ARC race: Finally I'm enjoying the sunshine in the middle of the Atlantic I now really feel like we're racing. Our navigator Tom is working hard to find us the best route to St Lucia - one that will give us the edge over our competitors - Quokka and Scarlet Oyster are the main rivals. In 1998, when Zen's owner, John Bainbridge, and his daughter, Jo, did the ARC, they won. And last time Zen was racing, in the Swan World Championships in 2008, John won. Not a lot of pressure then: I've quickly learned not to groan when woken from sleep with the shout "Code Zero." My fellow crew member Pierre is dreaming about sleeping uninterrupted from 10pm to 8am and not having to pump the bilges. Something I haven't yet mentioned is that for most of the trip we've had a leak. Unfortunately, our electric bilge pump (to pump away the oily, diesely water that is sloshing around under the floorboards) is broken, so we've been manually bailing or pumping it out. But most of me is cherishing every single moment of this experience of a lifetime. I feel so fortunate to be here, sailing across the Atlantic with such a great team of people (and now, thankfully, in a pair of Maui Jims and a bikini). All too quickly it will be over, and things will return to normality, or in fact worse, a standstill. I have to undergo an operation in February to break and reconstruct my pelvis which means I'll be off games for a few months. Every moment now spent outside, being active, is so precious. Last night after a delicious supper of fresh tuna caught by John - the first of our trip, landed the day before to much excitement - I lay on the deck gazing up at the stars. They are hypnotising here in the middle of this vast body of water. I had a lot on my mind before I left home, but time (sort of) alone, bobbing up and down on the ocean waves has given me wonderful clarity and a time to recharge in a funny, exhausted, not-getting-much-sleep sort of way. And the night before last night I finally got my flying fish. It landed behind us in the cockpit when I was on watch with Pauline about 3am - flapping its way around before I could grab it by the wing and fling it overboard. Weirdly it was much harder to handle than the blue fin tuna I gutted a few hours before. Now, we're on the lookout for dolphins - and before long, the finish line.