Sam Davies

Tuesday saw winds peaking at 23 knots for the Artemis Challenge. Eight boats took to the start line for some really close racing and a true spectacle of how exciting the Open 60 are fully powered up. Ecover 3 and Aviva challenged for the start line and we all sailed hard and fast through the showers towards the Needles.

Our adventures in the Pays Basque were VERY tiring, but LOTS of fun!

We set off three weeks ago, in a nice Bay of Biscay storm - Westerly wind 30-45 knots! That was another good training session, as we screamed down towards Biarritz at speeds of over 20 knots! 14 hours after leaving Lorient, we swapped our ski-masks and drysuits for shorts and T-shirt as the wind dropped off and the sun came out.

Hello everyone!
We are finally starting to dry out on board Roxy as the wind is decreasing. There have been clothes and boots airing everywhere, and we've been "chasing out smells" and cleaning everywhere. Life with the four of us cooped up inside an open 60 that is crashing along at 20 knots with a washing machine effect outside quickly becomes pretty "humid"!

On board ROXY, about 400 miles West of the Azores.

We left Boston last Sunday, so we've been out here for nearly a week. I have spent nearly all of the time that I'm not on watch sleeping, and resting reading my book and now I have a bit more energy and feel quite normal!

On board Roxy with me are Xavier David, Guillame Helfer and Corentin Chenais. It is great to have my team mates on board with me. We have had a lot of fun and they are learning how Roxy behaves out here in the ocean.

Just four full days ashore in Boston flew by at an alarming pace and to be honest I never quite had the chance to fully catch up on my sleep or take some time out, aside from a brief shopping trip. The race certainly took more out of me than I had bargained for.