GBR 500 being towed to Penzance by road

This week, GBR 500 or 'Voliteo' finally found her way to Penzance, my hometown in Cornwall. She's had a long journey getting there, having been shipped back to the UK from Brazil following Nick's 2005 Transat race. 'Boatloads' of Southampton then did a great job of getting her to her new home in good shape, where she'll start undergoing a refit for the 2006 seasons racing.

I've had a really exciting week up at the London International Boat show this year, where I met up with some really enthusiastic and encouraging people who've helped me on the right track to putting a good campaign together. Wandering around the stands, I could hardly believe a whole year had passed since I was up on the RYA stage receiving my Yachtmaster Of The Year award, but it served as an important milestone in my progress, as it was a little over a year ago that I decided to race the Minis and it's nice to see the progress. Thanks everyone for your help.

Everybody is on tenterhooks at the moment, eagerly awaiting the opening of the race subscriptions for this season. They all know the 2007 Mini Transat will be heavily oversubscribed, due not only due to the ever increasing interest in this fantastically exciting class, but also because the 2007 Transat is the 30th anniversary of the race since it originally departed from my hometown of Penzance back in the 70's.

This years first Atlantic based race, the Pornichet Select 650, is scheduled to start in late April and is renowned for being a really hard one. It's a 300 mile single handed slog in cold and often nasty conditions, a good wake up call before I set off on my 1000 mile non-stop solo qualifier, the most important part in ensuring a position on the start line of the Transat. I'm champing at the bit to get Voliteo in the water and start practicing, but there's still plenty to do. I'll try and keep you all posted as things progress!

Cheers, Woody

Click here to watch a few video clips of GBR being delivered

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