Start of the Helly Hansen 3 Peaks Yacht Race After months of planning, training and preparation it had finally got to the day. 1pm on Saturday 24 June 2000 and we were setting out for the start line, modelling our very natty new Goretex oilies, courtesy of Gore (thank you very much Gore).

Mike then demonstrated why he is captain of the yacht club by capturing first place at the start - a position which we actually repeated the following day.

14 hours later and Paul and I are on top of Snowdon - just in time to see the sun come up. Amazingly there are actually walkers up there too at 4.30 am on a Sunday morning. Great views although Paul's knee then gave him hell on the 12 mile trip back to Caernarvon.

The Simply Red team was amazed, drifting out from the moorings at Caernarvon in virtually no wind to find not only the very fast Reflex 38, Leopard Clipper, high and dry on the mud but, on turning the next bend, the even faster Team Reflex aground outside the Welsh National Sailing Centre.

Both boats had moored in the channel waiting for the tide and had under estimated the degree to which the falling tide could go out.

Skipper Mike confidently told the cameras as we crept into first place that the secret was to stay out of trouble.

We quickly learned the first golden rule of the race - don't talk too soon! We ran aground in the Swellies and watched as Charter Continuum sailed past us and left us stuck for 40 minutes until the tide lifted us off.

With great relief we dodged precariously around the remaining rocks and hazards of the Swellies and sailed in very light winds through the second Menai Straights bridge and off into the Irish Sea. Overtaking Charter Continuum stuck on a sand bank was some compensation after our most recent adventure.

Keep that spinnaker flying boys... "Big Red" - a huge, lightweight spinny was our saviour in light winds and glassy seas.

We spent a frustrating 12 hours in sight of Sellafield desperately seeking out enough eddies to propel us towards Whitehaven. We could only watch as Team Mojo and Midstream appeared over the horizon and, hugging the shore for breeze, inched past us into Whitehaven.

David and Frank then set out on the most gruelling of the three peaks - starting at 7 on Monday evening they cycle to the Ennerdale Forest, run over Black Sail pass, up Scafell (getting lost on the way and nearly running off a cliff), back down to Wasdale, over the pass again and home by 7 on Tuesday morning!

Amazingly they manage a smile for the cameras somewhere on route.

Meanwhile the crew catch up with Liz and Andrew, our wonderful support team, and Martin from the College, looking surprisingly like a Blackpool day tripper! He really gave the runners a fright turning up in Wasdale in the middle of the night in shorts! Many thanks though Martin for the excellent Indian takeaway which preceded our only good night's sleep in a week.