Having spent far too long drooling over the thought of high performance multihull sailing, I at last got round to doing something about it and competed in my first catamaran event, the Round Texel race. This is the biggest catamaran race in the world, attracting some 350 entries this year and comprising a 50 mile clockwise circumnavigation of Texel island, north Holland.

Phil reflects on the Transat AG2R race, his first experience in the famous Figaro class, and discusses why he will be doing his own food shopping before his next transatlantic.

I can’t really believe it’s only a week now until I'll be setting sail on the most competitive transatlantic race in my sailing career to date, the Figaro Transat AG2R, which starts Sunday 20th April at 1400.