Yesterday was spent out on the water practicing the Man Overboard drills that we hope we never have to use.

In light winds we were also able to fly our big cruising chute getting 7 knots boat speed from 10 knots true wind speed.

Not bad and will enable us to keep up good overall speed when the winds get lighter.

It also gave us another opportunity to get Helen out sailing and as you can see she has found the best spot on the gin & tonic seats at the back of the boat.

Today will be taken up with last minute shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables and also the vacuum packed cold meats and cheeses. I must confess we have put a lot of food on the boat and Glenn thinks we have enough to keep going and sail all the way around the world! Even if we have we WILL be stopping in St Lucia.

Tonight will be an early dinner for the six of us and then off to bed for an early start tomorrow.

The weather looks good for the start at 13.00 and with 200+ boats on the start line and some serious racers amongst them our tactics will be to stay out of their way. On a 3,000 mile passage 20 minutes is not going to make much difference to a large cruising boat like ours.

Our motto will be.... Safety....Comfort....Speed.