Having got out to La Gomera last Friday it has been pretty nonstop since, although with the boat only arriving down on Monday it did mean a bit of rest over the weekend.

With all 17 boats now on dock side in the marina and the Talisker branding slowly going up it is all looking pretty smart. The main job of the last few days has been to sort the food into individual daily bags, a job I would not wish on anyone! We are nearly there and in a separate blog post I will go through the food I am taking on the trip.

Everyone is at different stages with their preparation. Some boats, being new builds, are ready to go with a bit of packing left while others still need a fair amount of work. Scrutineering is occurring throughout the week (with mine tomorrow afternoon) and once that is sorted then boats will be out on the water.

With the scrutineering tomorrow (where everything is checked to make sure I have it on board) it hasn’t been as busy few days as it may have been. Saying that I seem to be getting pretty knackered and thankful for the early nights!

So in terms of kit I am there. The boat is still looking pretty naked without any of the logos on, this is a job I hope to do before the weekend, may take a bit of time though but will look really smart once it is all done. I have actually been getting a fair few compliments on the boat, back to Jamie’s tremendous boat building skills!

Once scrutineering is out the way then it will be the last coat of anti-foul on the hull, packing and stickers and i’ll be away. My aim is to do my 24 hours at sea over next Monday night, iron out any last little bits and then have the rest of the week with the family down fairly free to sort minor issues and chill (and sleep!) let’s see if that happens, would be nice though.

Is awesome being down here now part of the race, everyone is getting on really well and very happy to help each other out. Woodvale have put in a huge amount as well and doing a lot for us all. Talisker are arriving at the weekend and from the sounds of things next week could be pretty busy with interviews and lots of people around etc.

A man I did my ocean courses with, John Beeden, has just set off today from Tenerife heading to Barbados in a solo boat built by Jamie. He was meant to leave Sunday but we have a bit of weather coming in so left today...just a bit more of a challenge to catch him! Follow him at www.soloatlanticrow.com.