We arrived into Seattle on the morning of Sunday, April 17th to an amazing reception on the docks. After a quick welcome briefing with Sarah we were carted off to immigration. Martin and I were the first ones ready to pass through the kiosks and Tino the last..we weren't sure if he was even going to make it, but he finally got the go ahead and we cheered as he made his way to the rest of us waiting for him. We headed back to the boat where our Visit Seattle sponsors had brought us local beers, Washington red apples, donuts, ice cream bars, clam chowder bowls, fancy popcorn, and little gift bags with a pair of sunglasses in each. I think that was my favorite part because throughout the rest of the stopover, we saw everyone including people from other boats donning the Seattle sunglasses.
Tino's family was also there to greet us with their rum juice in hand. After enjoying the local food and drink, it was time to pack up and find our accommodations for the week so we could finally take some showers after a month out at sea. We headed over to the Queen Anne area, where our rental was located, and each picked out a room and enjoyed a much needed shower.
As my phone had been deactivated since February, my main mission was to get it fixed as soon as possible while back on American soil. I took the free time we had in the afternoon to head over to a Verizon store and try and sort that out. Unfortunately, since it was Sunday, I had no such luck as the people they needed to speak with only worked normal business hours.
A few of us, Kate, Posh, Jan, and myself then met up over at Tino's house where he was staying with his family. As a few of us were craving juicy American cheeseburgers, we all headed over to Red Mill Burgers for just that along with some milk shakes and greasy fries...so amazing! Amancio ended up meeting up with us and the we headed over to Post Alley where Tino's friend owned a bar. It wasn't exactly a crazy night out on a Sunday night, but the night ended slightly later than we had hoped after meeting some of Tino's friend's friends who were very interested in the race and chatting us up about it. But we eventually made our way home and into a flat bed.
Monday, we were back on the boats by 0800. We already had taken the main down while we were motoring into Seattle, so it was ready to hull over to the sail repair area, which wasn't exactly close. With the help of the team, we lugged the bad boy over there and got set to work. I snuck off briefly to get some sugaring done, probably went into too much detail with the lady working on me and by the end of it, she asked to take a pic with me because she thought I/(we) were so badass for doing this race. Then it was back to finish the main. Martin was kind enough to buy Five Guys burgers for us for lunch along with milkshakes. I could probably eat a cheeseburger and milkshake everyday and be happy.
After finishing the main, I had a brief stop at the house where I met up with Jan and Posh. We made our way back to the boats to welcome Ichorcoal in after their long and difficult journey. Afterwards, a few of us went for dinner at the Tap House Grill down the street and then I finally made my way home as I was exhausted.
Tuesday, we were again back on the boats, this time at 0900. Karri and I, with the help of Emily, knocked out the rest of the sails we had to work on, Yankee 1 and 2; code 2 and we unpacked our new promo kite and wooled it. I forgot how horrible it is to wool a brand new kite! I was then back to the Verizon store to try and sort out my phone again. However, since I didn't make it until after 5, I again had no luck since they were now trying to contact people on the east coast. Another couple of hours wasted! So I decided to go shopping and get my nails done instead! I ended up having a much needed quiet evening to myself, which was quite surprising with 5 other people living in the place.
Wednesday morning, I was determined to get this darn phone sorted, so I was back to the Verizon store, where I finally gave up or rather they confirmed my number would be lost to the world forever, so I gave in and got a new pay as you go service and a new number...wah, wah.
After my morning was gone dealing with my phone, I headed over to Pike's Place Market to meet my team for lunch at Michu's that Ralph, our sponsor, was treating us to. On my way there, I ran into Karri headed in the opposite direction, where we made a plan to get our tattoos done that night. After lunch, I ran a few errands with Jan, then we met up with Jesse and went for a quick couple of drinks before heading back to the house. We were both pooped, but mustered up the energy to go out, Jan for a haircut and me to go get food at Trader Joe's...oh how I've miss thee, TJ's!
