Dateline Friday: Las Palmas, Canaries. Miles Kendall writes….

The sun may be beating down on skippers and crews as they make final preparations for the start of the ARC but the Met man says that rain is on its way.

ARC weatherman Chris Tibbs has been analysing the weather data to come up with a forecast for the start on Sunday.

The bad news is that the Trade winds look poorly established and a low coming down from Spain is likely to bring sou’westerly winds and rain.

The talk among the boats is which way to head. The cruising fleet are likely to go south, towards the Cape Verde islands before heading west.

The racing fleet may decide to point north-west where there’ll be plenty of wind to drive their boats.

But for now the hard work on the pontoons continues. Provisioning, repairs, getting the boat shipshape and finding any extra gear required by the safety scrutineers.

Sunday and the start will come soon enough, come rain or shine.