pressure sitting on the left of us that we are trying to avoid - so we chose to rather go for speed than direct distance. The next few days will let us see how that high pressure subsides, but will hopefully play into our hands.

Editors note: Vang = a guy rope forming part of a pair that extend from a gaff to the deck of a boat.