Dee Caffari prepares to start 27,000m round-the-world solo Vendee Globe Race

The 35 year-old former PE teacher who is making her debut in the 27,000 nms solo race will spend up to 100 days at sea with no one to lift her spirits in troubled times or share her delight in happier moments. So her ipod, she says, is likely to become her best chum and biggest champion.

She has a song for every mood from singalong specials such as Frank Sinatra's Fly Me to The Moon and S Club 7's Reach to inspirational numbers like Daft Punk's Harder, Better Faster Stronger and Queen's Don't Stop Me Now.

When she is deep in the Southern Ocean, passing ships might hear the strains of Elvis Presley's Way Down or Are you Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz and when she is drifting through the Doldrums pulling her hair out in frustration, she may draw on Elvis Costello's God Give Me Strength.

"Rather than write a blog each day, I think I will send through a song title so people can know exactly what I'm feeling," she said.