Hello from Plymouth! Apologies for having been silent for over a year. I’ll try to do better this time.

Rupert, Zest and I have had an eventful 12 months, during which we’ve sailed more than 4000 miles. I have been wanting to write about it, but so much has happened it’s hard to know where to start. We sailed Zest to Plymouth to watch the start of the 2013 OSTAR, the race for which I bought the boat but was unable to join in. After putting in all the effort to prepare for an ocean adventure it seemed a shame not to go on one, so in July we sailed together to the Azores and then Rupert flew home for Cowes Week, leaving me to get Zest back to Falmouth on my own. I managed to complete the passage in 8 days with no incidents, taking more than a day off the time of the outbound trip.

After cruising 1200 miles non-stop by myself I reckoned it was time to trying solo racing, and In the autumn I did my first events with the Solo Offshore Racing Club. Rupert and I have also done a number of double-handed races, in the Solent with the Royal Southampton Yacht Club and offshore with JOG. Which brings us up the present, which finds us in Queen Anne’s Battery Marina, preparing to start the 2014 Round Britain and Ireland Race, organised by the Royal Western Yacht Club of England. It starts from Plymouth Sound at noon tomorrow. I can’t believe I’m actually sitting here writing this.

You can learn more about this classic event at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Britain_and_Ireland_double_handed_Yacht_Race and track our progress on http://rwyc.org/rbandi/the-race/tracking/. I will endeavour to post updates on our Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/SailingWithZest and on Twitter follow @gbr536 if you’re really keen.

Finally, we are hoping to raise money for Help the Hospices. I would love to raise at least a quid for every mile we sail. If you’d like to show your support then head on over to http://t.co/Bgv7eQtNIS. Last I checked you lot had a 110 mile head start. Well done.

Okay, I’d better get back to stowing.