Crew Blog

Baywatch Babes & the Guster

28 February 2008

Liverpool 08's Baywatch Babes seeking wind

Well, we’re sitting in the nav station recalling the past week which has gone from one extreme to another. It started with a fantastic send off from Qingdao (other ports have a lot to live up to!) but unfortunately there was little to no wind. We looked and looked but couldn’t find any wind (apart from that being generated by the crew) and were forced to drop anchor with the changing tides. But we did find SNOW!

The changing conditions brought on some good winds and off we went. For me (Gus), being a Clipper virgin for this race, it’s an unusual feeling sitting on the bow of a 68ft racing yacht hanking on a sail in the middle of the night while surfing waves at 16 knots. Oh, the feeling of power between my legs!!!!! After an eventful watch or two, our illustrious watch leader Mikey had a mid-air argument with the forestay (apparently his hair is raspberry blonde and not strawberry blonde as the forestay inferred) but needless to say he lost. After having the entire crew flapping around sorting him out, he’s back to himself and on the way to recovery. Which we can confirm as he’s started to milk his injury for everything he can get (including demands for bread & butter pudding). The cheek!!!!

Girl Power is now in full swing onboard with Lisa and Eleni our newly crowned watch and deputy watch leaders for the Baywatch crew. Thankfully there has been no Spice Girl music to date but rumours of yoga on the foredeck before each watch have been heard in the galley.

Following a joyous night sail last night under a starry sky while rounding the southern tip of Japan, we were greeted at daybreak by a pod of Minke whales surrounding the boat and riding our bow wave. A perfect end to a great night sail.

We’re now thawing ourselves out while sitting off the coast of Japan with no wind and temperatures in the low 20s but getting back to the cold at night time. Hard to believe that we could see our breath while lying in our bunks a few days ago. We have Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper as our neighbours now but we’re not quite close enough to join them for tea. Maybe we’ll make up for it in the pub in Hawaii. God (aka Ben the Skipper) tried to launch a model Clipper yacht over to Glasgow with messages of good will and all that but it capsized within about 0.825 seconds. Luckily he’s been more successful with skippering the real thing.

All the newbies are getting on grand and Gus is trying to teach everyone to speak Irish, which apparently would be a great deal easier if the crew were fans of the TV show Father Ted. Richard & Will are in the galley today creating culinary wonders (out of spam), Hely and Tiina are in their element as they can now gossip about the crew in Finnish in front of us and we’ll not have a clue. Emilio has won the competition for wearing the greatest number of layers – the count now starts at a shattering 10 and he was still able to move on deck with a lifejacket on!

Eleni, Lisa & Gus.

1. Akmed Musleh, Liverpool 28 February 2008

keep up the good work guy’s…
sounds like smiles and laughter the order of the day and we all know a happy boat is a fast boat…

Good luck and fair winds

Akmed x

2. Tony Loftus, Liverpool 28 February 2008

Good Luck on this leg - a vast expanse of water, and a great team to deal with it. Keep up the hard work for a podium place or top spot. I envy you the opportunity of buying obscenely bad taste Hawaiian shirts! Can’t wait for you come through the Panama Canal and join you.

3. Roy Stevens, Lytham- St- Annes 28 February 2008

Great to hear from Liverpool again. I’m glad you’re feeling a little warmer.
What do you mean Baywatch Babes? You’re nothing like them ............... I mean they wouldn’t have the bottle to do what you are doing.....honest.
I had a fitness assessment at the gym yesterday. The instructor told me I was a weakling and would have to do some serious weight training if I wanted to keep up with you. I’m off to have my spinach.