Karri and I made plans to meet around 6:30-7 at a tattoo parlor someone told her about. However, once I made my way there, I found they were booked for the night and did some more yelping to find another venue. I found Damask, which was an all female run tattoo parlor in the Queen Anne's area. I called them up and they said we could come on in. So Karri picked me up in their taxi and we made our way over to the new destination. I'm sure glad we found this place by happen chance, as the parlor looked like a nice spa. Definitely, not what I have ever pictured a tattoo parlor to be, in fact the previous one I was at, fit that description nicely. But, seeing as this would be my first tattoo ever, it was quite fitting that I was at such a non scary looking place.
Our tattoo idea was always to get two small turtles on the insides of our foot, one for each equator crossing. The turtle we envisioned came from the turtle pictured on Karri's bracelet, a bracelet she got for each of us in Cape Town. So Karri came prepared, spending hours coloring the turtle in on her bracelet and then stamping it on a piece of paper. She came with other sketches as well, one that happened to look like a rotisserie chicken, which she made sure to tell the artist, that we didn't want it looking like that. The artist ended up scanning the stamp of the turtle and blowing it up some to use as the stencil for the tattoos. Then we went down into the artist's room and she began work on Karri's foot first. I was nervous with anticipation as I watched Karri quietly get her tattoo done and asked the artist a million questions as she was doing it. Then it was my turn...The artist imprinted the design on my foot and I took about a half hour inspecting it in every which way to see if I liked it, including standing on the table and looking from above. We finally decided to go with the lower two and she went to work. I winched in agony but luckily was able to hold my foot still. Haili, Karri's friend who joined us, was taking pictures of the whole ordeal and got quite a few photos of the lovely faces I was making in the mirror. I eventually got through it, sweating through all my clothes, but now I officially have my first tattoo and I can safely say that it will be my last as well!
Karri calmly watching the whole process
2 new shellbacks!
Me freaking out after the first stamp of the drawing going on...
Taking a look from the top view...
We needed to find drinks fast after that to commemorate the momentous event and really just for me to get to relax afterwards. So we found the first Mexican restaurant we walked passed and sat down for dinner and drinks. It was surprisingly, really good Mexican food, which I was so delighted for as I have also been craving Mexican food, possibly one of the foods I miss the most on the boat. So we happily ate our food and had a few drinks and then back to home to rest up for the big day ahead.
So happy for guac and chips!!!
Our Visit Seattle sponsors had planned a lovely tourist day for us on Thursday. But before that, Clipper put on a memorial service for Sarah Young in the morning. All the crew, race officials, and friends and family that could fit in the venue, turned up for the really nice memorial that was put together. There were a few words from a priest and fellow crew mate's of Sarah's that were quite moving. It was a somber event, but very nicely done. I made a not so quick stop by the race office to pick up prize giving tickets for later that night, where I was caught by Amy to do an interview with Clipper about my experience thus far. Afterwards, Posh and I joined the Ichorcoal crew members and a few others for a drink across the street at the Marriott to celebrate Sarah's life.
Memorial for Sarah
Link to interview with Clipper
By lunch time, our crew were off to Ivar's on the waterfront to meet for our day of tourism. We started with a nice lunch there and then headed off on a big bus to the Museum of Flight. While there, we somehow snuck onto an airplane we were really not supposed to be in and got some pics sitting in the cockpit. I did happen to ask someone beforehand if it was okay if we went in and they said, if the door is open, then yes, you can go in. The part the person didn't realize was that one of us were the ones that opened the door....so once they realized that aircraft wasn't opened to the public yet, we were quickly shoed out. We then made our way over to the Space Needle and got some nice pictures up on top. While in the bus in between stops, I took on the role of DJ, but in order to do this since we couldn't get the bluetooth to work, I had to sit on the steps into the bus so the chord would reach. I quickly moved back to my seat once a playlist was selected as I grew up with needing to be buckled in 24/7 and sitting on the steps just didn't seem safe to me!
Heading out of the restaurant to our first destination!
