After a frustrating start to my season so far, having to retire from Leg one of the ICOM Cup Meditérranée and then putting in a less than average performance in the Solo Arrimer, the pressure was on to have a good race in the 340 mile Solo Concarneau, writes Henry Bomby.

The Solo Concarneau was our last race in preparation for the big one, La Solitaire du Figaro, starting June 2. As always the race threw up a lot of challenges and did not come easy. Despite this,  I managed to bag myself a pretty pleasing result.

After a good start, I rounded the first windward mark in the top five boats and made the decision to head direct for our next mark of the course, rather than sailing a bit higher under kite and heading offshore in search of a bit more breeze. It was the wrong call, and I went from being top five to bottom five after getting rolled by pretty much the entire fleet in the space of two hours...

My first onboard issue occurred on the way through the Raz de Sein. Just after passing through the main overfalls, my autopilot ram failed.

Having gone through all of my 'what if' electronic failures just a few weeks before, I opened up the file on my computer desktop I had made, giving me a step by step run down of how to change over the ram to my spare. In the heat of the moment, it was really good to have this document, as it gave clear steps of what to do. After a bit of plugging and unplugging, I had a functioning pilot once more.

I lost about 200 metres during the process, but at least I was back in the game after a fairly major problem.

About an hour after I got going again, I started hearing the sounds of pins dropping on the deck – a scary sound. After a nervous few looks up at the rig to check she was still there, I managed to locate the bolts on the deck. I didn't recognise them though and couldn't think where they were coming from. I then saw that the gooseneck (the piece which connects the boom and the mast) was at an odd angle and realised quickly that they were unscrewing themselves and if I didn't do something quickly, the whole gooseneck would rip itself off the mast. Another close shave.

Fabien Delahaye had the same problem in the Transat AG2R earlier this year. It seems to be a recurring problem with the new masts. I remember seeing the photo of how Fabien lashed his gooseneck after it fully ripped off, so got a sail tie and had a go at lashing it back in position. Luckily we only had eight knots of wind at the time...

I managed to get the bolts most of the way in, but not fully tight. After a bit more lashing and taping of the bolts to stop them falling out again and I was good to go. I spent the rest of the race in denial that that whole episode had even happened, especially when rounding Ile de Yeu in 25+ knots in big seas.

The consequences of the boom going then would have been catastrophic, potentially rig down type catastrophic, which would not only have crippled my season, and Solitaire entry, but also me financially. Post-race I've been told that retiring then would probably have been the most prudent decision, knowing what could have gone wrong. But to be honest I am very glad I didn't, as it all worked out alright.

After a few more electrical annoyances, I then had a smoother race after that. As light broke on the first morning, I made some good tactical choices and managed to just sail fast a lot of the time. I got back in with the leading pack and managed to hold my own, despite a lot of them all having their new Solitaire sails on for this race, which felt noticeable at times.

It was awesome to be trading places with Mich Desj and other top guys too throughout the race. It was the first time I have managed to stay with the front pack for the entirety of the race, which has given me a little breakthrough mentally knowing that if I sail well, I can stick with them for three days now.

This is a big psychological boost with the Solitaire just around the corner.

In the end I came home ninth out of 30 boats, finishing top Brit for the third time in my Figaro career and 30 minutes behind the leader after 50 hours of racing.

Right now the Solitaire du Figaro is just around the corner and my boat is coming out the water this afternoon for a repair to the prop skeg and also for a bit of branding to go on the hull next week too.

Welcome to my new Supporters Club members Kaywana Hall, it's great to have you with us. Right now, the big focus of this week is making the boat as reliable as I can with the budget I have; prioritising, as always, will be key.

The Solitaire de Figaro race is coming around fast, but mentally I am in great shape and can't wait to get out there now.