The morning goes well, steady winds, calm seas, sunshine. By the afternoon the wind and the swell are picking up, and I go down below to take a nap before my watch at 3pm. By the time I come up the swell has picked up to about 2 or 3 meters and we’re bouncing around in it, I sit at the stern where I have the wind in my face and I can adjust the steering. I try not to think about the salami and beetroot sandwich I ate for lunch which is now beginning to roll around in my stomach, and concentrate on the horizon. By 5pm I’m counting the minutes till I can go and lie down, it’s starting to rain, the swell is getting worse, I take a lukewarm shower in the cockpit, trying not to slide around too much as the boat rolls from side to side. At 6pm I’m downstairs in my bunk, hoping that when I wake up for my next watch in 6 hours time I’ll feel better. Unfortunately, it’s not to be. I vomit through most of my 12 – 3am watch, I try not to look at the waves but there’s really not much else to look at, if I close my eyes I might fall asleep, so I try to stay awake. I have no willpower to get up every 20 minutes to look for other ships and have to psyche myself up every time. I return to my bunk at 3am and stay there until my next watch. On my 9am watch I’ve given up trying to keep my eyes open, I sit in the wet cockpit, eyes shut, curled in the fetal position. Hans finds me 3 hours later and gives me a small corner of crispbread and half a seasick pill, needless to say, I throw up again 20 minutes later. It’s the same story for the next 24 hours, most of which I spend horizontally.

Then, on the 4th day I wake up feeling hungry and wolf down a chicken noodle cup-a-soup and 3 pieces of toast, a couple of hours later I’m up on deck, the sun’s shining, the breeze in my face, and I love sailing again. Crowded House are on the stereo and I'm singing along at the top of my lungs - shame nobody else is around to appreciate my version of 'Four Seasons in One Day', they all seem to be asleep....We arrive back in Australia 10 hours later having completed the crossing in 3 days and 13 hours, breaking Seagoon’s previous speed record by 4 hours.

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