Sailing: The end of a wonderful, wild ride

Volvo Ocean Race

Wow, what a race, what a stop-over and what a feeling to be nearing the end of this incredible adventure around the planet. Nine months racing from port to port has certainly left its battle scars on the minds and bodies of sailors and shore crews alike.

By the time you read this we will have probably finished the 250-mile sprint from Gothenburg to Kiel to round off what has been the most competitive, wild, and enjoyable experience of my life. I hope that Assa Abloy will have won the race overall – it's a long shot but who knows? It needs a bizarre set of circumstances, but it is not impossible. Things have to go exceptionally well for us and badly for illbruck, but we will not go down with out one hell of a fight. The forecast is really light, which works in our favour, so it has all the making of adifficult leg.

Two hundred and fifty miles of our 33,000 mile marathon left and come Sunday it will all be over. Quite a strange feeling – nine months proudly wearing our Assa Abloy colours and soon we will be back in our normal civilian clothing.

Suddenly the 11 other guys on the crew will fly off. We've been together so long and gone through so many experiences – some scary, some funny but on the whole just a great time. From living so close to be suddenly going our separate ways will be quite sad. Today was our last gym session – not being a great lover of the gym you would have thought I would have been over the moon – but there was a hint of sadness in every face.

For me the memories are so numerous I can hardly pick particular moments out, but the frightening ones will always be there – the wild broach in the middle of the night in the Southern Ocean probably stands out. I was below getting undressed when it happened – getting back on deck my first thought was whether anyone was hurt or over the side – 10 seconds of complete panic as I tried to pick out who was still on deck and whether they were all OK followed by momentary relief as I found out everyone was still on board.

Seeing our bowman Jason Carrington collapse on leg three and wondering if he had had a complete kidney failure or something equally serious was another situation I would not like to repeat. Dodging the ice on leg four belting along in the pitch black, completely out of control yet another.

But nothing will dispel the good memories – the look on everyone's face when we achieved our first win in Auckland, the massive number of boats and people that came out to meet us when we arrived in Sweden, and the wild cheer as we got our first place prize at the prize giving in Gothenburg are just some of the recollections that will linger.

The feeling of camaraderie after a race such as this cannot be put into words. It is simply something that will always be with me and the guys after being through so much together.

Right now we are doing the final planning for the last leg – sail lists have been handed in and currents, winds and navigational hazards examined. As with any other leg, no stone has been left unturned – the boat has been fully serviced, the boys have been in the gym and we are ready to do battle for the final time. Twenty four hours of hard work and that will be it.

Even if we don't win and are left with second place overall I'll have been proud to have been involved with this campaign – its been a whirlwind of highs and lows, hard work, incredible endeavour, and altogether amazing sail-boat racing, all of which will provide me with much bar talk for many years to come.

As for the future, right now I have no plans – I'm going home to chill out. I've got to mend the fence that blew down over the winter and feed my cats.