The Crossing Click photo for the Photo Collection

CJ now rose to the occasion screaming at us all to go, go, go as we all tacked back and forward not wanting to abandon the others. Go!!! So we did the boats were picking up the others and would soon catch us up. Though I did have a small worry in my mind about splitting up, I knew Adam and Simon could stop us in our tracks via the radio.

CJ, who had been leading the way on the stern of Lady Mary 2, describes what happened, “Everything was fine until the wind dropped, then Dreya and Cindy went way downwind, and were really fighting to make it back up.”

Spirits were not exactly soaring at this point.

It was at this point we knew the wind hadn’t turned SW and it would have been easier to get to Ireland than Watergate Bay. Desperately trying to go up wind over the last 10 miles sapped all our energy and used every ounce of will power.

Meanwhile many things we were unaware off had been going on. Claire had relaunched and was working her way back to the pack. Her feelings about the hard tacking back upwind to the course plotted by the head support boat pretty much sum up the limitations we were facing, “It’s a bloody wind sport and I can only go where the wind takes me!”

"Seeing Watergate come into view was fantastic but knowing that we couldn’t get there was devastating..."

Back at the Extreme Academy, Liz was doing hourly BBC radio live updates, and when she received the call from Ian telling her the kites had dropped the first thing that came into her mind was “lets pick them up and drop them back in the Scillies!” Liz is all too familiar with the reality of kite events and the vulnerability of having to rely on the good will of Mother Nature. I can only imagine her disappointment at receiving that call.

Also unknown to us was the outside world was following our progress though the miracle of modern technology. Ian from Escape photography was providing hourly updates en route! Laurels boyfriend, Leslie, who was just completing an Atlantic crossing of his own (on a posh yacht) was downloading the info and following along as we went! Now that is cool!

You know the 80/20 rule? I can tell you in this case it was true. Of the 70 miles, the only hard bit was the beginning and the end, and especially, the end. Continuing the last 10 miles was very, very hard work. Muscles began to burn and even shake. Doubts crept their way into our minds. Seeing Watergate come into view was fantastic but knowing that we couldn’t get there was devastating.

Although we we’re now only four on the water it was the time I really felt that we we’re a team, the girls on the boat were willing us on to land; seeing Cindy, Laurel and Claire still fighting kept me fighting. It was everyone else that kept us all going. I personally would have given up an hour before .We were all extremely tired and happy to be near the end but cross, and sad. To have come so far and not have anyone place their foot onto the sand would have been worse than no wind at all for the six days. We could see Watergate Bay for hours before we could feel the solidity of sand under our feet.

Laurel siad,”One point I really thought I would have been better off packing my kite up when it went down and finishing then. It’s hard to know how to describe the feeling I had when I reached Watergate Bay, but I’ll give it a go: joy and devastation. Having walked the cliff path from the next Northerly beach down I knew full well I was there. And judging the distance I was off from the beach, the power in my 17meter kite, and the pain in my back quad muscle, I knew I would not make it. It’s funny how my best moment, letting go of the kite in front of Watergate after six hours, was Claire’s worst. She had charged back like lightning and was all set to do the gruelling tacks upwind with me.“