Dockside rumours have been rife about race preparations on board LogicaCMG. It would be fair to say we’ve played our part in fuelling these rumours. Did the skipper put us under a total alcohol ban? Did we really take all our kit to the post office to be weighed? Did we spend a weekend training on the Brecon Beacons? I’ll leave you to decide, but suffice to say, our preparations have been very thorough.

We’ve just had breakfast as a team at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club and everyone is pre-occupied with their own thoughts, butterflies in stomach, but overall there’s a desire to get going on the race despite the cold, rain and strong winds!

We’ve been at sea more days in training than it should take to complete the race – there’s some comfort in that.