An act of bravery they say. I thought so too when I started the day with mascara.

After writing my will, the final entry on my to-do list, it was the time for the off.

I checked and rechecked my kit (below) and took the brave decision to omit the third set of clothes. Two weeks (or just over) and two changes of clothes will have to do. I don’t envy my brother who’s due to hug me on arrival in Cape Town. Think of the savings on those washing bills when I’m back!

The moisturiser has gone ladies. I’m going for the weathered sailor look. They say winning takes sacrifice. There you have it.

I have hugged, kissed and waved my parents goodbye with lots of love.

I’ll speak to you next from Rio. Thank you all for your best wishes.

And Sajel, my travel pillow is smelling beautiful. Thank you.

X

There’s only one cure for a moment like that.

Over the past 15 years I seem to have accumulated a huge volume of largely unnecessary stuff. And after today I know it all intimately.

My day started at 5am being enticed out of bed by the gym. It so much harder getting out of bed at 5-something when you don’t have work in its strictest sense to go to. Good god what is it going to be like night after night? Let’s not think about that just yet.

Steve (of crossfit) had clearly spent a huge amount of time conjuring up an internationally themed training session and for that I’m touched. It certainly set the tone for the day. Hard but not impossible.

Packing. Re-packing. Unpacking. Repeat. And again.

The house is now empty, the specification list written and the builders are in tomorrow. I did it! The plan I’d concocted on the back of an envelope back in March has been successfully deployed and I’m outtahere!

Thank god for the little smiles that have happened throughout the day. And the bar of Fruit and Nut.

Standing room only on a 2-hour train journey. Seems like there is little luxury left to savour. Apart from my bed at home. Yummy! See you soon mum!

X

Arrive Rio: 2nd October
Race start: 7th October
Arrive Cape Town: 21st-25th October
Depart cape town: 31st October
Arrive Albany: 22nd-26th November
Depart Albany: 1st December
Arrive Sydney: 12-15th December
Depart Sydney: 26th December
Arrive Hobart: 29th-30th December
Depart Hobart: 2nd January
Arrive Airlie Beach: 12th-13th Jan
Fly home: c. 19th Jan

3 sleeps to go!

Fantastic news today. The Warriors have secured the Andrew Ashman Plate winning the Ocean Sprint and a coveted 2 points. Small compensation for a double dose of the doldrums. The team see hungry which is exciting news for the likes of Kyro and I joining in a few days.

You’ll hear more about this gentleman I’m sure. In a few words: Young, great sailor, used to race barges with his father, competitive bugger, oozes positivity, high flying camel racer and party animal. And of course the question everyone wants to know, what are his legs like…. 2 and 3 is the answer.

Jeff is also joining in Rio. I haven’t sailed with Jeff yet so I’m lacking the info you glean from whiling away the hours on the rail. What I can tell you is that he’s an undertaker. I used to find that funny. He has a wider stance with legs 2 and 8.

You’ll see from the tracker that we’re currently in ‘stealth mode’. Effectively hiding the boat’s movements from other race teams and the audience. As the winds become flukey off the coast of Brazil tactics mean everything.

Closer to home I spent the day chosing a kitchen, going to battle on party wall agreements and scooping up a whole ‘disposable’ wardrobe from Primarni for, wait for it, £22!!!! Sun dress £1, shorts £1…I pushed the boat out (boom boom) with a £5 necklace. All will go to charity when I take to the boat so the efforts of the tailors don’t go to waste. Did I say cameras are forbidden in Rio?? Hot to trot care of the Primark SALE!

In other news the builders have started on my house. Day count 1, neighbour complaint count 1.

Tomorrow is pack the house up day, my last night in London and the eve of my leaving workout at Crossfit. Privileged to have such a thing and to train with the team but LOOK AT IT!

Carb loading as I type xx

I realise that I haven’t mentioned the boats for a while. In a handful of lines:

-Lmax and quigdao are safely in Rio claiming first and second respectively. The deep cleans are now well underway.

– GB and Londonderry are in a dual for the third podium spot. They’re so close they’ll be able to smell (and hear each other). Proper racing and mind boggling given the thousands of miles they’ve covered.

-meanwhile Mission Performance got their racing mojo together and decided to hit the race sprint hard. Delighted. It has paid off and we put in an impressive performance (we also now know what it’s going to take). Just ichorcoal left to determine whether we’ve won a precious 2 points and the Andrew Ashman plate. Given the significance of that title to Ichorcoal they’re not going to give it to us without a fight.

Four sleeps to go.

Holy sh*t! Excuse my French.

