The World’s biggest oceanic yacht race, well that’s what the banner crossing the main street in Falmouth proclaimed and after checking it out, there is no doubt about it, it most certainly is, ahead of the Sydney to Hobart Race, by virtue of both distance and the number of entrants and no other ocean race that I can think of will have one hundred yachts entered.

Although there are still open & class 40’s taking part, it is mainly a Corinthian race of international stature, raced on handicap and thereby everyone has a chance of been on the podium at the finish. One of the main attractions of the race is, that it is an Atlantic race that is ‘there & back’, it is slightly less distance than a full transatlantic but you do end up back home in the UK at the finish, therefore giving participants with less time on their hands, the opportunity to compete. There is no doubt about the fact it is a true test of seamanship of epic proportions, challenging skill, self sufficiency and stamina, a challenge we are delighted to accept. In addition it will be a perfect shake down for the Twostar Transatlantic race in 2012.

As this will be the second time we have entered the race, we should be better prepared, both mentally, physically and boat wise. Ruffian is already up to the standards required for this category of offshore racing, however it has always been our policy to improve Ruffian, as finances will allow.

 After our incident in the fog, during the last AZAB, just managing to avoid a collision with the MV Colletta, an avoiding action that cost us dearly, time wise, we have invested in a radar target enhancer, purchased from Sea.Me as fully refurbished, at a cost of around £300, complete with alarm. The Sea Me Radar Target Enhancer returns a better radar signal, improving the vessel's visibility to radar, at the same time can give an audible alarm warning that you have been detected. It will be fitted at the mast head to give maximum range.

We have also been looking at our catering requirements and are experimenting with various light weight options, one of the meals we enjoyed the most on the last AZAB, were the egg omelettes provided by Wayfarer Foods, we thought that by using powdered egg, dried mushrooms and cheese, it would be easy to knock up a tasty snack. The other day we made some delicious pancakes from a powder mix, very easy to do by just adding water (our type of cooking!) but we do recognise the fact that they may have an adverse effect on our digestive system after a week of powdered egg and pancakes!

Last year’s Round Britain & Ireland Race is accepted as our qualifying passage, so apart from fitting the Sea.Me, we only have a bit of work to do on the keel and the bottom to prepare, (this is the main advantage of being berthed in a drying harbour, where we can work between tides) we will be ready to go.

 We have just read our last entry and don’t know who we were trying to kid, ‘fit the Sea.Me and a bit of work on the keel!’ Since that time we have worked endlessly to keep the boat up to standard, to fit the Sea.Me we decided to fit it on a pole as fitting it to the mast head, for various technical details, was a bit of a ‘no-no.’ As we were going to the trouble of fitting a pole we might as well clear the pushpit of all the aerials and fit them all on the pole, whilst we were doing that we may as well fit an active antenna for the HF radio, so the total now stands at eight! It doesn’t look very pretty but all seems to work well. To accommodate the new equipment we have had to remodel the nav station, so what seemed like a simple little job turn into a bigger task than first thought.

The engine has always made a mysterious clattering noise, the shaft seal whilst it had never leaked a drop, was very different to the ones I have used before and always seemed a bit of a black art, shrouded in mystery, so we decided to investigate and replace. Once the shaft seal was removed, it was obvious the shaft was not centralized in the propeller tube, so working between the tides, we re-aligned the engine before fitting a new shaft seal and whilst we were on with it a new folding prop and new sound deadening, so we now have a well installed engine and transmission system.

Emma has been worrying about the UV degradation on the jack stays for some time now (I don’t know why as she never steps foot out of the cockpit!) so they were replaced and after that ‘bit of work on the keel’, anti-fouling, a general spruce up inside, all the usual cleaning of the fuel tanks, water tanks, drop testing the batteries, etc., we were now really ready to go!