This is it. The start of the start. Making our way to the start of the Christmas Caribbean Rally 2014. We're lucky that we can take our time and enjoy a relatively leisurely trip down the coasts of France, Spain and Portugal before heading out to the Canaries.

Getting to this point has involved the help and advice from loads of people. In particular, the people at YouBoat in Gosport, Brian and Bob at Kiwi Marine, Col and Vicki for spannering too many things to mention and Peter for his great advice. Dad has been invaluable over the last few weeks as well.

Right now, getting to the start involves a train ride to the boat. Dad is joining us for the first 10 days, as is another friend Alistair who will meet us as we cross London.

On arriving at the boat, we found that Peter and Sarah had decorated it and left a rather nice bottle of bubbly in the cockpit with strict instructions that it can only be consumed upon arrival in Antigua :)

Col and Vicki also dropped in to say goodbye, which was very kind of them.

So this is it, we're nearly off. The continent beckons tomorrow...