The Final Countdown

The last few months have been a blur of crazy activity, getting ready to leave family and home for such a long period of time, while doing the prep work remotely for the race. It has also been very emotional for me and those closest to me: I had not realised the scale of what I had set in motion two years ago. The reality of it got quite overwhelming and for a while I seriously wondered why I was doing this.

But, I did get on a flight back from Asia, I did arrive in gosport at the marina and got fully on preparing for race day.

I am, with another crew friend Ian, responsible for ensuring that we have enough to eat during the race. That victualing role sounds straightforward until you realise that we are 18 on board, we need around 3,500 calories a day each, we can’t keep fruits and vegetable very long and we have limited cooling space. Add budget constraints on top and it becomes an interesting puzzle. I have now clearly built a reputation as a spreadsheet maniac! But we are getting there and with a last delivery of fresh produce tomorrow we will be ready to go.

The crew is all on board, and we joined all the boats now in the Portsmouth Marina with their sponsors colors. It is a sight to behold!

This photo is of the stern of the racing yacht I am going to call home for the next 11 months: Team Washington D.C. under Ella Hebron, a (super) young skipper of truly impressive skills and personality. We are ready!

Photos of the departure weekend at Portsmouth, UK

August 2025