Aviva

My feet are back on French land after our very rapid record around Britain! I am extremely proud that we managed to blow more than 16 hours off the existing record!

I am, however, very tired still as this challenge was physically tough. My hands are wrecked and I am catching back up on sleep - in my own bed which is the only way!

Well done les filles, you did an impressive job on a nice boat

The force was with you

cheers

Loick, alias Jedi master

This could be it but we are so superstitious onboard that we really are fearful of talking about the end too much as we are not there yet. We also all know that anything can happen at any time and the weather has already delivered a pretty tough day and I am sure the night will not get any easier.

FINALLY the sun has come out, and Aviva is drying out slightly. We are hoping that the wind will stay with us however and so we are totally happy to accept getting wet on deck as we zoom down the west coast of Ireland. The good news is that the water coming on deck is now "spray" instead of "tsunami" and we have all swapped our dry tops for lighter weight spray tops. Boat speed is still above 15 knots so we are putting miles in the bank for the last day when the wind is forecast to drop.

Back ahead of the record schedule so we are four wet tired and happy girls onboard Aviva today. The weather has been blowing strong in a good direction so we have been trying to make the best of it all and get some good mileage in the bank early. The forecast for tomorrow is going to make progress for us difficult so you may see times slip but the outlook to get these back on the way to Ireland is promising.
 

We're off!! At around 21h30 BST we should cross the start line off Ventnor on board Aviva, heading East with the tide....
Finally we have found a weather window that is respectable, but not perfect, for the record attempt. Our predicted routing takes us around at about the record time 7d 4h, so we will have to work really really hard and also do some weather dancing still.

Another day on the water, practising. We were surprised by just how much wind was out there. We amazingly stayed away from any rain and had some good breeze for a great day on the water. We headed out of the Solent to the East in the company of Hugo Boss.

I'm sitting in a noisy cafe in Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth waiting for the ferry to go back to France. We've had two great training days with the girls on Aviva. Yesterday round the Isle of Wight, and today out to the Owers and back. We even managed to line up with Hugo Boss for an hour or so.