On August 3 some of the finest helmsmen of last year’s Skandia Cowes Week will pilot identical craft into the Solent to do battle in three races for the title of "King of Cowes". Among the national and international helmsmen and race-hardened competitors from all classes of sailing, will be The Times columnist, BBC television presenter and sailing novice Gabby Logan.

“The expression novice was invented for me here,” she said. Yesterday she completed her one and only day of training for the event in choppy waters off Weymouth. Prior to that, she had very little experience that might have proved of use in a Laser SB3 in the full flush of the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes race.

“I once sat on the back of a yacht in New Zealand,” she said. She was 16 and had travelled to Auckland to compete in the Commonwealth Games as a gymnast. She finished eighth. “Some person with a yacht invited us out for a sail,” she said. “That was the first time I went on a boat properly.”

The only other maritime boating experience she can recall was earlier in her childhood, in Canada. Her family had moved there in 1981 after her father, the professional footballer Terry Yorath, signed for the Vancouver Whitecaps. “We used to rent speed boats and my dad used to take me out - we would drive up the coast,” she said. She also did some rowing while a student at Durham University.

Otherwise, yesterday was her first time in a boat, and she felt completely at sea. “I’m doing it for the challenge,” she said. “I thought it would be interesting to learn a new skill at 34-years-old.”

The wind was blowing up to five knots off the coast of Weymouth. “Quite often at six knots they wouldn’t go out,” she said. “They said it was extraordinarily choppy. I had this idyllic idea of going out sailing with the family, but there were so many things to do. They said pull this sheet and pull that sheet – you are thinking: ‘My God! Leave me alone.’”

She will be sailing with Graham Bailey, a helmsman with eleven class wins at Cowes under his all-weather belt. “The helmsman tells everyone what to do,” said Logan, “I don’t have a problem with being bossed about.”

Yesterday apart from pulling innumerable times on various ropes, she found herself tasked with packing away sails. “I was amazed at how wet I got,” she said. “I was like a little drowned rat. My hair was wet, my hands were freezing. They give you a lot of clothes to wear, and gloves, and I was thinking why do we need all this clothing, but next time I will ask for more. Sailing people always look like they are having a lovely time out there, but it’s really hard work.”

The experience temporarily cured her of any desire to take it up as a hobby. “I wouldn’t have said I wanted to do it again after yesterday,” she said. “I’m hoping that the weather will be a bit calmer on the third, and that it will be a breeze, if you will excuse the pun.”

Volkswagen Touareg, the official vehicle partner of Skandia Cowes Week 2007, has created the event to find the best sailor at Cowes Week. For more information go to www.kingofcowes.com