Oh my! What a weekend! Two years to wait before my turn!
Sunday September 1st saw London provide an amazing send of for the 2013-14 race. St Katharine's dock was buzzing, crowds lined the Thames, people gazing down from Tower bridge. I have never felt so excited in my life, sorry Rosemary, James and Jessica, but that's how it was, I was just buzzing. There were a couple times I nearly cried, thinking about what those lucky lucky people were about to embark on and what it will be like in two years time, when I'm on one those boats waving good bye.
The fun started Saturday evening at the 15-16 crew party. Time to meet up with old friends Mike, Ali, Sarah, Rosalind, Ian, Patrick, Tracey ....... as well as meeting new crew like James, Pipa, Thomas and more. The beer did flow!
0930 Sunday and St Kats woke up. Boat crews were introduced to the crowds - Pipe bands, Jamaican dancers, all sorts. In groups of four, Clipper 70s slipped their lines and locked out into the Thames to rapturous applause. Three times this happened, each time was magical.
First Sue and Gary arrived during all this, then Jessica followed by Paul & Sam and Tania & Gary. Though I had been boring them for over a year now about Clipper, I think on Sunday, they understood. They felt the buzz, they could see the crowds and more interestingly, they could see what it had done to me that day.
"Happy Christmas!" Oh yes, they won't see each other until next summer!
Sunday was of course just the ceremonial start, you can't race 12 Clipper 70s down the Thames! So where were they going? The answer was Queenborough, just 30 miles from home. On the train home I was tracking them via AIS and once home could see them rounding the Montgomery heading for the entrance to the Medway. Gary and I downloaded our photos whilst having a cup of tea and then off in the car. When we get to Queenborough GREAT Britain was moored to the pontoon, OneDLL picked up a buoy and Qingdao was bimbling around ready to raft against OneDLL.
As the light faded in came Invest Africa, Team Garmin and Henri Lloyd. Time to go home have some dinner, drink some wine and relax. Can't wait for the home coming, but first the race!