Impi Shield - thar she blows (chunks)...

Heavy seas, freezing cold rain and fog - exactly what you'd expect for a summery jaunt to France and back. The Impi shield, a new race (for money - not sure what we think about that yet), was to the Roches Douvres and back - and coincided with some pretty rotten weather.

Here's a pic just after the start, before I had to hunker down and try to keep warm and relatively dry!

Alice leading - followed by Moojo

Suffice to say, a pretty glum time was had on the long reach into the wind, huge swells of St Martin's point took their toll on one member of our crew, who spent the remainder of the race looking a very pale green.

Downwind was more fun, as we made the most of good winds and big waves to surf our way to 11.2 knots!

Third over the line, 4th overall as a Sadler 25, finishing 3 hours behind us (and 4 behind the leaders) came through on handicap to win the race.

Never again? Depends on the weather...