Prep week in Gosport is finished. Halyards have been milked and moused, winches serviced, leaks sealed and a mountain of food packed. I've been part of the victualing team this week, so have been shopping for Britain (I think I have a personal parking space at Asda) and helping to pack everything in to day bags so it's easy for the mothers to access and get meals ready on their days in the galley. Each tin of food has had its label stripped and been marked, and...

Well it's been an eventful week in lots of ways and if I'm honest an emotional one. I do want this blog to be a true reflection of what's happening in my Clipper life so I can look back and remember what the hell has happened to me! I had added Leg 4 to my race which would have meant being away for Christmas but I have now decided to go back to my original plan of Legs 5 & 6. Doing L4 this week has brought home the realities of the race. It's going to be exc...

So another week of fantastic sailing. This time we were out on the Clipper 70's - the boats we will be sailing in the race. They are bigger (70ft!) and designed slightly differently - 2 main winch coffee grinders, 90ft mast, accomodation further aft. They are beautiful. We are playing wth the big boys now. This week was all about consolidation and learning about sailing with a spinnakar up - something we will be doing alot of. It was exciting. Yet another bunch ...

So it arrived at last, my next Clipper installment. L2 is designed to consolidate the basics and also push on to the next level of sailing knowledge. I joined with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Will I be good enough? Will I remember anything? Fortunatly we had a fantastic skipper, Simon, and first mate, Carol, who put us through our paces with a mixture of humour and fun but always with a full explanation of why and how to go about things in a safe a...

A great week getting to know the boats and some of my fellow sailors. Andy - Quads of Gods, Richard, Dana, Will, Nick and Phil with Hugh as Skipper and 1st Mate, Quintin. We were put through our paces throughout the week and learnt and refreshed a million things. I finally think I've got the hang of helming (BZ from Quintin!) and managed to lead the main sail hoist on the last day with only minor intervention! We learnt about the sails and procedures and how to...