dawn on day 5

5 days of broken sleep - 2 hours if youre lucky - chasing zephirs of wind, rowing a 12 tonne yacht for hours, and hours, and hours, racing through some of the wildest tides in the UK feeling the hull slide across the surface, the slightest touch on the helm making her shudder and veer crazily off course.

Dancing on deck, being splashed by dolphins in the ne'r-get-dark northern red and gold midsummer merging of one day and the next, hallucinating through lack of sleep.

Single handed sailing in the dark listening to music.

sitting in flat calm, watching a line of dark sea and white rollers bear down on us, bringing speed but madness - tossing one unsuspecting off-watch crew out of her bunk onto the table.

And yes, I'd do it all again......