Heading For The Horn

The fleet has converged and all the teams appear to have chosen a course through the Strait. The leader board positions have not changed since the afternoon poll, but Me to You has taken 5th place - they have edged 5nm ahead of BP Explorer to make the position theirs for the time being.

The skippers have reported the sea state as 'rough' today and while the talk of the day is of falling temperatures and the Southern Ocean, there is inevitably some trepidation creeping into the minds of some of the crew.

'I am excited about rounding the Horn,' explained Charlie GREENER of VAIO this afternoon, 'but like most of the crew a bit nervous as to what lies beyond. This is uncharted territory for almost all of us and discovering this unknown is daunting but also amazingly exciting.'

Skipper of Imagine It. Done. (10th) Dee Caffari is hoping that the remainder of the leg passes as well as the first week:

'Trying really hard to get some westing in on our track so we can free off for the Strait. Looking at going through the Strait tonight and the Cape tomorrow. The first week has flown by and just hope that the rest of the weeks go as smoothly and quickly. Really cold out now so looking at trying the heating at some point.'

Hamish (Alastair OWEN) aboard Barclays Adventurer has noted that moments like these are part and parcel of a round the world race and looks forward to finally getting there:

'The fleet has bunched up, which is going to make for a great race to round the Horn and on to Wellington, as well as making the daily chat shows far more fun as well. The general feeling appears to be 'this is what we signed up for,' 'it is in the way between BA and Wellington' or 'round the world means the bits you would prefer to avoid as well as the nice bits'. I just want to get on with it now, I have spent several weeks concerned about it and years in wonder at it - let's have a taste of the Southern Ocean.'