Crew Blog

Was it worth it?

16 April 2008

It’s a costly thing to do on many fronts, physically, mentally and financially. This is not for the faint hearted but for high achievers with a determination to complete what they started out to do – something extraordinary, as I am sure readers have gathered from the many graphically detailed blogs posted to date.

I started my adventure on the Clipper 05-06 round the world race on Liverpool 08 clipper and took great pride in being on the boat sponsored by the city I was born in and where my roots are. It truly was a journey of a lifetime for me as a round the world crew member and my husband Tony who got a round the world air ticket and met me at most of the stopovers.  He still maintains to this day that the best vessel to be on to windward is definitely a 747!  Unfortunately I became ill at our stopover in the Philippines which prevented me from doing leg 5 of the race, the toughest leg of them all. When I had recovered I flew ahead of the boats and welcomed them into Victoria in Canada.  The crews on all the boats had been tested to their limits on what turned out to be the longest at 29 days and most gruelling of all the legs. I was so disappointed at not being onboard to share the sense of pride with my fellow crew and pledged there then that I would do it on the 07-08 race. They all said it was not worth it.

I rejoined the boat, which felt more like home than home as I had been on it so long by now, for the last two legs back to Liverpool and the most fantastic welcome from the huge crowds who braved the rain to cheer each and every boat back into the Albert Dock. So I did 6 of the 7 legs but as a total completer finisher was not satisfied with that and pledged that I would be back to finish what I had started. 

I found myself in June 07 at crew allocation for the next race meeting my new skipper and fellow Liverpool 08 crew members and all signed up for the famous leg 5 across the Northern Pacific, albeit different stopovers this time. I was so excited for the round the worlders and wished I could do it all again and really absorb the enormity of it all.

Before I knew it I was In Qingdao welcoming the fleet in after their race up from Singapore.  I made myself useful on the victualling job for part 1 of leg 5 to Hawaii, which was fun! Everyone made me very welcome and it felt so good to be back. The crossing was very tough, especially when you join as a legger as you are not fully fit and only actual sailing can make you so. It was full on from day two onwards and my muscles knew it. But I did it and I got to do loads of helming which was super great fun. The unexpectedly long stopover in Hawaii more than compensated for the brutality of the race there. We are now only a couple of days out of Santa Cruz and my leg and adventure will be complete, the box ticked. I will then be a member of that very excusive club of sailors.

Was it worth it? For me personally, definitely yes. I also understand that I am the first crew member to sail in two consecutive races. Maybe this is a new club I have started…

Andy Perry – All at sea but always clipped on!