Thursday 24th Aug.
We had a fantastic welcome into Liverpool. All 12 yachts dressed overall in their flags and Team Partner livery. Greenings looked very smart. We paraded past Albert Dock and then, over a couple of hours, locked first into Canning Dock, and then into Albert Dock; a process we’d reverse on departure.
We still had quite a lot of preparation to complete, and did so pretty much by Friday lunchtime in time for our naming ceremony. That evening was the crew party and Tamsin, Liz and Mel, a friend of Liz’s came too. They came up to see the fleet and make sure I left ok. Nick, Sue and Ben had come up on Thursday (thanks Nick for a fabulous lunch) to see the fleet and taste life in the goldfish bowl Albert Dock had become to us. Quite an excited atmosphere had developed. Supper out on Saturday with Tamsin,Liz and Mel was a prelude to an early arrival on board on Sunday morning. Saturday had had a hazy start with our safety brief, crew briefing and a visit to the Cavern Club. It wasn’t really until Dave’s final skipper’s talk to us on Saturday afternoon that I finally acknowledged the adventure awaiting is quite significant. My sax buddy and very good friend Richard came to see me off with a wonderful gift of a penny whistle to stop my sax fingers from forgetting too much. We’ll see how much I can keep my fellow seadragons entertained :). I final, special departure moment with Tamsin and the Clipper departure carnival began. I have to say they do it quite well; you may have seen it on the live stream Clipper set up.
5 days in and we’ve had a variety of weather, numerous pods of dolphins playing around us, a visit by whales on a couple of occasions, and we’re waiting to see if our strategy will pay off.