Last training, done. Next sailing, RACE START.

So the last of my training is now complete!! We had a great week again out on Solent and in the English Channel. A real mix of weather again provided us with some good experience for the race.

Its actually quite scary to think that the next time I sail will be the race start in just 7 weeks time!!! On the one hand I feel ready and prepared and feel like we are really beginning to gel as a crew and have a skipper that will get us safely and quickly round the world.

On the other hand I try and think through the sequence of events needed to gybe the spinnaker in the middle of the night in the Southern Ocean doing over 20 knots and it all seems a bit overwhelming...

The other unfortunate news I had from this week is that I was sea sick for a period of about 24hrs. You might find this a little surprising to read on the blog of someone who is sailing round the world, but its actually quite common and there were fellow sufferers on board. I stupidly stopped taking my anti-nausea tablets and before too long a rolling sea on a downwind leg got the better of me.

Still I am not in the least bit worried, this is something I will get used to and it doesn't put me off achieving my goal of a circumnavigation.

No word on the sponsor of the boat, could be anyone - Liverpool, Cardiff, Jamaica! Who knows. Whilst its nice that we still have the surprise to come it does mean now that we have run out of time to have our boat taken out the water for our hull design. This means that the great looks of Cape Bretton, Uniquely Singapore, Hull and Humber etc. are likely to be in a different league to ours which is a shame...

All of the crew I have now met are fantastic and I'm really pleased to be sailing round the world with them, it'll make the adventure even more special sharing it with this group.

The week ended with a one on one debrief with my skipper which went well. He reckons i'm one of the stronger crew and so a leg or two as watch leader is hopefully still on the cards.

Will keep you posted. There will be plenty more general thoughts and musings over the next few weeks in the run up to the race but please keep checking back, am keen to share the trip with as many of you as possible!

Pete