A jubilant Heather Sinclair from Romford, and her team-mates on board Norwich Union were celebrating on Tuesday as their yacht grabbed second place in the hardest leg of the BT Global Challenge so far.

Norwich Union crosse the finish line beating Quadstone and BP who were breathing down on them for the run into Cape Town.

After five and a half weeks spent battling conditions in one of the harshest environments on the planet -- the Southern Ocean - the victory was particularly sweet.

And with a podium position now under their belt, the Norwich Union crew finally proved to their critics they had the ability to perform well after poor finishes in the previous legs.

"We are all very proud of ourselves," said Heather. "We always knew we were capable of this and to achieve second place on the toughest leg of the race is the icing on the cake.

"Technically, we did not do anything dramatically different, although we all pulled together as a team and worked as hard as we could, despite the handicaps that were thrown at us."

Some of the handicaps' during the 6,200 mile leg from Sydney to Cape Town included losing a key sail overboard. This meant that in winds of between 16 and 24 knots a different sail not appropriate for the wind speed had to be used.

During one of the many storms that the crew endured, they also had to survive a breakdown of some of the major navigation instruments. Worst of all the yacht was plunged into sub zero temperatures for the final two weeks when the heater broke down.

Heather said: "At times, you did not think you had the mental willpower to keep going. To go up on deck every four to six hours, fighting to get ready in cramped conditions while being flung around a 27 foot box by huge seas was extremely hard.

"What was worse was knowing that once you were dressed in wet clothing and boots and were back on deck, you had to face another four to six hours of being bombarded relentlessly by huge waves which pound you like falling brick walls and the unbearable biting cold."

Thankfully, Heather and the rest of the Norwich Union crew escaped the leg with no major injuries, unlike two of the crew on another yacht, Veritas, who were seriously hurt during the first week and had to be rescued immediately.

The next leg of the race starts on May 13 from Cape Town to La Rochelle in France. The race finishes on June 23 in Southampton.

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