All the best, stay safe,
Roy

4. Hector, London 29 February 2008

Go Liverpool! And great post Eleni, Lisa and Gus! Adapting a song from one of the most famous liverpudlians: Whatever gets you through the snow, ‘salright, ‘salright�
Just keep those Pi�a Coladas in mind and in no time you shall be sipping away with one of those little turquoise cocktail umbrellas in your hand. Next time you should just go straight to Hawaii by plane and send us some altered pictures of random yachts under extreme conditions (with a few photoshop fixes no one will never know!)
A word of warning for Gus: please be careful with teaching Emilio to speak Irish� I�m sure my father will be up for it, but he might get carried away and start singing U2 songs and the ultrasonic sounds might scare the whales!
Take care of Mikey and keep the Girl Power alive and kickin� as I�m sure the yoga classes will do all of you good! (it�s when they start counting the carbs in your food when you know you are in trouble!)
Apparently a passing cargo ship picked up Ben�s model Clipper with the message to the Scottish boat a few days ago and the message read �please save some Haggis, as soon as they are asleep I�ll be on my way��
Spanish lesson number one: ordering a cold beer: quiero (kee-air-oh) una (onn-ah) cerveza (sir-vei-sah) fria (free-ah) por favor (pour-fab-ore). This will come in very handy if you ever decide to sail towards Spain in the near future�
Take care dad and don�t grow your hair too long, you know we don�t like your pony tail!
Preview for lesson number two: saying see you later to someone: Hasta luego! (as-tah loo-egg-oh)

5. lesley, twyford, england 29 February 2008

dear all
glad to see my brother is on the mend and that he is eating well. nothing stops him eating. i hope the weather warms up for you and that the wind will come and move you in to 1st place and stay there till the sunshine of 51 state of the usa. go liverpool go
love lesley

6. Russ Crowley, Phuket 29 February 2008

Going well guys, keep the good work up, carry on plugging away and close those miles on H&H;!

Mikey, hope the hairstyle (and forestay) is okay mate

Russ (in Phuket)

7. Jane Bligh, Ibiza 29 February 2008

Great to hear from you at last Liverpool, and you sound in very good spirits, hopefully not the Pi�a Colada type. Don’t go into boat buliding Ben, if the model clipper is anything to go by! What a bonus to see the Minke whales. We love all of you crew on Liverpool, and we’ll love you even if you come in last, but DON’T! Keep those layers off, lighten the load and fly. xjane

8. Russ Crowley, Phuket 29 February 2008

2nd place now guys - fantastic!

9. Helen Jones, Cardiff 29 February 2008

Doing well Liverpool!

Tiina hope you’re keeping warm and are not dressed like a 16 year old out for the night in Taunton High Street wearing flip flops and a belt!! Only joking! Glad you’ve got someone to talk to in Finnish. Thinking of you piblokto.

Love and big warm hugs

Helen, Chris & Soph
xxx

10. cal little, Merseyside 29 February 2008

Hello all aboard Liverpool08, keep pushing on and upwards!! your doing great, all take care of yourselves. Will hope your ok and taking care of yourself, thinking of you always cal, kirsten and lewis xxx

11. Andres Imaz de las Alas-Pumari�o, Spain 01 March 2008

Hi Liverpool! It seems that you are doing better, enjoying the sail and away from the snow and the gusty winds. Emilio, How is life treating you? From what transpires from the post it shows great team spirit and lots of good vibes. You must look like Mr. Onion with so many layers on you.
When you reach Hawai, be careful with the Irish, they are dangerous drinkers and after a few beers they can kill you singing old Irish pub songs. Here we are all doing well, up to our eyeballs with the elections. My congratulations to the journalists, great job keeping us informed. We miss some images, there are only a couple of new photos of this leg, I would like to see Emilio with in his 10 layers.
Good luck and better winds.

12. Marti Wendler, Ann Arbor, MI 01 March 2008

Hey Liverpool!

Keep up the great work. Hely, sounds like you are fitting in...but don’t gossip, it’s not nice!

A big US cheer to you all.

Marti, Tim and Katie

13. Richie Pope, Liverpool. 01 March 2008

Mikey,I leave you for one mintue and look what happens, glad to hear that you are okay.
Keep up the good work everyone, missing you all like mad, take care.
Richie P.

