Dee Caffari has just hours to go before she lines up against some of world’s best solo sailors for the first time onboard her new generation Open 60 yacht, Aviva.
The Artemis Transat race leaves from Plymouth on Sunday at 1400hrs and the route across to Boston is expected to take between 12 and 14 days to complete.
The week leading up to a race is always frenetic for the skippers as they try to balance the demands on their time. For Dee, the last few days have been a combination of media activity, race meetings, final boat preparations, chatting with visitors to the race village and the all important weather briefings.
The race village in Sutton Harbour, Plymouth is a hive of activity, with the Dee Caffari Open 60 virtual experience on the Aviva stand attracting a constant stream of visitors. The race village is likely to experience another busy weekend with the beautiful weather encouraging more and more people down to view the awesome racing machines on display.
The historic British race is a comparatively short dash across the Atlantic for the round the world sailors, at only 3,000 miles in distance.
As the tension mounts in Plymouth Dee said:
"As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got to finish the race to build my confidence before the Vendée Globe. I have to be competitive in this boat, allow her to perform and make the right decisions. This relatively short sprint across the Atlantic is the last offshore race before we all line up in Les Sables d’Olonne in November. "
Dee and Aviva line up alongside fellow Royal Southampton member Sam Davies (Roxy) and Steve White (White Ocean Racing) in a fleet of 313chts from six different countries. Dee and Sam are the only two women taking part in the Open 60 class and will be looking to challenge the men in the fleet whilst managing their own race strategy.