Casting my mind back to New Years I remember Sam and I ditching the comfort of our respective sofas for a bottle of fizz and a bit of a dance at the local bar. After a couple of drinks (and tough years) we made a pact. 2015 was going to be the year. We’ve all heard that before but surely there was little choice given both of us were embarking on this adventure. And what a year it has been. We also said we’d pool our friendships (to make ourselves look more popular) and have a leaving bash. That was Friday.

Precious friends from school, university, work, sailing and London all joined the fun to wish us on our way. Thank you it was a great night. The perfect way to top a special day with Danielle and her bump.

Four months isn’t a long time until you realise that you’ll miss significant moments. For me it will be the birth of my best friend’s first child. And any proposals anyone cares to make!

Back to Friday night. I think the below photo sums it up. My mum doing a tequila shot. Thanks Conrad! No mum, you’re not meant to sip it. As a former air stewardess I’m sure she could teach us all a few things about how to have a good party so don’t be fooled by the apparent innocence! “Darling, what do I do with this lemon?”. She was probably just checking to see if it was a tequila suicide (squeeze it in your eye).

Mum has been a huge help and I can now say I’M PACKED! That’s not to say that I’ll take bits out, I’m sure I will. But the bags and their contents have all be labelled.

Three waterproof bags each containing: one pair of wooly pants, a sports bra, thermal trousers, thermal top, a t-shirt and socks (two thick merino, one thin merino and a couple of pairs of trainer socks). For many that is excessive but I’ll make enemies if I don’t!!

the ‘warm bag’: fleece, spare extra thick merino top, 2 pairs of merino socks, spare pair wooly pants, 1 pair shorts, 1 pair trousers.

The ‘bits’ bag: 2 pairs polarised sunnies, merino beanie, beanie, head torch, knife (it’s a bad day if I have to use it), helming gloves, sailing gloves, fleece buff, hair band, balaclava and clear lens glasses (waves+night=salty eye balls!)

The essentials: dry suit, foulies, ocean boots, mid-layers (walking duvet), uniform, deck shoes, travel towel and waterproof sleeping bag

civi clothes for a week in port: sun dress, flip flops, bra, 2 pairs of knickers (and travel wash)

wash bag: basically all the real essentials with a special mention for mouth wash and stugeron, both a must for sea sickness, and sudocrem, the cure-all.

Luxury items: a letter my brother wrote me last year, my kindle, headphones and my iPhone in a bomb proof case (camera/journal/music) and the globe trotting Percy pigs Ben Nicklin gave me. Sorry mark, I ate the dairy milk!

And that’s it. Sounds a lot when you read it or see the dead-body-sized bag in the car but it’ll quickly smell delicious.

Get well soon Mel X

Last night was one of the few nights when the penny dropped part way through. No work tomorrow. Wahoo. For once I don’t have to get up earlier than all the others. I’m now paying the price. I slept through my alarm only to be greeted by some scaffolders and a man with a hammer at 7:30am.

Two words. Black. Noise.

Last night was worth a mention because it was an impromptu date. The best sort. The date got even funnier when we heard the tap of a microphone. Before we knew it we were signed up for a pub quiz along with 18 other teams. Jesus. I should have known better. What do I know about famous dogs? Thankfully little enough to maintain my street cred. In fact, it was a roaring success. We cheated our way through the questions to win a prize. That’s got to be a result on a date. Unless of course it’s the wooden spoon.

Having got back into bed with my clothes on (they’ve bashed out my downstairs windows to get the poles through and I have no heating) I’m only good for a handful (or less) of things today.

I have successfully set up an email on the boat. That means you get snippets of life on board. It also means that I need to teach my mum how to blog. Given her hi-tech uni degree you’ll probably find that she rubs some funk on it. Watch this space!

I have also written to the Brazillian Tourist Board. Rio baby!! With yesterday’s work ‘stuff’ out of the way, my focus changes to moving house and getting ready. ONE WEEK TO GO!!

My mum told me that ‘I want never gets’ but I really, really want a selfie like this! A rare occasion when a selfie is justifiable. The odds are piled against me but worth a try.

Best dash. Typing with one eye closed is making things worse.

x

Apologies for being quiet in recent days. It’s called battling my way through a to-do list.

Many close friends will testify that whilst I’m sure I was born lazy I have an amazing knack of biting off far more than I should be able to chew. This week and the next few months are a great example of that. Not only am I sailing (I won’t let you forget that) I’ve decided to take on a rather large renovation project.

I had a lightbulb moment at the end of March. If I’m away for 4.5 months it’s the perfect time to do work on my house.

Apart from the fact that I didn’t own a house.

With a bit of crude maths I worked out that if I could find somewhere to buy at the right price in less than a month and IF I could complete (12 wks), move house and get planning (8 wks) before leaving for Rio I’d be set. Not to mention a project manager, builders…you guessed it.

