At 0830 on Saturday morning crews on this year’s Round Britain and Ireland Challenge 2004 finally found out who they would be sailing with and, probably more importantly, living with for the next three weeks. The mood was one of nervous excitement as everyone gathered for breakfast before the announcement.

Simon Walker, Challenge’s MD, named the teams after showing highlight clips from previous Challenge races. He introduced the skippers and then the teams – the whole process took only a few minutes.

“Everyone seemed pretty nervous,” said Guy Bell now sailing on SAIC, “but now it’s over we all just want to get out there – I’m really looking forward to the next few days.”

The weather for training today is perfect, with a good breeze and plenty of sunshine. Teams are free to train wherever they wish and the concensus with most skippers seemed to be to get offshore while there was some breeze. The forecast for later in the session is for lighter winds.

Jason Best, Yachting World’s volunteer crew member see news story here , will be sailing aboard Besso with Matt Riddell as skipper. Other crewmembers include Jenny Dixon, Donnali-Anne Holl, Georgina Walker, Jonathan Rawlinson, Mike True, Paul Burns, Rinus Van Vlaanderen, Roddy Spencer, Ron Turner, Susan Lyons.