The relief following the arrival of the wind yesterday was relatively short lived when calm descended as darkness fell last night. After the disappointment of losing their main spinnaker, Dee and Nigel have spent time during the night planning the repairs and tactics for today to get the boat speed back up to speed with the rest of the fleet.

Dee Said, "We had a slow night as many of the repairs following the spinnaker nightmare of yesterday had to wait for daylight. We knew we were losing miles to the fleet so morale onboard was low. But this morning at first light Nigel was action man and we set sail again with the A2 (large gennaker) and felt better about our pace. We headed west of the fleet knowing that the stronger breeze to the east that the lead boats are going to would be gone by the time we get there.

"Yesterday the wind has been settled until the evening, but as the sun sunk below the horizon much later than we have seen all race so far, the breeze faded. Once again we were left searching for anything just to try and keep moving. Convinced it is once again our own private wind hole we can only keep our fingers crossed that the painfully light breezes of tonight are being endured by everyone."

Despite the set backs Dee is revelling in the challenge of this transatlantic race which is giving her the vital experience needed in her bid to become the first woman to sail both ways round the world by competing in the Vendée Globe 2008/9.

Weather expert Mike Broughton has been monitoring the current situation and has been updating Dee and Nigel throughout the race. He said, "The early part of the race was played out in the light winds of the English Channel which steadily increased as Aviva raced across the Bay of Biscay. Dee and Nigel can now start to expect lighter winds of 8-17 knots from the east as they sail down toward Madeira. One bonus for the team is they will also notice things getting warmer, just as temperatures plummet across the UK and France on Thursday evening."

"The big tactical issue is how to play the low pressure system further to the west near the Azores and a dissipating warm front extending from its centre over towards the fleet. It looks like it will create a drag race' for the next 36 hours, which will make it difficult for the older boats like Aviva to keep up with the newer generation yachts."

Caffari and King are currently in 11th place, with only one of the older generation boats ahead of them (Britain's Sam Davies onboard Roxy).

3:50pm Thursday 8th November 2007

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