Sailing: 'Irresponsible' fleet at mercy of violent ocean

Amer Sports One skipper Grant Dalton prepares to round Cape Horn in the Volvo Ocean Race

We have taken a major walloping over the last couple of days, and are praying that may be the worst of it before we go round Cape Horn this weekend. The knockdown we took on Tuesday night really shook up the boat and led to our star helmsman and tactician Paul Cayard saying that the way the boats are racing is "completely irresponsible". In addition to the gale force winds, which are so typical of this part of the Southern Ocean, we are seeing a hell of a lot of ice. There is also a hell a lot of ice which we are not seeing.

It just took one gust too many to lay us flat on our side and shred another spinnaker. We had been travelling really fast, sometimes surfing at over 30 knots, and were at least comforted by knowing we were in second place.

It was the only comfort. Hanging on to the boat in these conditions is very hard and we knew that, just behind us, News Corp had hit a berg while doing 21 knots. They were lucky not to crack the hull or smash the rudder and when my fellow-Aucklander, Ross Field, says: "I am bloody worried, this is dangerous," you know something is on.

When we wiped out it was pretty violent, all sorts of things – and people – being thrown about below and another spinnaker being shredded as we were laid flat and, in the middle of it all, Roger Nilson, our navigator, shouted that the radar had picked up two icebergs dead ahead.

By the time we had picked our way through them and the mess, the whole sequence had cost us plenty. But, as Paul puts it, we are "back on the bike again", though he is complaining of major strains and tendinitis in his hands after wrestling with the wheel.

There is no real time now to dwell on that, it would just distract you and build up worry about something you can do nothing about. And at least this is spinnaker weather. Running downwind is always better than bashing upwind and, although I was worried about the way Amer Sports One would perform against the others in hard running conditions, so far we have more than held our own. In performance terms there really is no margin between the boats, absolutely nothing.

And the level of preparation on the boats before the start, plus the level of skill out on the track, is so high that the pressure is relentless. You just have to push, push, push. So, are we tempting fate? We have been blast reaching in 40 knots of wind for what feels like days on end. The yachts seem to be able to absorb a massive hammering and still come back for more.

We don't seem to break much any more, even though the Southern Ocean is throwing everything it can at us.

We had already ripped the foot of the mainsail and had to drop it to make a repair. We kept the headsails up and the boat driving hard, made the repair on deck, and rehoisted. The guys performed wonders. They are good. What we don't know is how much more punishment the sail can take and we had also blown an important (Code 3) spinnaker. It's not looking good and that one may not be repairable until we reach Rio.

Still, we charge on, racing every watch as though we were just going round the buoys and going home at the end of the day for a shower and a steak. It's very hard to keep up the energy levels, but there is no problem with motivation.

What surprises me is that I have never felt so cold. It is easy to lose all sensation in the fingers and toes and, once they are numb, it is difficult to get it back. The temperature on deck is zero, the sea temperature is only just above freezing, and we have even had freezing fog to add to the obstacle course.

Not that it is much better below, where everything is permanently damp. How our navigator, Roger, makes everything work is a miracle. He and Paul have made a great team and are working really well together. I like the way Paul, who was the winning skipper last time, has stepped straight into Dee Smith's job. He's a handy man to have around as Dee recovers from surgery to his shoulder. Roger says he is also an ace at mopping water out of the bilges.

Still, even that should become less of a problem by next week. Then we will be looking forward, I hope, to making the fastest progress up the Atlantic. Given what happened last time, when some of us were caught by a huge area of light wind only to see some of those behind sail round us, everyone will be in a new state of tension. The really long- range weather forecast, inevitably, says there will be light wind after the Horn.

Grant Dalton was talking to Stuart Alexander