Atlantic 4 has completed the crossing wice before and holds the current record for a fours crossing, East to West. George and Dave who are selling her, proved to be better salesmen that we'd expected, and although the boat is at the top end of our budget, we're going to put a deposit down, subject to a survey coming back to give us a structural OK.

Althought is particular boat has previously been used by teams of four, she's a Rowsell and Adkin class boat and therefore suitable to enter in the Woodvale pairs race next year. For the technically minded, she has a composite hull and ply cabins - which makes her very strong and light. She was also built in the designers boatyard, something that gives us a bit more confidence. This kind of boat is rare and sought after, hence hte price tag of £25,000 - although she comes with plenty of kit too.

So, on 26 August, make sure you're well clear of the Hamble waterways as you're likely to see two nutty women heading out to sea for the first time, accompanied by two funny blokes who are bound to be in stitches at our rowing attempts.

We also commented on the interest that we'd been receiving form the media. Since our last diary, things have unbelievably taken off even more! I'm sure we're getting more than our 15 minutes of fame now. We arranged to do an interview and photo shoot on the Thames at Richmond for a news agency. for the shoot we managed to borrow Jan Meek's boat (Carpe Diem) and after a couple of hours scrubbing the decks in the boiling hot weather, gave up on trying to look glam!

Once everyone arrived, we loaded up the boat and headed over to the other side of a handy island, away from prying eyes - we knew we would need to do this sometime, but have now agreed that neither of us is really suited to a glamour modelling career. At least until the end of the race when we'll be two stones lighter! Then followed a 'calendar girls' type of shoot, which the photographer kept assuring us was 'so much fun!'. For her maybe!

Bu seriously, it brings home how committed we are to Breast Cancer Care - trust me, nothing else would make us sit around in our birthday suits in the middle of Richmond. At least it was a hot day!

But it didn't stop there and Rachel had to cope with the stress of a LIVE radio interview for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire on 17 July. It was quite a long piece but luckily Sally Kettle, who has 2 Atlantic crossings under her belt, was also on the show to offer some moral support. We've listened to the tape and it's not too bad (but really embarrassing! - Rachel) but has given some important pointers for getting our message across in the future.

Nest came a big surprise - we were asked to audition for the BBC show, Ready Steady Cook! Now we say big surprise, we had sent in application forms, but you never really expect to hear back fromthis kind of thing. And it was great fun. WE were all shuffled in and played a couple of games - true or false and name the chef. Of course we knew the names of everyone else's chef picture, but not our own! Then it's an interview on camera - your big chance to get your personality across and prove that you are worthy of appearing on the TV.

We won't know for a while whether we've been successful or not - but watch this space, we're hoping that we did do well as they talked to us for ages and asked us loads of questions.

In a couple of weeks we've got on interview and filming session with Granada Reports. Lin will be visiting Chester for this and it will actually be the first time we row in a double racing scull together... could be interesting! We're also speaking to a media company about making a documentary.

In between all this, we're still holding down full time jobs nad Rachel will be moving house in the near future. Well, no one said it would be easy!

Question of the month - Why on earth are you going to start in November?

This is one of the first questions that we often get asked. The perception being that November in the Atlantic would be pretty cold and horrendous, but you have to remember that we're crossing in the mid-Atlantic wihch is very hot. The timing of the race has been carefully planned for the following reasons:

1.To avoid the hurricane season - we will be in the hurricane bels, both where the storms form and along the path of some. November is the end of the season.

2. To make the most of the mid-Atlantic currents - these flow South from the Canaries and West from Africa in the winter months, helping us along.

3. Likewise the Trade winds - which are a little unpredictable, but which should be behind us. Easterly winds as they blow from East to West.