GREEN DRAGON EMAIL: 'Dry suits on above and below decks'

Tuesday 28 October 2008 10.41

Ian Walker (Skipper)

There is good news and bad news from the south Atlantic. The good news is that the depression has aligned itself perfectly to fire us all to Cape Town at record pace. We now have 35 knots of wind at 140 TWA and relatively smooth, but building seas.

The 24 hour record could fall to whoever can keep their boats in one piece and still push hard. In the last 3 hour sched we managed 68 miles and that included a spinnaker peel and putting a reef in. For the last hour we have averaged over 25 knots which would equate to a 600 mile day. Clearly doing this for 24 hours is another thing altogether and we are on the edge.

The deck is permanently awash - as Guo (Chuan – MCM) will testify as he was just swept half way back along it, and downstairs is beginning to resemble a war zone. We have unearthed a few new water features down below and I have a feeling it will be dry suits on above and below decks for the next few days. This is like our 2000 mile qualifier all over again.

The bad news is that all the effort we have put into getting South is now wasted. We will have lost miles on the fleet as we will no longer be gybing south. I am not too worried about this as I think this will now all be about who can put together consistently high runs without breakage.

It could also be decided in the last 24 hours where light winds should slow progress again. Anybody slowing down could fall out the back of the system and lose days. We are committed to pushing hard and praying it all stays intact. The only other thing on my mind is changing to a smaller more efficient sail that would give us a better chance of a record - right now we still have the spinnaker up!

As I type this we bury the bow hard and I lurch forward in the nav seat - the laughter and joking seems to have quietened down on deck except for Neal (McDonald) who is driving and shouts out 'get in there!'. I think it may be time to open negotiations with Neal about taking the spinnaker down. Watch this space over the next 3 days I guarantee records or drama - possibly both.

Received 10:41 GMT