Solo skipper Dee Caffari, 33, is battling to reach the Atlantic and start the final leg of her wrong-way circumnavigation. But with 58 knots plus the ogre of the oceans is not letting her off easily.

‘Aviva kept rounding up to windward when the gusts came or when the swell hit us beam on. With the boom dragging in the water, the autopilot alarm would sound and I would coax it back to life and steer us the right direction again. Later the rain was like standing in a power shower. The night was pitch black and all I could sense was the screaming wind in the rig and the rain pummelling Aviva and I. It was a very strange sensation.

‘I can honestly say that I am very tired at the moment. I am desperately trying to sleep when I can.’