Ledbury yachtswoman Sasha Peake will enjoy freeze-dried turkey in the chilly Southern Ocean tomorrow (Saturday).

Miss Peake is part of the crew on the Me to You yacht, which is among the leaders in the Global Challenge race en-route to Wellington, New Zealand.

By e-mail yesterday (Thursday), Miss Peake said: "The boat is fully decorated with a tree, lots of tinsel and paper chains and there's been a good selection of Christmas music blasting through the stereo, which is all helping us to get into the spirit of things!

"This leg of the race has been quite a challenge, with a lot of high winds in extremely cold conditions. We are all really looking forward to Christmas this weekend. It will be a real high point.

"We've all got a small selection of presents from family and friends to open on the day and although we'll obviously still be working to sail the boat as fast as we can, our off-watches will no doubt be spent celebrating and phoning home from the on-board satellite phone."

Sasha's step-mum Annie said she was very much looking forward to being phoned.