The Leaving Party is just over a week away and if you haven’t got a ticket yet then there’s still time to get one! Everyone is welcome and please feel free to bring friends and family.

The venue is the exquisite 5 Star Grange City Hotel in the City of London just a stones throw away from Tower Hill Tube Station and over looks The Tower of London. Set in the magnificent Auditorium we will entertain guests with champagne and canapies on arrival, then an introduction from our title sponsor Mike Moss from MSS followed by a short film of Team MSS’s progress to date (put together by Petrol Media). We will then have an Auction with some fantastic prizes on offer. Finally we will make our thanks to everyone for their support and start the disco.

Time: Saturday 7th February 7pm - 11pm +

Tickets: £15 each

Venue: Grange City Hotel 8-14 Coopers Row, London, EC3N 2BQ

For more information & tickets please email us at info@indianoceanrace.com

We hope to see you all there!

It’s the early evening of Wednesday 14th January and once again I am hosted by the fabulous surroundings of the Captains Club Hotel down in Christchurch. As of today I have officially started my 7 month sabbatical with work and have wasted no time in making sure I use everyday productively. So straight down to see FF at Rossiter Yachts Boatyard and I will again send a big thanks to the hard work of Alex, Charlie and the rest of the staff, because of them FF is almost ready with the steering system the only outstanding item on the check list to complete, then we’ll be home and dry (well not quite and excuse the pun).

It’s quite reassuring knowing that the boat will be going out to Australia with only personal touches to add and minor adjustments to make, although more time on the sea would have been nice, but it seems that the saying of experienced ocean rowers bares some truth in that a successful project encorporates 3 vital ingredients: 

1. A well built & equiped boat, ”check”

2. Sufficient funding & sponsorship, “check”

3. Time on the Ocean ”hmmmm” 

Although we still believe that the first two will make up for the lack of the third and besides our sheer grit and determination will prevail and you can’t get more time on the Ocean than 3 months! As Vince Lombardi once said ‘ I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfilment of all he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.’

So the first sea trials were a success, with Jem, Tim & Sheep as support crew on Jeez-Louise keeping an eye out for us last weekend.  The boat went back to Rossiters Sunday night to carry on the work with the steering system and ocean gliders. 

We are picking up the boat this afternoon and will be braving the weather again departing Newhaven at high tide tomorrow morning with Jeez-Louise meeting us at around 3pm from Brighton.  We’ll then row through the night and dock up Sunday afternoon to discuss anything that we think might need modifying before the boats heads back to Christchurch for possibly its last week before being shipped to Australia!