Life is good in camp Bomby at the moment, writes Kingswear's own international sailing star Henry Bomby.

The boat is finally back in one piece after sorting all my troubles from the Solo Concarneau, and is currently sitting pretty in Bordeaux, after our grand entrance here just a few days' ago.

And what an entrance it was. 30,000 people came to see us in on a rainy Friday evening.

We all motored within metres of the wall and the crowds, which was such an amazing feeling. The support here in France is unbelievable, I can't imagine what the departure is going to be like!

The last few months have been a bit frustrating for me, my attention has been drawn away from on-the-water training, to sorting, fixing and repairing problems on board.

I haven't actually been able to train at all since the first race of the season, the Solo Arrimer over two months ago now.

It's not an ideal situation but it means I will hit the Solitaire start line missing sailing and itching to get out there which can't be a bad thing.

It was a proud moment a week ago when my boat went back in the water. Looking at all the branding on the hull, each sponsor with their own story to tell of how they got involved in the project, it's humbling in many ways.

All my sponsors are local businesses from the Dartmouth and south west area, who are all investing most, if not all, of their marketing budget for this year into my campaign.

To have the continued support of RockFish, Speciality Fasteners and Baltic Wharf, back from my Round Britain days, is a great feeling, we are obviously doing something right and it's great to be working with them all again.

It of course comes with a lot of responsibility to deliver a return, and for this we have a very busy few months post-Solitaire where the boat will be delivered to the south Devon coast for the months of July and August where she can be put to work.

It will be great to be able to share my experiences, and the boat, with all who have helped and supported me this year and I am really looking forward to this.

I seem to lie awake most nights at the moment reliving the Solitaire from last year, the highs and the lows, and just cannot wait to be living the Solitaire experience again.

We are the lucky ones who have made the start line this year, many more would have liked to have been here too, and at times it is easy to forget that.

Just to be on the start line again is an awesome feeling, I am very, very lucky.

I have managed to raise a little more than £30K of the £50K target I hoped to raise at the beginning of this year.

Striking financial deals with seven different businesses along the way, not including the Artemis Offshore Academy, has not been so bad.

I reminded myself yesterday of what I said back in January, that if I can have a good boat, new sails, and be well rested come the Solitaire then I have the essentials that I need to go out and perform.

I have just about managed to scrape together all of those and got in some decent winter training too, as well as a confidence-building last race to hit the Solitaire start line with.

So life is good.

There is a great bunch of young British guys this year. We've all got fires in our bellies to go out and prove ourselves on a big stage.

One day we will be old, we will look back, and these will be the good old days, for that I am sure.

Thanks to all who have made this possible, and here's to a great month of racing ahead.