BT Global Challenge - Leg 3 - 24th December

So what was Cape Horn like? We actually rounded it on the 18th December, 2000 - a day which I will never forget. The chart shows how the depth changes from 4000 to 100 metres, no wonder the seas get a bit rough every once in a while! We weren't let off without a lashing. The wind blew a constant 45 knots with a peak of 54 knots. The seas were rough, I don't know what the wave height was but a lot of them landed on us and yes, it is cold! Thank goodness for our dry suits! Since then it has been almost one day on and one day off, rough then calm. I have had my Southern Ocean bashing on the foredeck, a few bruises but no major damage.

The Southern Ocean is a beautiful place. It just feels more barren and isolated than the Atlantic. The sea looks and sounds different. When two waves come together into a fine peak the sunlight shines through the top and
is the clearest glacier blue I have ever seen. As the boat pushes through the sea it leaves a crisp white trail across the top of each passing wave. It is almost like we 'crunch' through the water rather than just sail through it.

We are constantly accompanied by sea birds. The most common - I don't know the name - is quite small with a white underside, a black top and more white markings. Like the Arctic Tern in the North Atlantic, these birds never flap their wings, just keep gliding!

It is cold and it is wet! Not surprising really, but there it is. The most valuable bit of kit I have with me is not Pertex, Gore-tex or any other kind of tex - but two plastic bags which I have to wear to prevent my socks getting wet in my terminally soaking, cold sailing boots!

I have found a new game with the spinnaker. After a peel we need to attach a new sheet and lazy guy. We do this by tying me to the spinnaker halyard, I climb about ten feet up the leeward shroud and launch myself towards the
temporary spinnaker sheet! I then hang on and attempt to clip on the new sheet/guy. All of this whilst swinging round and round, up and down, this way and that. Dickon filmed me one time and could hardly keep the camera still through laughing too much.

We are currently ten days away from our waypoint (to keep us from going too far south), with a further 12 days to Wellington. We are in third place, three miles behind the leader, so it's up to us if we want to do well! It's been a bumpy ride so far and looking at the weather forecast it's set to continue, except with more snow!!"

Since Andy wrote his report, LG FLATRON have gone back to their favourite spot in the fleet - in the lead. At 13.55 GMT on Sunday 24th December, the BT Global Challenge website reported the positions and distances to the finish of the top six as:

1 LG FLATRON 3578 nm
2 Isle of Man 3588 nm
3 Compaq 3590 nm
4 Quadstone 3594 nm
5 Team SpirIT 3601 nm
6 Logica 3616 nm