There was a record entry for the premier event in Petit Bateau's 2008 calendar for single handed racing, the "bluQube Solo 1000", for which Mylor Yacht Club provided a committee boat line start with safety and spectator boats in attendance at 9.30 am on Sunday.

The rather early time was planned to get the fleet around The Lizard with a fair tide and despite that there were quite a number of casual spectator boats at the start off Pendennis Point. This was not the mass of spectators that have been seen when, say, a "rock star" sailor returns from a circumnavigation but it indicates the rising profile of Petit Bateau.

Strong south westerly winds had made for slow passages down the channel earlier in the week and unfortunately some boats didn't make it. The last to arrive at Mylor was Canadian Rod Knowles in Juliette. After securing the mooring lines he casually walked into the MYC clubhouse just in time to sit down for the welcome supper that had been laid on.

This being the fifth time that Petit Bateau have either raced too or from Mylor, there were plenty of old friends to greet as well as some here for the first time.

Most notable in the first category is Mary Falk who has taken part in all the previous races and is well known for her amazing fund-raising for Cancer Research. At the other end of the scale in terms of age and experience is 21-year-old Katie Miller. However, the 2006 Young Sailor of the Year has huge ambition and it will be interesting to watch her progress in this event which will be her qualifier for next year's OSTAR.

Twenty skippers survived the hospitality to make it to the start line set up by Roger Graffy's Silver Crescent on Sunday morning. As usual the start was extremely competitive with five or six boats very close at the committee boat end.

Fastest boat in the fleet, the J122 Jbellino, sailed by Rob Craig, quickly pulled out a lead with Mary Falk in QII not far behind. The track to the Manacles buoy was a close reach and in fact all 20 boats were reasonably close and making around eight knots as the various motor craft gave chase.

The finish for the first leg of this race is at Kinsale and as all the boats have tracking devices everyone can follow their progress through www.petitbateau.org.uk and then "bluQubesolo1000" and "race viewer".

Headwinds from The Lizard to Land's End meant that progress slowed on Sunday evening, but if the wind stays south of west the lead boats should arrive in Kinsale late on Monday. After a short break in Ireland the second leg takes the fleet to Santander followed by the final race up to Camaret in Brittany.