So to recap Doing Time were picked up yesterday after a series of incidences that lead to them making the tough decision to withdraw from the race. To begin with the first problem was with the steering and under close scrutiny we discovered that the pintel on the rudder had completely sheered off. This was a problem that we thought we could sort and decided to go on the para anchor over night and sort it out in the morning. The next problem was with the para anchor! We woke up in the morning to discover that it wasn't there! The bridal lines had snapped thus losing the anchor and the 50m line. The next phase was to use the drogue, so we used the anchor line to deploy it. After about 30 minutes of the boat getting a right hammering from the severe gale and gusting storm conditions the drogue decided to desert the Big Boys onboard 'Doing Time' too! As well as all this, the power wouldn't charge so we were left in a right state and basically left to make a decision whether to carry on or pull out. Due to all the events that have happened to us over the last few weeks and the fact that we basically had no equipment left we decided that we had no option but to abandon the boat and leave her to fend for herself.

The support boat was called and sprung into action! When they eventually tracked us down they struggled to get near us so we had to abandon to our liferaft and allow 'Doing Time' to drift away! The boat was then expertly put into position by the tremendous crew onboard Desiderata and we managed to get onboard. Ben went first and was dragged onto deck leaving Mark bobbing around until the boat made another pass. After managing to get all the bags onboard, Desiderata decided to smash Mark on the head but luckily no sense no feeling as they say, and the boys managed to haul him on deck too. We owe a big thank you to all the crew of the support yacht for the professional manner they went about the rescue in such bad conditions and for their hospitality since having us onboard.

Mark and Ben 'Doing Time' no more!