Thank you to eveyone who sponsored and supported me through the Fastnet campaign.

The race started well on the morning of Sunday 14th August.  Conditions were great, we had a really good start and the boat was flying as we sailed towards the needles.  Good navigational tactics allowed us to move up the fleet and spirits were high.  Unfortunately a couple of miles past the needles we noticed that were taking on water - a lot!  Floorboards were floating.  Luckily we worked out where the hole was and managed to bung it, bail out and pump out just in time.  A few more minutes and the story might have been different.  To cut a long story short, we motored to Lymington, replaced the missing through-hull fitting and then rejoined the race.  We were about 8 hours behind but quickly started making up places and weren't last in our class due to good navigation and teamwork.  By Monday night we had reached Lands End and conditions were fairly rough.  We had two reefs in and were still over-powered - it was pouring with rain and the waves were crashing over the bow.  We had tried to turn over the engine earlier for a routine battery charge and it wouldn't start, we tried again now and there was no life in it.  John, our resident mechanic tried everything to fix the problem, but unfortunately nothing could be done.  We took the very difficult decision to retire as it would have been madness to set out across the Irish see with no engine (therefore no batteries, no radio, GPS, navigation lights, instruments or way of getting out of trouble).  So, feeling very downhearted, we turned the boat around for a run back to Plymouth.  The difficult conditions meant that we kept gybeing dangerously so we lowered the main sail and gingerly sailed back to Plymouth.

So, after almost a year of hard work, preparation, training and  qualifying races our Fastnet 2011 is over. A lot of fun was had and we worked really well as a team.   I've already been invited to compete in the next race - 2013 - so watch this space!

Thank you to eveyone who has sponsored me and therefore supported Dyscover, I hope that you are happy for your donation to go to this very worthwhile charity despite the fact that we didn't actually complete the race.  If you feel strongly that you would like your sponsorship money back, please email me at gwigginton@dyscover.co.uk.

Best wishes
Glynis