14. susan benson, liverpool 02 March 2008

hi everyone on liverpool keep going for it and pushing forward your doing fantastic as usual,
TO OUR LISA POVER MY NIECE, I MET WILLIAM ON FRIDAY HES AT COLLEGE AT OUR PLACE HE WAS REALLY SURPRISED TO SEE PHOTOS AND CLIPS OUT THE ECHO ON OUR NOTICE BOARD ABOUT YOU BEING ON THE CLIPPER,HE WAS SHOCKED WHEN HE KNEW WHO I WAS LOL, HE SAID YOUR HAVING A BOSS TIME, IM SO PROUD OF YOU HUN YOU WONT BELIEVE,KEEP UP THE FAB WORK AND GO FOR IT,>>>>FULL SPEED-AHEAD >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
LOTS OF LOVE AND LUCK TO YOU ALL. LOVE TO SEE YOU LISA WHEN YOUR HOME IN JULY LOVE AUNTIE SU &COUSIN;SIAN LEAJO XXXX

15. Sue Haslam, Chester 02 March 2008

Hey guys, great to hear from you. Hope Mikey’s hairstyle is OK ready to impress the beach babes in Hawaii! What is Russ doing in Phuket - did you throw him off the boat???!!! Joan, Jacqui, Janet, Brian Stephen and I can’t wait to welcome you into the US. Keep up the good work Eleni and Tiina - Paul how are the scones doing? Hi to Emilio, Will, David and God. Safe and happy sailing to you all. Be seeing you soon - lots of love Sue x

16. Borja Gonzalbez, Valencia-Spain 02 March 2008

Que tal tio? Mucho animo! ya veo que habeis pasado japon. Te mandamos un saludo de toda la familia, que estamos comiendo en casa de mis pardres. Que tal la experiencia? supongo que alucinante, la verdad es que me das mucha envidia, dentro de unos anyos me acompanyaras en una etapa de la clipper?....ya seras el experto del pacificoDebe ser dificil la convivencia en un espacio tan pequenyo y con tanta gente, no?, pero seguro qeu al ser situaciones tan adversas os haceis pinya. Respcto a mi barquito, este fin de semana he hecho mi primera salida con el Persephone, he ido solito a la sardinera!!....(emulandote a ti con el Quimera), las dos velas se manejan muy facilmente porque los enrollables estan muy bien mantenidos y la maniobra tiene buenos reenvios. Ademas ya tengo molinete nuevo y ancla. He estado en la cala fondeado, tomando un aperitivo (en la mesita que me he puesto). No te imaginas lo bien qeu se estaba, con mi toldito. Este verano iremos juntos los dos barcos. Le he puesto corredera, sonda y equipo de viento. Manyana me voy con Barbara a Ginebra a esquiar a casa de Hugo, estaremos toda la semana. Te escribire desde alli. Bueno tio, te dejo. QUE NOS ACORDAMOS MUCHO DE TIIIIIII, MUCHO ANIMOOOOO. Un abrazo. Borja y familia

17. Ian Tomlinson, Mere Brow, Lancashire 03 March 2008

Keep up the good work Liverpool and make the most of the warmer weather.

Look forward to seeing you all in Jamaica!

Ian Tomo

18. sandra scott, Stevenage 03 March 2008

Moi Hely,
Glad you found a Finnish pal on board. You are quite the hero in the Avnet community. Your mush has been on just about every news letter from here to Australia. You better get a move on girl we cant have you not winning. Do you win a flag or something? I have the Swedish flag in my office! Maybe I will replace it !
Are you really eating spam ? Is it discuised as salmon?
Have fun and come home soon.
SCS Team Avnet

19. pam, Liverpool 03 March 2008

Hello Lisa,

And every one Liverpool 08,,good look on the next leg of the race
keep up the good work,,,, speak soon Your mum XXX
lOVE YOU ALWAYSX

20. william, 03 March 2008

Hello Lisa

And every one Liverpool 08 hope use’s are alright

Lisa carn’t wait to see you, missing you load

LOVE YOU ALWAYS

YOUR LITTLE BRO

WILLIAM XXXX

21. Simon, Wolverhampton Engand 04 March 2008

To Bunny Onions

Hope your enjoying a dream come true our kid? From brother Si

22. Alannah Gauld, Nr Taunton, Somerset 07 March 2008

Bigging it up to the Liv.
Hope all is well on board, my dad has not stopped speaking about it since he has been back, anmd gettin up constantly imn the night trying to get back to a normal sleeping pattern.

anyways hope it is all going well.

FGE liverpool. FGE