Walking over to the museum
Our sneaky plane tour
A quick selfie before heading to the next stop
Space needle
View from the top
The last stop we had was Pike's Place Market where they split us up into two groups. They took each group on a walking food tasting tour of the market, which was amazing! After our tour ended, we were free to go our separate ways, so we made a pit stop at some ginger beer place where we each tried a different concoction of drinks. I met up with some of the others over at the Virginia Inn bar and then we headed down to the Aquarium where the prize giving was being held.
The prize giving event was quite nice, with local beers being served and local food. I stuck to about five cups of coffee to try and push through the tiredness of drinking all day...just think a night out after wine tasting, never a good idea. Anyhow, they gave the awards for third, second, and first, but when they came to second place, UNICEF got an astounding applause from the crowd cheering them on for their accomplishment. We love it when the underdog scores a win...maybe one day Visit Seattle will get its turn! After the prize giving, they played two videos that were put together during our race over the Pacific. The first was filmed and edited, by Rich, the cameraman onboard our boat, depicting the crazy shit we went through on the race. I have to say it is an amazing video, one which I keep replaying and replaying now...I may be slightly obsessed, but well done Rich!
Most amazing video! Hopefully link works 🙄 ...
The second video was put together by our lovely crew mates from home rooting us on through the mighty Pacific. Hundreds of supporters from all over the world, sent pictures in of themselves holding an, "I ❤️ Visit Seattle" sign. We got a glimpse of all the love and support as we were motoring into Seattle and started to get service again and in turn created an "I ❤️ Visit Seattle supporters" sign which we held up when we came into port. The video was a nice cap to the night and played on repeat the rest of the evening in the background. After all the announcements were given, we were free to roam the aquarium for a bit.
Link to the Love for Visit Seattle video!
The night didn't of course end there, we were then off to Pike's Street pub to continue the evening. One drink led to another, there may have been some shots snuck in, and then I somehow eventually made my way home.
Friday was the day, my family was finally expected to arrive! I had been waiting all week for them. Unfortunately, they didn't arrive until the afternoon, so I scheduled to get a much needed haircut in the morning so they didn't think I looked like a crazy person when they finally saw me after living on a boat for about 7 months. I then packed up my room at the house and met my family at the place they rented for the weekend. As I pulled up, my brother-in-law, Nick was unpacking the van. So nice to see familiar faces again! I said my hellos and then was quickly inside to greet the rest of the fam. Once they were all settled, we took the kids down for a long walk to the water to get some of their pent up energy out after flying on an airplane all morning.
Jack was "asleep" in the room, so Lily had to borrow Auntie Dana's crocs for a bit
Cousins!
Ben found a big stick
That night happened to be Tino's party celebrating his and his dad's birthday. I tried to convince my sisters to come, but only managed to get my brother and his fiancé out. Although, I can't blame my sisters for being too tired to come out after the exhausting day they had. We had arranged a few silly gifts for Tino, one being a T-shirt that read "Chicken no Bone" in Chinese characters, which is his favorite catch phrase on the boat and another being a battery pack as Tino has a million of them which we all steal. In fact, I had bought him one as well, but I forgot it and then ended up using it myself later in the week when the other battery pack I had borrowed from Tino died...standard.
Not only was my family up that day, I had a few friends visiting as well. So July and Lucy from work met up with me there and one of my best friend's, Tiffani, along with Emily from school decided to come visit as well and met us at the party. It was so great to see all of them and I'm so glad they decided to come visit.
After the party we headed over to a rum bar that Tino had found and met up with a few other Clipper folks who were out. We spent a couple hours there and then attempted to go to a club afterwards for dancing. However, some of the venues there didn't like the non-US ID's and wouldn't let the non-US citizens into the club. As such, I took that as my clue to leave as I was freezing and tired and ready for bed!
Saturday, we had a lazy morning around the house, catching up with the fam and playing with all the kids. The kids were taken on another walk down to the water to release some energy before we headed into town to see the boats. After much effort, we finally managed to wrangle everyone together and loaded into the cars for the not so short journey into town. We of course picked the worst route possible and hit lots of tourist traffic on our way in, but we eventually made it.
