Forecast for Guernsey looked horrendous with a Gale 8 coming in from the West but thought we'd better see if any of our series rivals were on the start line.  Bit of a scare when we saw Alchemist on the Island Sailing Club pontoon when we motored over to Cowes but they did not appear on the start line.  Only two other Class 5 boats  started with Xara and Xarifa heading off down the Solent but they retired later.  We retired about 50 years over the start line and headed back to Cowes for a curry and a few pints which seemed a much better prospect than what awaited any boat venturing out into the channel.