This morning was the first that I've felt anything like a little tinge of nervousness. Not because I was worried about any dangers, real or perceived, but just the enormity of setting off on a trip witnessed by several hundred people, First Minister Rhodri Morgan, Cardiff South MP Alun Michael, Assembly Member Lorraine Barrett, and a fair smattering of TV and newspapers. We all felt it to some extent.

Once the speeches were over, we hopped aboard the boat, and set off for the Barrage, accompanied by a wonderful flotilla of small craft, some rigid inflatable boats like ours, some sailing yachts, many of them sounding their horns.

But they may have wondered how it was that all four of us were able to appear on the aft deck to pose for the cameras, without anyone apparently driving the boat. The secret is one of Spirit of Cardiff's sophisticated gadgets, a remote control unit which allows us to steer the boat from anywhere - handy for when the sun's out, although in truth, most of the time under way the boat is on autopilot, steered by the course computer.

As I write, some six hours into the trip, we're down to six or seven knots, battering our way painfully through head seas pushed at us by 25 knot winds. As the bow slams into the oncoming waves, the sea cascades over the windscreen, sometimes just a splattering of spray, sometimes in bathfulls which completely swamp us.

It's a rude reawakening to the harder side of travelling on the boat after the nine months since crossing the Atlantic last year, but to be honest, we always expected it to be like this. The Bristol Channel always is.

The good news is that we may have a mere 24 hours of this to endure before the weather improves. Naturally we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Clive Tully

Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
Report transmitted by Iridium satellite network