Hilary Bowden: Keen to get started

Since I left my crewmates, they have sailed from Boston to Buenos Aires in Argentina and faced the mountainous seas of the Southern Ocean on their voyage from BA to Wellington.

From there, it was a short hop to Sydney before heading back out into the Southern Ocean for the tough Cape Town leg.

Racewise we are currently lying in seventh place overall out of 12 yachts and intend going hell for leather to claw our way back up the leader board.

The last week has been spent training, repairing damaged sails, cleaning up the boat and stocking it with food.

We've had our team briefing with the skipper who's told us which race positions we will be in on start day.

To my alarm I am in the snake pit.

It is called the snake pit because you are responsible for looking after the 21 different bits of rope and three winches which hoist, drop and control all the sails and spinnaker poles.

Stay focused

The ropes all have different names like port staysail halyard, starboard yankee halyard, spinnaker halyard, mainsail halyard, pole up, pole down, downhaul, topping lift, etc etc.

The potential for disaster by pulling or letting go of the wrong rope at the wrong time, is huge.

But I have the rest of the crew to keep me in line and I cannot wait to get started.

According to the founder of the race, world famous yachtsman Chay Blyth, it's going to be a long, hot, leg.

He said: "Trade Winds sailing is just fabulous. But it is important to stay focused in light winds and constantly trim the sails to get the most power out of them."

I ask Stephen Wilkins, my Australian skipper, what our tactics are going to be. He says simply: "We're going to try and win."

BBC News Online's Hilary Bowden took part in the first leg of the BT Global Challenge round-the-world yacht race. She is rejoining her crewmates for legs six and seven. A 6,000 mile scramble from Cape Town to La Rochelle in France followed by a frantic 400-mile dash to the finish in Southampton.