Ready for the start of the Round Britain and Ireland race on Class 40 SunGard Front Arena

Im sitting at the Chandlers bar by Plymouth Marina, after two days of solid work on the boat and, admittedly, equally hard socialising with the other crews... We are finally ready to go, tomorrow, Sunday 6th at 12, we start the round Britain and Ireland Race on SunGard Front Arena.

The boat is well sorted and we managed all the last minute jobs we had on our list.

This morning we had the race briefing and it was good to see a room packed with so many friends and sailors. There are 56 boats due to start tomorrow in 6 classes; we will race against the other Class 40s on level terms, no handicapping systems, just first to finish will win...

Alex Bennett on Fujifilm is favourite on paper, I think Nick Legatt on Phesheya Racing is also one to watch but, really, it can be anyone'sn race given the variety of weather conditions we will encouter.

We wish we had more miles under our belt on this boat that we have sailed only for a few hundred miles since I bought her in April... Our sails are tired as they are still those that saw the boat around the world but we will do our best to pace through this race and most of all enjoy this fantastic classic race, the atmosphere has been nothing short of fantastic in the pre race and I will be looking forward to being at sea as much as exchanging stories at the stopovers.

Tomorrow we set off for the first and shortest of legs to kinsale in Ireland and given the current forecast we should be there in about 30-35 hours.

You can follow our progress by checking the satellite tracking Which will be updated every hour. Just go to my website www.marconannini.com and follow the top right link to the latest positions.