The change in skipper has worked wonders for the crew on Team SpirIT in the BT Global Challenge as the fleet heads down to the Doldrums and onto Buenos Aires.

After coming in last on the first leg from Southampton to Boston, skipper Andy Dare shocked his unhappy crew by resigning, giving way to Challenge skipper John Read who was charged with the task of rebuilding team morale.

Read's tactics worked and the boat is now in contention for leg two honours lying just 85 miles behind leaders LG Flatron with more than 4,000 miles to go before the finish.

But the wheel of fortune is not moving totally in Read's favour. Last weekend, the boat was struck by lightning and its entire communications system was wiped out, preventing Daily Echo columnist Angus Fuller, a watchleader on Team SpirIT from filing for the duration of this leg.

As soon as Angus arrives in Buenos Aires, he will be catching up on all his e-mails and sending through an exclusive report on how conditions and crew relations on leg two differed from those on the first.

With the boat competing well at the head of the 12-yacht fleet, all the signs point to a major improvement in life on board so his report will make for fascinating reading.

In the meantime, Hampshire skipper Neil Murray on board Norwich Union has described how he and his crew worked hard to avoid Hurricane Michael which threatened to cause damage throughout the fleet.

"We had been warned that an embryonic depression north of the eastern Caribbean could develop into a Hurricane," he reported.

"Watching this like a hawk we opted to continue our southerly course.

"During the early part of the night on the second day out the depression had been showing no sign of moving, so I judged it best to alter course to port and sail the rhumb line.

"Then 24 hours later, the depression was suddenly forecast to move, developing into Hurricane Michael and we were directly in it's path.

"This raised the question of seamanship and safety. Although this is a race, I have seventeen paying customers as crew.

As I often do, I pictured myself at "The Inquest" ("so Mr Murray, you deliberately plotted a course into the dangerous quadrant of an advancing hurricane"). So the decision was easy. We set course to miss the eye by 80 - 100 miles which would call for nerves of steel and careful plotting of the track and speed of the centre.

"The atmosphere was literally electric as we tore south with Michael 100 miles off our port bow. Thick, dark purple cloud to port with spectacular, vivid rainbows and lightning. Clearer skies and a blood red sunset to starboard.

"We had everything battened down in an atmosphere mixed between trepidation and excitement."

But the plotting and preparation failed to advance Norwich Union through the fleet.

"We were disappointed to deduce that Hurricane Michael had passed relatively innocuously between ourselves and the bulk of the fleet and had not held the others up dramatically with the good beating we had hoped for," said Murray.