BT Global Challenge - Leg 4 - Struggling on

madforsailing's diary writer Andy Magrath is getting frustrated with progress to Sydney

How frustrating is this? We have had winds in the range of 5-10 knots consistently for 4 days now. It takes all of our powers of concentration to keep the boat moving.
Don't forget that the Challenge yachts weigh 42 tonnes and keeping them moving in light winds is no mean feat! To make matters worse for the last 48 hrs we have had a current running against us. There is a consistent current running north to south down the east coast of Australia - past Sydney - and we must be caught in a back-eddy from that current.

At its worst it was holding us 20 degrees of course and running at 2 knots directly against us. Whilst I was on watch over the last six hours both of these factors have reduced. We have lost some miles to the fleet. We
are roughly four miles behind the new leaders Logica and we are equal 2nd with BP. We are the most northerly yacht in the fleet.

We hope that our northerly course will pay dividends against the boats to the south when it comes to making the most of the current running past Sydney. Also with the breeze filling in from the north (as I write this I can hear the joy on starboard watch as the reading on the wind instrument rises up to 12-13 knots - wow!) we hope to have the advantage over the southerly yachts.

We are all position report junkies - again! The positions come in on Sat C at 15:00, 21:00, 03:00, and 09:00. The next one is due at 15:00 hrs. We apply constant pressure to ourselves when sailing the boat but the position report is our outside indicator of our progress.

I am praying for more wind. It would be great to have a 25 knot spinnaker finish past Sydney Opera House - in 1st place of course! Sadly this is looking unlikely. After all of our efforts over the last sever days, this leg leg of the race is by no means over and we have got everything to play for.