My Preparation is continueing, today  concentrating on packing my gear bag. We are raing this time with a crew of ten nad as there are only 8 berths in the boat, space will be at a premium. The plan is that all bags will be placed in the forecabin, along with sails and oilskins. Each person will then have a small bag, containing sleeping bag, wash bag, nad sundary person items.  We will be hot bunking, using the 4 berths in the main cabin. This will keep our weight in the centre of the boat, and is more comfortable in the event of bad weather.

I am travelling down and back via coach, so need to ensure, I take everything I need. I also have a lifjacket that I borrowed from Troubadour which I need to return. I am not planning on taking my seaboots, having not used them on previous races, I feel they are too bulky. I may regret this decision if it is cold and wet around the fastnet. I am also packing, babywipes and sea sick tablets together with Hydration powders and my daily Muisli breakfast mix.

The big question is What is the weather going to be like. the nights will be cold so muiltible layers are required. In worse case scenario, dry clothes are .needed to sleep in. I also need clothes to travel in. The unknown is how long we will be racing it could be a week or ten days.

One other daily task will be cleaning stations, offwatch crew will be responsible for keeping below deck clean and tidy including ,heads, showewrs and galley areas.