It’s wet. It’s Saturday afternoon. We’ve been standing about for what seems like hours while the race scrutineer goes through every last bit of kit we will be taking on the boat come next Saturday. Finally he’s onto the last page…there’s a heart-stopping moment as he asks searching questions about a particular piece of kit…but then a collective sigh of relief; he’s finished ticking his boxes and interrogating us about kit, equipment and fitments. Our solar panels, water maker, lifejackets, radio, food and numerous other pieces of equipment – including the boat itself – have passed muster. All that remains is to get the boat back in the water, where she belongs…

…and that was accomplished today, at about 7pm UK time. So with the arrival in New York yesterday of the final team member, Ben Fouracre, it’s true to say that Team Hesco is now ‘good for go’!

A virtual tour…
We don’t just want you to read about Team Hesco’s adventures at sea, although obviously we’d rather you read our Bloggs than simply hit the Delete key. No, what we’d really like to do is to ensure that you can fully identify with the team and understand all the reports they’re sending back while heading for home. So over the next few days, I’ll be asking each member of the team to explain in more detail some of the equipment on the boat – why it’s there and how it works. By the time the boys get out into the deep ocean, we’ll be feeling as knowledgeable as them.

One hundred and ten years
June 6th 2006 marks the 110th anniversary of George Harboe and Gabriel Samuelsen’s epic 55-day journey from New York to St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly. They left Battery Park, the location of Team Hesco’s New York HQ, at 5pm that afternoon, having invited six New York newspapers to witness their departure and certify that their rowboat Fox was carrying neither mast nor sails. 110 years later, one of the two newspapers still in existence yesterday carried news of Team Hesco’s imminent departure – click here to read it.

Four days to go!

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