This is incredibly intense.  Tempers are beginning to fray.  The other boats were all so close we can almost hear what the crews are saying.  Since starting watch five hours ago the entire crew have been working.  Started with heavyweight spinnaker.  Drop. Hoist Y1. Hoist Staysail. Drop Stay.  Drop Y1. Hoist mid-weight. Then 30 minutes of continual trimming as Glasgow approached.  Decision to gybe.  Expecting land breeze.  Gybed.  Glasgow plus others pass. Crew dismayed. Breeze started.  Hurray.  Drop mid-weight.  Hoist light weight. Drop LWS.  Hoist windseeker. Drop WS. Hoist Y1. Hoist then drop Staysail. Hoist light weight then drop Y1.  Add in four gybes of the windseeker and there you have it. Finally we have 5 kts of boat speed and just 7 miles to go.  Despite being bitterly disappointed because we will once again be beaten at the finish, I haven’t experienced anything this rewarding for a while. 17 members of a crew all working simultaneously, flat out for 6 hours.  Some have gone to bed.  I am going to see this through.