The Masthead Asymmetrical

... is flown from a removable bow sprit that doubles as a spinnaker pole. At 70 sqm the kite is practically the same as those used on the Melges 24. Some other boats have longer bow sprits to fly even bigger spinnakers.

A smaller, symmetrical fractional spinnaker can be flown from the hounds in heavier winds. These little boats can easily sustain an average speed of 16 knots (!) for hours. In the 1993 race, the winner's average speed across the Atlantic was 8.2 knots - the best 24 hours was 254 miles - in a boat less than 23 ft.

"Day 4, and I started to hallucinate a bit during the night, convinced myself at one point that the jib on the forestay was actually someone trying to hide on board - and for a few nights to come I started having very complete and interactive conversations with people. Only to realise after a 30 minute conversation, that they were certainly not onboard! Very very bizarre.

Wednesday night, I just completely lost it. By Thursday morning, only the GPS position confirmed that I had at least been going in roughly the right direction - for I have no idea where I went. I helmed all night, but don't remember any of it - convinced I went around in circles. Mind games."