How do you get ready to sail a 70’ boat around the world?

Organised chaos.

To be more precise, how do you get a 70’ boat ready to sail round the world?

Answer’s still the same. There’s ropes to replace, fittings to check, winches to service, more ropes to replace, leaks to patch, fans to fit, sail ties to make out of the old ropes you’ve replaced, sails to bring aboard, things to clean, heads to fix, computers to update, and a hundred other little jobs.

And the food. Oh, the food. Food enough for 21 people, burning on average 5000 calories a day, for 28-35 days. All parcelled up in bags within bags within dry bags. Once it’s packed, it’s got to go somewhere. Under the floorboards, in cubby holes, and all with a plan as to what you’re going to use which days, and where it is so you can actually get to it.

Don't forget, if you're taking that much food, you need a certain other supply that's almost as important. And they take up room. Along with kitchen towels, and cleaning supplies, and medical supplies, and spare parts for the boat, we probably sit several inches lower in the water than we did at the beginning of the week.

But she's ours now. Getting to know her like that, fixing and maintaining and replacing and cleaning, and you start to have a connection to the boat, CV 20, Team Garmin, that will only get stronger in the coming year as we sail her, and she takes us, forty thousand miles round the world.