Alpha Girls bring up the rear

madforsailing talks to skipper Helena Darvelid about their trip from hell

Also just before the start, the engine gave up the ghost and would not take in raw water. Despite hours spent by co-skipper Carol Archer they were unable to fix it. So by this stage they had unreliable electronics and electrics powered only by their banks of solar panels, which fortunately worked. They would run the GPS down overnight and then charge it up with the panels during the day.

The list of problems did not end there. One of the water ballast tanks forward began to leak when its inspection hatch started to slip. The lashing at the top of Solent broke. They were able to contain it by furling it, when the wind piped up they had to lash it with one of the halyards.

Slightly more amusing was an incident when some time into the race they converged with Mike Golding's Ecover. "I thought, MY God, it's Ecover," said Darvelid. "We're ahead of Ecover - so we tacked on top of them. But then we saw this life raft next to the boat - it was ours (life rafts on Open 60s are kept in compartments in the transom) We were right next to Ecover when the life raft inflated. We tried to pull it back on board in 25-30 knots but it was impossible. We saw Ecover disappear into the distance. It got quite dangerous - I didn't want to leave it behind (Darvelid was worried that it might prompt an unnecessary rescue) eventually we got a line around it and I took a knife to it."

The team now have to focus their efforts for the leg across the Atlantic to due to start on Saturday. However with so much to do the 'Alpha Girls' are going to struggle to beat the clock.