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By 05.55 we were riding Ben Ainslie out of Broadstairs heading rapidly towards a busier world. With the coastline disappearing from view we completed the ritual Monday morning exchange of enquiries (Mark had taken his better half to see a musical in London / I’d been making waves in a sea kayak) and got on with the job we’d signed up for. Two dedicated men in search of enlightenment.

It was a little after 6 when we purposefully undid our flasks and by 6.10 we were ready to dunk. As the first team, Jammie Dodger, emerged from the safety of Tupperware we hit our first snag – inadequate cup diameter. Thanet we have a problem! If you’ve ever watched Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 then you’ll know that having a suitable team of geniuses on the job can fix just about anything. Luckily we had two biscuit famished men in need of some sugar to deal with the issue. We opted for the ‘mouse nibble’ technique to ease them in and quickly got on with the business of dunking.

Having decreed that any drawn matches would require impartial umpire duties I asked our train manager how she felt about biscuits? Just in case. Sadly, for us, she was on a rather strict diet that had seen her kiss goodbye to 14 stone and say hello to smaller trousers. I wasn’t about to undo all her hard work so I prayed for two clear winners instead. It worked. Our opening contest saw Jammie Dodger beat Jaffa Cake, a result that will appease the anti JC crowd who question its biscuit status. JD held together magnificently despite a soaking and tasted good, whereas JC became very much like a stale sponge.

The second match of the day involved Party Ring (one of Mark’s pre-tournament favourites) lose quite categorically to Milk Chocolate Digestive. If coffee wasn’t involved it may have proved different for our teams but that’s just the way it is. Let’s move on and say no more about it. Bye-bye Jaffa Cake, farewell Party Ring, maybe next time.

Find out more about the ‘thinking’ behind this tournament.