On 29 September, the fleet of fourteen yachts, 196 people - including Adrian and other BT leggers - set sail from Southampton, and the race began for real. The wet and windy weather at the start of the race made for some very exciting and quite uncomfortable sailing, and Adrian was certainly not alone in feeling a little 'shell shocked' during the first three days out at sea; he recalls that 'there were definitely times when I was not smiling...'

The first leg was a 5,000 mile, 4 week race to Rio de Janeiro, and Concert did extremely well, arriving in Brazil in 3rd place. Besides learning the finer points of ocean yacht racing, Adrian and the rest of the Concert crew found themselves beginning to understand more about teamwork. When interviewed in Rio de Janeiro during the stopover, Adrian said, 'the fact that this is a yacht race is perhaps irrelevant. What is really important is learning to work with other people to achieve a common goal. In my opinion, the BT Global Challenge is an excellent personal development tool; when you're under pressure, you soon realise how teams of people work together - or don't.' Little did he know that on the second leg of the race, teamwork on board Concert was going to be more important than ever before....

After a three week stopover in Brazil, the fleet of the BT Global Challenge set sail on 20 November 1996. Concert got off to a great start, being first over the start line and leading the fleet down the coast of South America. As the second leg unfolded, skipper Chris Tibbs and his crew began to refine their strategy for effective boat management. They had already worked together before the race start to develop watch systems and rotas which they had used to great effect during the first leg, and now they fine-tuned these to get the best out of each crew member, and give everyone the chance to contribute their utmost. Their teamwork paid off as Concert remained in the top half of the fleet for 4 weeks, and she rounded Cape Horn safely on 3rd December.

However, Adrian and his fellow crew members were put to the test when disaster struck on 18th December, in the middle of the Southern Ocean. As Concert sailed in heavy seas and 35 knots of wind, 2,000 miles from the nearest landfall, her rigging failed and her mast broke in two places, bringing it crashing down on the deck - a truly challenging situation...

Fortunately no-one was injured and morale remained good as the crew dealt with their latest challenge. Race Headquarters in the UK was swiftly informed of the incident via the yacht's satellite communications system, and crisis management procedures were followed. Plans were quickly made to take fuel from other yachts in the fleet and then motor-sail to the Chatham Islands, a group of islands lying 240 miles south-west of Wellington, where Concert refuelled before continuing on to New Zealand. A jury rig was erected using pieces of the broken mast and the spinnaker pole, and a makeshift sail was constructed using one of the now-redundant spinnakers. When she finally arrived into Wellington on 3rd January, bloody but unbowed, Concert was given an ecstatic welcome by all the other crews in the race, as well as a whole host of race officials, sponsors and supporters.

Although losing her mast was one of the worst things that could happen to the yacht (it effectively put her out of the race), her crew kept their fighting spirit and have resolved to tackle the remaining four legs of the race with renewed vigour, 'even if we can't win the race itself, we can still compete to finish each leg first, and that's going to be our aim from now on' said Adrian when he stepped onto dry land in Wellington's Lambton Harbour after 16 days and almost 2,000 miles of motor-sailing.