An altogether more extreme Boat Blog

The Vendee Globe is the only non-stop singlehanded sailing race around the world. It happens every 4 years, and last time around, in the 2004-2005 race when Ellen MacArthur famously came second, my dad and I were avid followers. We turned our globe upside down (Most of the excitement happens in the Southern Ocean) and marked all the waypoints on the race course.

This time, I was so busy with everything that was going in that I completely missed the start at the end of last year. I had been vaguely aware of it though, noting the disastrous demasting of several boats including Mike Golding's Ecover. However, there is one Brit still in the running - Steve White on his Open 60 Toe in The Water.

And he has a blog. In fact a lot of the competitors do. In much the same way as we keep in touch with our families via the blog, so too do these hardcore sailors, out in the open ocean, with help from anyone land-based (except via satellite phone) being expressly forbidden. It takes blogging to a whole new level, and is, I'm sure, a source of great comfort to loved ones left back on land, and a way for the sailors themselves to keep sane! Of course, they rely very heavily on web based contact for everything from weather forecasts to race position info, but it is the concept of blogging about these experiences that brings the race to a more human level. I have added Steve's blog to our blog list and will be continuing to follow his progress.