Once again, Alan Priddy and his crew aboard the Ribtec Spirit of Portsmouth have achieved what they set out to do.

Not satisfied with conquering the Atlantic in the summer of 1997, they declared at the Paris Boat Show last December that they would attempt to make the passage from Tower Bridge in london to the pier head at Monte carlo in less than 100 hours. They succeeded -- by a whisker.

Spirit of Portsmouth, built by Ribtec and powered by the supremely reliable Yamaha 165hp turbo-diesel, was the same combination that brought them across the ocean from Portsmouth USA to portsmouth England last year. There were a few additions to the equipment and a new crew member, Martin Koerner, who joined regulars Alan Priddy, Jan Falkowski and Steve Lloyd for the trip. An experienced sub-aqua enthusiast and no stranger to RIBs, this was Martin's first long trip, following training sessions in the Solent.

Leaving Tower Bridge on the stroke of 10am on Saturday 16 May the crew were cheered on their way by hundreds of supporters and friends; a release of 2000 charity balloons added colour to the occasion which took place in perfect sunshine and a light north easterly wind.

These favourable conditions continued for the next 1000 miles -- an unbelievably good start to the journey. A stopover to refuel at Guernsey at 8pm was followed by the long haul across the Bay of Biscay to La Coruna.

At this point they were met by their overland support crew led by Vic Palmer who quickly refuelled the craft, checked over the engine and within an hour declared that Spirit of Portsmouth was ready to go on.

The land crew had the good fortune to be guests in La Coruna of a prominent local citizen who not only stood them a splendid dinner but showed them the highlife (and some lowlife!) of La Coruna and made the land crew welcome in his palatial home. Back at sea Spirit of Portsmouth ran into conditions of heavy fog in the region of Cape Finisterre but his did not deter the crew from making best speed towards Lagos in southern Portugal, their next refuelling stop.

On arrival at Lagos the elapsed time was so impressive that skipper Alan Priddy declared that they might go for the record of 89 hours which had stood since 1972. But the seas had other plans. Rounding Cape Tarifa and entering the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar they found a strong easterly head wind and severely choppy seas.

The 550 mile leg between Lagos and Denia in southern Spain was the longest of the trip. The relentless hammering that the boat received demanded that speed was cut and at times they were down to 15 knots. Slowly hopes of making the record, or even achieving their target time of 100 hours, ebbed away in the severe head seas.

As Alan said later "It wasn't so much the height of the waves as the length between crests. A longer boat would have had no trouble, even a smaller boat would have been less affected, but at seven and a half metres they were just the wrong length and height for us to maintain high speeds.

Arriving in denia late on Tuesday evening the land crew made a swift turnaround and the problems caused by contaminated fuel which had affected performance in the last few hours before their arrival were overcome.

Driving through the night from Denia to Monaco the throttle was wide open all the way and at an average of 26.5 knots they covered the 450 nautical miles in 13 hours 12 minutes and 15 seconds.

Waiting at the Monte Carlo pier head the land crew were relieved and delighted when they saw Spirit of Portsmouth come round the headland to pass the pier head, beating their target time by just 48 minutes.

At the Monaco Yacht Club the Director General, Bernard D'Alessandri, was joined by veteran power boat racer Gianfranco Rossi to welcome the crew with a champagne reception.

Tired but exultant, the crew left Monaco later the same afternoon and cruised to Villa Franche Sur Mer where the marina was most welcoming and accommodation was found for all the team members -- in a small local hotel, on the beach and in a couple of cases, on the boat!

At dinner in the Yacht Club that evening, Alan was already talking about his next project: "It was a great trip, but it's really just another step forward along our programme to take on the world."

"Just as our earlier trip across the Bay of Biscay was preparation for the Atlantic, on this passage from London to Monaco we have proved that we can handle a passage of 100 hours covering over 2000 miles."

"With a new boat from Ribtec equipped with Yamaha engines we believe we are now ready to take on the world."

"I think the year 2002 will see us leaving England to make a circumnavigation in legs of approximately 2000 miles each. Our target time? Don't quote me, but in the region of 60 days"

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