This time exactly one month ago, I’d probably just arrived home after seeing 12 huge yachts sail out of London to much fanfare. The previous few weeks had been a blur as Clipper & Clipperland had taken over my life: my last week of training, sailing our boat to London and then Race Start itself.
Since race start, my fellow crew on Visit Seattle have sailed over 5,000 miles to Rio and I’ve been tending to my family & friends that I’d quite honestly neglected during the excitement of August. I’ve also become what can only be described as a bit of a stalker, although not in the sinister way (if that’s possible).
This Clipper adventure & the people in it have been such a big part of my life over the last 6 months that it all felt rather strange when the boats left St Katherine’s docks, and the feeling still hasn’t really gone. I suppose it’s the feeling that things are a little bit on “pause”: no more sailing excitement for the next 6 months.
To make up for this, I have been following the race every day and become a bit of an addict. My homepage? The Clipper site. And yes, that is a picture of the boat on my desk ♥
If I can, at around 10 minutes past every hour, I check where the boats are (their positions will have been updated by then you see). Worry then ensures if their position hasn’t been updated and when the boat is in stealth mode – OH THE TENSION!
I’ve been trying to keep other people in the loop by sharing new blogs from Huw & the crew via Facebook and Twitter, and that has definitely helped keep the excitement alive. And actually, it has been pretty damned exciting.
Hearing the stories from the crew, be it through the clipper website or through blogs has been brilliant at bringing those of us left on land along for the ride. There are a whole host of Visit Seattle crew & supporters and Facebook has allowed us to share this buzz between us. It’s also been brilliant hearing from other crew members, and meeting up with crew-mate Andrew briefly the other day brought it home to me how sharing the excitement of this experience is one of the biggest things I’m missing with the boat now at sea. Understandably, only other crazy Clipperites want to talk sailing all day long. Friends, family & work colleagues: perhaps not so much.
After a couple of nights of poor sleep due to wondering whether Visit Seattle have made it to Rio yet (they still haven’t as I write), I’m now looking forward to a) seeing other crew on Saturday to celebrate VS reaching Rio b) hearing from those people who have been on the boat. It’s been a whole 2 days without a crew blog you see. Withdrawal symptoms are kicking in…
Mia does Clipper 