5 days to go

Here we are in sunny Las Palmas waiting for the start of the ARC.

I've been here for a few days doing some prep and getting everything ready for our start on Sunday. All the boats are here now and it's a great sight seeing all of the flags flying. Throughout the week there have been seminars covering everything from rigging, weather, provisioning and first aid...a lot of info to take in but all of it well presented and thought through.

A lot of crew are arriving day by day and the rest of the crew on our boat Northern Child should be arriving today. As it's a charter boat none of us know each other which can be a good thing as there won't be any close groups to try and break into. I sat down with Julian, our skipper, the other day and talked through all the things I would like to film and I'm sure that he will offer up some great ideas too as this is his 10th ARC crossing.

A key reason for joining the ARC is to take part in the organised activities and parties. Tonight's event is a fancy dress Jungle themed party. Unfortunately I left my Tarzan loincloth at home and so will have to go in my civvies....

I listened to Chris Tibbs' weather seminar today and he said at present it's unlikely that we will encounter any hurricanes...I'm sure you're right Chris...remember you heard it here first.

So more prep and filming and we'll soon be off...