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Cape Horn can inspire prosaic sailors to poetry, but on this occasion, the logs barely mention it since, uncharacteristically, the landmark was a picture of calm and tranquillity, creating disappointment among the apprentices and surprise among commuters.

Even Eric Tabarly on La Poste admitted, “I’ve been round the Horn five times and have never seen it in its true colours.”

In fact the entire leg was a series of surprises. There were no sleigh rides in the Southern Ocean and Dalton covered 2,500 nm in pouring rain without once being able to hoist his spinnaker.

But there was enough wind in the first few days for the W60s to work up some top speeds, leaving the maxis churning in their wake. Yamaha broke Intrum's record by logging 427 nm in 24 hours, but then Intrum came back with a 428-miler to recapture it.

Once again it was Smith on Intrum who was blazing the trail, though he caused a stir when, on the approach to the Horn and leading the fleet, he shot north far earlier than expected. He sailed into the Horn on a fast reach, while closer on the wind, Tokio and Galicia slowed up. Intrum’s lead stretched to almost 100 nm over Tokio and half that over New Zealand Endeavour, but the mood nose-dived when the wind dropped and Smith’s boat stayed in the same place for hours. Smith’s mood wasn’t helped when NZE overtook him, its huge sails casting wind shadows over his path and slowing his progress yet more. At the finish line, the margin was an itsy bitsy five minutes - and to Smith’s great frustration, it was in Dalton’s favour.

This time it was Smith who put the boot in at the end of the leg, claiming that Dalton and his Maxi were roughing up the playing field.

"They're supposed to be faster, but they're not," said Smith who by then was convinced the race’s future lay in W60s, rather than maxis.

"All Dalton is doing is getting in the way. He was covering my wind all the way in."

Dalton wasn’t bothered in the slightest. The win had given him the overall lead with just two legs still to go.