Jessica Daw, publisher of Yachting World, was one of the winning crew members on LogicaCMG. As she surfaced this morning from a well-earned, good night's sleep, she sent this report

Jessica Daw, publisher of Yachting World, was one of the winning crew members off LogicaCMG. As she surfaced this morning from a well-earned, good night’s sleep, she sent this report.

From the comfort of the Challenge Business press office and after a bit of sleep in the luxury of a hotel, the reality of taking lines honours just 12 hours ago is now sinking in.

The hard work put in by all the crew, the skipper and the mate during the preparation training over the past few months has obviously paid off for us on board LogicaCMG. Each watch was able to perform the necessary manoeuvres with competence and to repeat them over and over, time and again over the 12 days of racing. But I won’t pretend that it was easy to summon up the will to go up on deck for each subsequent watch, particularly when the weather was more ferocious. But I’m sure like me, each crew member knew that every ounce of effort expended took us closer to the finish, the opportunity for a proper wash, and to see the faces of our friends and families.

The welcome we received was fantastic considering we arrived in the early hours of the morning – cheering, clapping and shouts of ‘Well Done Logica’ rang out across Ocean Village. This ritual is repeated for each subsequent boat as they make their way in to the marina – the back marker Team Spirit, due in any minute after 1400, only 12 hours after the leader, should get the loudest welcome of all.

The relief is enormous and the sense of pride in our achievement, not only in winning the inaugural race, but in giving the 110 per cent we committed to as a crew, is obvious. Those previously reluctant pre-race to sport the garish yellow team clothing may now be reluctant to take it off.

In the darkest, coldest moments I made a promise to myself that I repeated like a mantra over and over again ‘I will never do anything like this again. I will never do anything like this ever again. I will never do…..’ but I am beginning to understand the success of the Challenge Business, in that I can already feel myself wondering ‘what next?’