Crew Blog

Time to say Goodbye.

10 July 2008

What a wonderful journey that all starts with Fear, Fear of ‘am I strong enough?’ , Fear of failure , Fear of being out of my comfort zone.The Fear starts when you first talk to David Cusworth and the mind games grow from there.Then with a great Skipper and a bunch of guys that become a watch , a crew you face them and get through them , what a wonderful feeling.The greatest Fear is not to complete this journey , now the Fear is what next to do.
A totally awsesome adventure.
Gary Jessop
--------------------------------------
Ten months, fourteen races and 39,000 nautical miles.  Forty three “Stag” chilli suppers, four on board showers and too few clean pairs of pants to mention.  Times I’ve felt like quitting; one thousand: reasons for not quitting; three.  One, my fellow crew aboard Qingdao.  Two, our irrepressible skipper, Marcus.  Three, the love and support of my friends and family who I know, wherever they might be in the world, have unfailingly logged on to the Clipper website to check our progress.  To each of you, thank you.
Christopher Jones.
--------------------------------------
In just 12 hours time the 07 08 race will be over. It has been a brilliant 10 months and getting off Qindao Clipper is daunting. There is so much that I will miss. It will be so hard to leave everything behind.
Thanks to my family for all of the support throught the race.
Anthony Kiff
--------------------------------------
I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve had a face-full of seawater; of the number of times I’ve been woken half-way through a three-hour sleep to help on a sail change; of the number of times I’ve pumped the heads (over 40,000 by my rough calculation); and of the amount of times that someone from the strange dysfunctional family we call the crew has randomly offered to help or undertaken an act of kindness towards me. All this I will remember, and much much more. Disembarking tomorrow will be a hard thing to do.
Christian Lambie
--------------------------------------
I often wondered, as the only woman who has gone around the world on Qingdao, whether the trip was in some way harder for me, living in what is essentially a boys world.  And yet, as I look back on the journey to what I will miss the most, it is definitely those boys who have been with me all the time. They have looked after me, encouraged me, made me laugh (and on occasions made me cry).  So my thanks go out to you all – you made my days.
Nicole Roberts
--------------------------------------
How can one sum up 10 incredible months? I ‘ve just come off watch having been confronted with this question. I have to confess my thoughts right now are on Liverpool our challengers for 4th place, right on our stern but thinking back… boy has it been an adventure. Physically and mentally we have all been tested to the limits and I don’t think I could have managed it without such a legendary Skipper and Crew. One thing is for sure, I hope I now qualify as a man! Thank you all for everything and to those of you back at home thank you for all the support… I can’t wait to see you!
Yours the Boy a.k.a Oscar