The Scottish liquid sunshine is not putting a damper on the scene for teams who are gathered near the bank of loch Linie on the last day of preparation prior to the announcement of the course . some teams are still struggling with lost equipment and having to search out local sources for replacements, one team from Australia not only lost equipment in transit but also lost their woman team member. In the 11th hour a replacement was found Sara Odell, who has good expedition racing experience having competed in the Raid Gaulloises and also raced with former world champions Team Nokia.
Some teams have spent enormous sums of money on their kayaks rather than use the locally supplied ones, so it will be interesting to see if their investments pay off. The equipment checks and tests have been thorough and for abseiling all teams have to have a secondary safety device some using a prussic loop while others are depending on mechanical devices which weigh a few ounces more.
Many teams are racing together for the first time which can add extra stress during the race if they have not trained together before hand. Once the teams gear checks were completed they handed in their equipment boxes ready for transport to the first location which will be announced later today.