Despite all the media hype and the millions poured into the Vendee Globe and simiilar races, the achievement of three men and a teenager aboard Spirit of Mystery towers above them.

Anyone reading Pete Goss' account of the knock down and the moments following, as the cabin inverted and water poured through the hatchway, will be awed.  Those of us who have weathered violent storms at sea in a sailing yacht will know what Pete means when he talks about the noise as well as the water. The screaming of wind through the rigging is something that you never forget.

Spirit of Mystery is a faithful copy of a Cornish wooden lugger built more than 150 years ago. She is worlds apart from the modern 60 foot open IMOCA racing yachts.  She is slow, but well built.  Pete Goss, well used to running from the path of ocean storms in racing yachts doing between 15 and 20 knots described sailing her as being a bit like a hedgehog caught in the middle of the road.

I remember a couple of years ago entering Poole Harbour as skipper of a large Lagoon catamaran. I looked round, and behold, a policeman on a Jet Ski was holding a speed gun at my stern to check that I wasn’t exceeding four knots.  And no, I hadn’t been drinking!  I remember thinking at the time that things could only get more complicated. Speed over the ground in the entrance to Poole harbor is likely to be very different from speed through the water – and not everyone has GPS.