Sailing the boat to Plymouth from Lymington on I May a month before the start was the right thing to - the weather was perfect and the crew Steve Chalker, Ian Lake, Neil Hemming, Brian Hunkin and Geoff Rogers (Skipper) were able to shake down the boat and systems in light weather and practice safety drills and get familiar with Ca Canny (Go Carefully)our Najad 400.

We left Lymington as the sun rose on Saturday and came into Plymouth Sound as the dawn broke on the Sunday. A short sleep on arrival and back out onto the water in the afternoon in 15knots to practice rigging a heavy weather foresail and drills for steering failure.

Monday was spent fettling and fixing a small list of to do's.

Just as well all the work that could be done was completed in the winter because getting any boatyard support as a visitor to Plymouth  in May has proved difficult and required many phone calls.

Now we have all returned home and getting into weather and navigation planning. But the reality is no passage plan survives first contact with the real weather .................

Geoff