It was with some trepidation that I travelled to Weymouth on Wednesday to join my new boat and race team. My latest campaign is certainly taking me out of my comfort zone and will explore a totally new concept of ocean sailing that is completely alien to me.

Over the past two years I have seldom been on a yacht larger than thirty eight foot and have always had a crew of ten or more. The new campaign puts me aboard a sixty foot ocean racing machine with a crew of just me and one other! The longest race I have competed in during the last five years is 1750 miles, the next race will cover over 4,500 miles in just over two weeks, about the same time it took us to race the 1750 miles around Britain and Ireland last year.

Most of us only dream of sailing on Open 60’s, opportunities very rarely come along to race an Open 60. Generally participating in a classic ocean race like the Trans Atlantic Jacques Vabre is reserved for the elite single handed sailors many of whom have become household names like Dame Ellen MacArthur. Therefore, when Steve White, owner of Spirit of Weymouth, asked me if I would team up with him for the double handed Trans Atlantic Jacques Vabre race I did not have to consider for too long.

My biggest concern was leaving the business for a few weeks. Allie immediately put me at ease on that one by asking ‘Why not Philippe?’ ‘Why not indeed?’ I thought. ‘I cannot really think of any good reasons to say no! This is too good an opportunity to miss! I must do this and savour every second of it’ I concluded.

Open 60’s are the fastest and most powerful sixty foot yachts on the planet. They regularly sail at speeds in the mid twenties and have often posted twenty four hour distances in excess of 400 miles! When accepting Steve’s invite I had never set foot aboard an Open 60 before and it had certainly never occurred to me that I may one day be racing across the Atlantic on one.

The gravity of my decision only really sunk in the night before I drove down to Weymouth to meet Steve and Spirit of Weymouth. Whilst I have known Steve for over five years I had only sailed with him once and that was on a delivery from London to Southampton on a 72 foot Global Challenge yacht. A far cry from the adventure we are about to embark on.

My emotions and thoughts have been working in overdrive. How will I get on with Steve, am I up to the job, will I enjoy double handed sailing, will I bring the skills to the team that will help push Steve’s campaign forward in a positive way? My tension and apprehension was building every hour in the two days preceding my joining the boat for the first time.

As you will all now gathered, I am going to be the co skipper with Steve White aboard Spirit of Weymouth in the double handed Trans Atlantic Jacques Vabres Race. The race starts on November 3rd in Le Havre and finishes about sixteen day later (all going well) in Salvador, Brazil. Our competing in the race is still subject to finalising the funding but we are quietly confident that we will be on the start line.

Over the next few weeks I will be regularly updating the Sailing Logic racing blog with news, my thoughts, stories and just about everything about our remarkable campaign, This campaign is not just another Open 60 story, it is a story of personal ambition and sacrifices that most people would not contemplate making. Steve, a family man, has put everything on the line to get to where he is now and has the drive and ambition to succeed. The full story will be told over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I am honoured and privileged to be a part of this fantastic project and just hope that I do Steve, his team and family proud.

The next Blog will be about my arrival in Weymouth to step aboard Spirit of Weymouth for the first time.