With just over two months to go until the start of La Solitaire du Figaro (Ok 68 days, but who's counting...), I thought I would do a quick update as to how my plans and preparations to get to that start line on June 2 are going, writes Henry Bomby.

On Thursday I am lifting my boat out of the water to give her a bit of TLC. I have some work to do on the bottom, preparing it for the first race of the season, Solo Arrimer, on April 11.

I also need to carry out a few minor repairs to the rudders and hull, as well as cracking on with a list of smaller jobs that have so far been neglected in favour of going sailing...

My training at Pole Finistere looks set to change as the racing season approaches.

Shorter training days will turn into longer tuning runs, as we start to spend more nights at sea in order to get ourselves back into the rhythm and mindset required for taking on the 1,938nm Solitaire du Figaro.

Last year, after giving everything to get selected and then win the 2012 Artemis Offshore Academy scholarship to compete in the Solitaire, I burnt myself out, and it wasn't until I was sat on the start line with 1,432nm ahead of me that I realised I felt exhausted already.

My plan for this year is very different. I hope to train hard right up until two weeks before the race start and then take two weeks off away from it all.

Come start day this year, I want to be missing sailing my Figaro and be desperate to get back out there on the water, doing what I love.

It is that fight and desire that keeps us going when it's 4am on the third night of racing, you're cold, you haven't slept in over 48 hours, and the racing is still super tight.

All of your effort so far in the race counts for nothing as your competitors are still as close to you as they would be in an inshore race, now it's what you've got left in your tank that is going to make the difference between first and last.

You need an underlying passion in order to compete on the solo offshore circuit, but you need to feed that passion too and make absolutely sure that there is a fire in your belly when the gun goes off for leg one.

However, this master plan may not get the opportunity to come to fruition, as I am still on a desperate hunt for sponsorship.

Thanks to the support of the Artemis Offshore Academy and Speciality Fasteners, Baltic Wharf, Valeport and Rockfish Seafood and Chips, my four local sponsors from the South West, I will be on the start line for the Solitaire du Figaro this year.

However, in order to be competitive I still need to buy a new set of sails and the services of a preparateur to help out during stopovers.

Having a preparateur for the race will enable me to take a break and recover between legs instead of working on the boat, helping me to keep that 'passion tank' topped up and aiding my physical and mental recovery.

It will also help me before the start of the race to ensure reliability of all my systems on board, something that plagued my race last year.

The winner of the 2012 Solitaire du Figaro, Yann Elies, came up to me on the dock yesterday and asked about how my campaign was getting on and reminded me that he only found his sponsor 15 days before the start of last year's race, and therefore if I find one, I can still win... What a pep talk.

Many thanks for all the messages of support from everyone back home and I look forward to catching up with you all when it's all over come mid-July.