Her long held dream to compete in this event, the real Everest of ocean sailing, finally has begun in reality.

Hundreds of thousands of hours of work, by hundreds of people, thousands of messages in just the past few days alone to will her on.

MacArthur finally took 'Kingfisher' across the start line and off into the unknown. MacArthur visited every skipper on the dockside before they left, one by one.

There was a lot of emotion on the pontoons, as cameramen fought with photographers to get the ultimate picture as final farewells were made, and tears were shed.

As each boat filed out of the port and along the half mile long channel to the open sea, there were thousands of people lining the walls, waving and cheering, 'ELL-EN, ELL-EN'.

Downwind gybes

At 1611GMT, the gun fired, and the 24 solo skippers sweated as they manouevred their racing machines in a difficult lumpy sea - in light and variable winds.

Maybe not the dramatic footage the TV wanted, but certainly stressful enough for the skippers.

The first two miles were negotiated with painstaking downwind gybes in next to no wind, and then on to the only mark of the course before the Canary Islands.

One by one the gennakers and big powerful sails were hoisted as the skippers settled in, and prepared to 'up the pace' after mostly conservative starts.

With 23,000 miles to go its weird to be fighting for a few metres, but that is the way this race is going to run.

Tough night

The night will be tough for the skippers as they get their minds off of the loved ones they have left behind, and get focussed on the race and huge challenge they are setting off for.

Tactically, the first 24 hours promises to be testing. A small depression in south Biscay is causing the variable winds of present.

As the fleet head south towards the Spanish coast they should get a shift, first to the south, then to the NW. Positioning and timing the tacks will be everything - time to get on with it!