I love this...too cute!
At the marina, we met up with my friends and my mom who had finally arrived that day as well. There was a long line of people waiting to see the open boats, but I unapologetically ushered all of my crew in ahead of the crowd. We made our way down to my boat, which was only supposed to be docked for a less than an hour between corporate activities. As we waited off to the side of the dock for the previous corporate group to depart the boat, another group of people hoping to see the open boat made their way to us, assuming we were the open boat because there were so many people with me. We let them know to continue on further for the actual open boat. I wanted to warn Huw of the crowd about to take over his boat but he said sure bring them on board! However, when they turned the corner and he saw the mass of people coming, the look on his face was priceless! One by one, we made it up to the boat and I gave a bit of a tour and we captured some photos. I loved seeing the look on my nieces' and nephew's faces as they toured the boat; they were definitely enjoying themselves!
The entire shire!
We can only be serious for so long!
July and Lucy! (July is the infamous connection between Linda McDavitt and I!)
My Big and Emily
My 3 year old niece, Ellie, checking out the nav station
My nephew, Ben, seeing if my bunk is actually comfortable or not
Audra and niece, Emily, peering through the nav hatch
After our tour, we were invited to go on a motor boat that was following our boat up to the Seattle Yacht Club where our boat was meant to be on show. However, the kids were already at their limit and we had to head home to start getting some of them to bed. We ended up eating dinner at an Italian restaurant around the corner from our house, where one by one, my siblings left with their kids as they got too tired and needing to be put to bed.
I took the most amazing nap on the couch after dinner, but was shortly prodded from my friends visiting to come and hang out. After a long discussion about tattoos with the family, where we looked up the worst tattoos people had, Lucy and July picked me up and we met up with Tiff and Emily in town.
Now, let me remind you that Prince recently passed away while we were in Seattle and this happened to be Saturday night. As such, every bar in Capitol Hill where we happened to be was playing a Prince song and at one point on the street, I think all the bars had synced the music so that it was the same song playing as you walked down the street. Even better, people had crowded the streets and were having a huge dance party to one of my favorite artists! Even the cops on bikes who were monitoring the activities were taking pictures of the scene. I was in heaven! If only I wasn't so darn tired, that would have been the most amazing experience to hang out in. The four of us ended up going to a nearby wine bar for most of the night and then I headed back to where July and Lucy were staying to catch up with them.
Crowded streets of Capitol Hill
I ended up leaving at what I thought was a decent hour, somewhere close to midnight hoping to actually get some sleep, but when I pulled up to the house, I saw all the lights on still...turns out my family were all up drinking in the kitchen...standard. So I joined them around the kitchen counter, where I found all my siblings, my dad, and Mike going on and on about who knows what and joined in. It wasn't until sometime after 3 that we finally turned in...so much for my early night.
Sunday we were up early packing up the house since everyone besides my parents were leaving that day. I said my goodbyes to my family and then met up with my mom and her boyfriend for a late brunch next to the marina. After that, I ended up transporting my shit around to a million different places as there was a mix up with the condo my parents booked, so had to move my stuff to my mom's hotel, to the condo, to the other hotel and back to the condo again...what a nightmare! I then joined my parents for some early drinks at a nearby restaurant before heading back to the house with the other Visit Seattle crew where I'd be crashing for the night now due to the mix up. However, that worked out perfectly as it was Kate's last night in Seattle so we were planning on having her over for dinner and hang out with her one last time before she headed off. Pony made us a feast and we had a nice evening in enjoying Kate's last night.
This was also the night that we found out about Jesse switching over to Garmin for the next race. Jesse is one of our core round the worlders. Jesse is also a very confident and experienced sailor and has been wanting more of a challenge than what our "fun" boat has to offer, so it was a really great opportunity for him to race on another more competitive boat. On the other side, I was very sad to be losing him as he is one of the few competitive people we have on the boat and by losing him, we lose his competitive spirit and his skill at running the boat. I also pride ourselves on Visit Seattle on how well we get along, so losing Jesse is like losing one of our family members even if we had quarrels with him at times. Either way, it was going to be a short loss as he was only stepping in while one of Garmin's watch leaders was out getting an operation done. So hopefully, Jesse will return with more knowledge and sailing skills which he can bring back to our boat when he returns!
