Edinburgh to Newcastle

This was a short leg and with an offshore wind, the sea was flat - at least that's what we were hoping for. Instead, we had a horrible following sea out of Edinburgh with a strong tide against us. WE HATE FOLLOWING SEAS!!!! We battled for about 45 minutes until we could get around the corner and start heading South. I have a bruised rib so every hard landing, really hurts. We later heard that 4 boats turned back! Going down the coast of Scotland was really beautiful and really felt like a race as boats all bunched up at the headlands. We were right in close to the beach and Miranda was brilliant at navigating us through some very narrow channels between rocks at 52 knots! (Just as well you weren't onboard Patrick!)

We had a very exciting finish against another Scorpion RIB, Black Gold and just managed to beat them by 20 seconds. We have found out that our overall position is 12 out of 48 which is amazing and we are 4th in class. We never expected to do this well and were just hoping to get around. We have 2 very long legs left. Tomorrow we go to Lowestoff and have to cross the Wash which has nasty sand banks, tides and can be quite rough and on Monday we cross the Thames Estuary which is very tidal. The good news is that the wind is dying so less bumps. WE HATE BUMPS!!!

We have seen lots of wildlife on the way round. Miranda saw a whale in the Irish Sea, we saw lots of dolphins coming out of Milford Haven and today we saw a seal.

We could not have done this race without the fantastic support of Team Scorpion Dubois. With us we have Richard who is our driver (car not boat) who not only gets us from A to B, sorts out our accommodation but also was fantastic at arrangine the lorry to get the boat from Plymouth to Milford Haven. He brings us refreshments on arrival, sorts out supplies for onboard, liaises with the Scorpion guys and is generally brilliant. We also have Gino who is trained at sports massages. He works his magic and brings us back to life. I had no idea that we would get so bashed around so Gino is a Godsend. Ben and Jamie are the Scorpion boys who check the boat out and fix anything that needs tweaking. They gave the engines a good service when we were in Inverness and checked all the systems. The boat is amazing. We feel totally safe all the time and feel we could go through any sea - perhaps not at 50 knots!

Miranda is the perfect team mate. We have lots of laughs and we are very similar in many ways. She is an excellent navigator and keeps her cool in tricky moments. She doesn't even complain when I completely mis-judge a wave and smash the boat into the next wave. She has a great competative spirit and is game on for anything. Thank you Miranda.

We are feeling very upbeat about the next couple of days. We are gaining confidence at the starts and understand the form better. Consistancy and reliability are pushing us up the results table and we just have to keep steady.

Unfortunately, the ipod still doesn't work but Terry Wogan gives us lots of inspiration on the way to the start line. We love those oldies!

I can't believe that this great adventure will all be over in 2 days. It is the most amazing thing to have done. There is great comraderie with our fellow competitors and a very special bond with them.

Nearly Midnight and we are up at 6 with a long day ahead so that's it for now.