After a fairly windy and bumpy slog upwind to Alicante the team are settling in to their new home well. We encountered 35 knot headwinds in the Straits of Gibraltar and I was relieved the boat came through unscathed.

This was a final offshore test before the practice race or ‘leg zero’ as it is called which starts this Friday. Arriving in Alicante was very exciting as we got to see all our competitors’ boats for the first time. It is amazing how different the three new hull shapes from the three different design offices are. I am desperate to see how we perform and what everyone’s sails will look like.

In the next week all will be revealed. Our shore team broke down our base in Cascais in record time and sent it on its way to Cape Town. Meanwhile an advanced party started setting everything up in Alicante. It is incredible to think that in five days we have built the shore base, taken the mast down, replaced the standing rigging, broken down the keel to add some more weight and depth to the bulb, put it all back together and successfully passed some key measurement tests before re-stepping the rig.

At the same time a host of other jobs are being completed onboard so that we are well and truly ready to race. Leg zero starts in three days and will consist of a 360 mile trip to Palma, Majorca and back. The result is not important in the long run but the performance is. All eyes will be on us for sure and there is a lot at stake.