Final preparation

Just want to thank everyone that has helped us out over the last few months. Its been a long road but we are finally here in wicklow harbour and fully fit a ready for this enormous challenge.

38 hours till the start of the Round Ireland Yacht Race. We passed our safety check this morning with only a minor issue with white flares. With a trip to Viking Marine, one of the top chandlery companies in the country, this issue was sorted immediately. They provide an excellence service and we a delighted to have their support throughout this Double Handed Campaign.

The boat is finally fully set for this long endurance race and we can sleep with ease tonight. Tomorrow morning will start off with the food shop that has to last the entire race around Ireland. Carefully thought and planning has gone into ensuring we both get sufficient calorie intake and nutrients from each meal.

Once the shop is completed and carefully stowed in Oystercatcher we then move on to the technical side of the race. This involves carefully picking our waypoints for each section all the way around Ireland and then programming them both into our GPS ( Global Positioning System) and Chart Plotter. Also weather forecasts and tidal times with be of great importance. There are numerous areas around Ireland where the tide is exceptionally strong. Wicklow head being the first! This may become an issue at the start of the race as there is light winds forecast and a strong northerly tide...

The start is on Sunday at 1200 hours.
Hope to see you before we set off on this long endurance race

Tedz and Brian
Team Oystercatcher