The Tour is like absolutely nothing else – the scale on and offshore is huge.

Over 14 lorries take the organisation’s vehicles from one stage to the next and each team tends to have two to three vehicles that move the boat and sailing/shore teams around too! It’s massive. The organisational grandeur of the event is certainly one of the first things we noticed arriving in Dunkerque.

The preparation for this event has taken a year of solid work from all in the team- I’m hugely proud of everyone and we were in the fortunate position that in the days leading up to the event we could focus on small adjustments, modifying some systems to match some good ideas from the French teams. There are a few things that we would have liked to have done this year; namely train in Port la Foret or CEM with the top French teams, and participated in some lead up racing, but budget restrictions didn’t make this possible, something we are bearing in mind - we are here for the long run! This year is just the first of many Tour Voile attempts [we hope] consequently we see this a training year- to learn and develop the team for the future.

What we’ve been really pleased with so far is that as the event goes on, we are more and more in the mix every day. We were really excited to find ourselves leading one of the stadium races on the second last leg and we are holding our own on the ultra-aggressive reaching starts. So, we are showing good turns of speed, which I hope signals some good potential, but we are lacking consistency, something that should come with time in the fleet and experience.

The fleet is very tight and gives nothing away, if you give an inch they take a mile and your house. So, you’ve got to be consistently on it all the time, especially when the inshore races are only 12-15 mins long! No time for recovery.

I’ve really enjoyed wearing Gill kit here, I’m virtually living in the Thermogrid Fleece Jacket on shore. It’s the perfect halfway between a full jumper and long sleeve t-shirt; no matter if I’m in the boat park or press room, I’m normally wearing it. It’s also a good fit and looks great with the big Maverick bull on the back – so what more can I ask for!

On the water, I’ve found the Speedskin Skiff Suit one of the most comfortable wetsuits I’ve worn. It’s nice and light allowing great mobility but also good to grip on deck and seems to be wearing well against the Diam’s spiky non-skid. Adding a Hydrophobe Top beneath just gives it that little extra warmth for the windy days which is perfect. Plus – I now only need one wetsuit, not two, useful when you are upping sticks and moving 100 miles every two days. We are planning on introducing everyone to each team member and their favourite bits of clothing- so stay tuned for that!