Turns out that was a little simplistic but in essence that’s exactly what I’ve done. Quite frankly it’s utter madness. Did I mention I got a new job around that time too?

Anyone that has ever had experience of organising ANYTHING will know that as you draw closer to the date there are some fairly critical questions or decisions. Well, I’ll be on a boat and uncontactable for all of those.

Choosing grout colour, door handles, placing of electrical sockets, loo seats, flooring, you name it, I have to do it in the next 7 days. I also have to try to pacify myneighbour who is determined to let her frog live undisturbed in her inner city retreat surrounded by 25 dustbins.

That may explain why sailing is further down the to-do list.

There have been a couple of curved balls in the last few days. I’m not talking rugby, I’m talking about things that are even more exciting.

My little neice Emily was born. I’m an auntie! Emily was due to be born in Cape Town the week before I’m due to arrive by sail boat. My bother and Georgie’s timing was immaculate. Better still I get to see pictures of the little munchkin before I go. I’m totally biased but she’s a cutie.

The second curve ball was the package I had to collect from the post office this morning after receiving one of those little red cards. It needed my signature, how very puzzling. You can imagine my surprise when I opened the package to find two pairs of pants. It’s been a while since I’ve stumbled across boxers with no obvious owner! I messaged to my brother to be greeted with a chuckle and a negative response. Hmmm.

Then the penny dropped. Word has got out on the boat that Al Italia have given me a generous luggage allowance to Rio (probably because they don’t expect it to travel with the owner). Four requests from the Atlantic so far:

1. Gavin needs more pants! His dad has sent them to my house (ah ha). Remember the boat went faster when Greg put on clean pants? All requests like this are welcome. Green and orange pants of power though??
2. glow in the dark spinnaker tape. Continuing the theme of Gavin’s glow in the dark lip balm and gloves but for a very different reason. You don’t want to disturb night vision and trimming is critical. Dropping 0.5kt for one leg can mean you’re a day behind the next boat by the end of the leg.
3. a different sort of weight (wait). It pains me to say it but given our slow progress through the doldrums, Barry has asked me to defer the start of his hotel booking in Rio. Expected arrival is now 5 days after the lead boat on 30th September.
4. Jackets. I can’t believe they are thinking of warm clothing in the tropics but they are and I have been asked to fly another 4 of the things out. Perhaps a sign madness has finally got to them? After all Greg has donned his SECOND vengaboys vest. Perhaps the only two still in existence?

Anyway, that’s enough waffle for the day. I’ll get back to sailing chat soon. For my own sanity I need to!

Best go.

X

And so it begins. Packing.

Each boat is in theory identical so the difference comes with what you put in it. The mission Performance crew have a liberal 25kg weight limit. You’re a brave man if you pack 25kg though given all other crews have a 20kg limit. I suspect it’s been very well considered by Greg, our skipper. He doesn’t want to dictate, he wants to lead. He knows that we’re all going to give more thought to what we pack if we’re already outliers. I know for one that I’ll do my best to get below 20kg.

The first step in packing happened a few weeks ago when Sam (good friend from level 1, Team GB) and I sat in the sun in her garden. I was about to say with a glass of rosé but given we’ve been bitten by the competitive bug it was sparkling water with a squeeze of lime!! Most unlike us!

We had independently written draft kit lists based on our experiences through the various training levels. Clipper/Skippers have also provided an indication. You’d think they’d all be the same but there are some, potentially significant differences. Shoes and boots or just boots? Balaclava? Clear lens ski goggles? 4 socks or 12?

The second step in the process started yesterday, refinement. All potential kit laid out in one room to admire before pairing it back and then packing into dry bags.

A mix of the compulsory items:

– Mission Performance Uniform (gilet, jacket, tshirt, cap) – must not be worn to work, only for race start/finish.
-Clipper kit (another 2 jackets (the famous, geeky red anorak and a more practical soft shell), your foul weather gear aka”foulies”, flammable t-shirt),

With the essentials:

– ocean boots
– dry suit
– waterproof sleeping bag
– thermal mid layers (think walking duvet)
– thermal base layers
– knickers/sports bras
– sunglasses x2
– hats/cap
– gloves
– wash kit (inc mouthwash as you’re apparently too tired to brush your teeth?)
Nice to haves:
– kindle
– iPhone in a mega case
– camera?

Luxury suddenly takes a whole different meaning. For me that’s the potential to pack an extra pair of baggy, woollen knickers. Right now that may seem a ridiculous thing to say but after three weeks without a proper wash, imagine how nice fresh pants will be!!