The next morning, I met my friend Emily who was still in town at Biscuit Bitch for a mid morning breakfast before she headed back to San Francisco. The rest of the day was jammed pack with Visit Seattle events starting with a Visit Seattle conference we had to make an appearance at, then over to the boat for our promotional shoot with our new beautiful code 2. And to end the day, we had a lovely sponsored dinner at Aqua for our team with all of our sponsors. My mom and her boyfriend also got to attend the dinner, so my mom, also known as Visit Seattle's number one fan, finally got to meet a lot of the crew she had been reading about. We all had a great time and my mom and Patsy hit it off as I expected. We then had a night cap at Pike's Place Brewery, then the Rum bar to end the evening.
Brunch with Em before she departed!
Visit Seattle conference backstage
I'm going to miss this lady!
Still making final adjustments to the new bowsprit moments before we have to test her out for the kite shoot
Kate, giving us one last, "F*** off, I'm famous!" Photo before leaving
Our pretty new promo kite!
The black shirts had a bit of fun with our new bowsprit!
Huw giving a speech at the dinner
Tuesday, I took advantage of my parents being in town and after a nice breakfast, I had them drive me to Costco so I could stock up on some good American snacks for the boat. That afternoon, I had to work the Clipper regatta on our boat. It was such an exciting regatta with absolutely no wind. It was a nail biting finish and all three of us slowly drifted over the finish line with GB way out in front taking the win. There was a small prize giving afterwards and then everyone was off to watch Huw throw the first pitch at the Mariners game. Since this was my parents last night in town, I opted to skip the game and have dinner with my parents. Sounds like Huw made quite a scene and even managed to get the ball over the mound!
Huw meeting the Mariners' mascot
Wednesday morning, I packed up all my stuff and dropped it off at the boat and then had one last meal with my parents before they headed off to the airport. I then headed back to the other house where I was originally at and would be staying for the last night. It was then that we found out the amazing news that Posh had not only signed up for leg 7, but would be joining us for leg 8 as well!
We packed up the house with all the extra boat shit that we took on, including sheets and galley dishes, etc. and transported everything back to the boat. We had a short while before the crew briefing so made a few last minute errands at Pike's Street Market before heading over to the crew briefing. After our team meeting, Tino's watch headed over to the Marriott for a quick drink and "watch meeting". As it was the last night before race start, we didn't want to be out late and all went our separate ways for dinner. I ended up joining Amancio for an amazing Tapas dinner at a nearby venue, where he convinced me to have not one but two drinks even though I have a "strict" no drinking policy the night before a race. I was knackered by the time I made it back, but ended up staying up even later when I found Posh, Jan, and Patsy still up packing when I got home. But finally made it to bed way later than I was hoping for, the same as every previous night in Seattle...
Thursday, April 28th, was finally race start day after a very long and exhausting stopover. I was barely out of bed by 7:45 with a quick shower. We loaded all our crap into three cabs for the six of us and headed to the marina. As we were getting the boat ready for the race start, we were asked to get volunteers from each boat to help dispose of all of the cardboard boxes that had been stacked up by the bins from all the various Costco runs. This ended up taking an hour as we slowly moved all the boxes from one bin to the next as they each filled up. It was quite comical.
We had our customary team photos at noon, in which Jesse happened to be walking by, so we got him to come over and take one last shot with him before he left to join his new team for this race. Before we left the docks, we lined up outside the marina and listened to the Navy band play the National Anthem and then we one by one walked down to our boats and slipped lines. We did our customary parade of sails, practiced a man overboard drill and then we were off to motor towards the start line for race 1 of leg 7!
Sir Robin telling us one more time not to break the bowsprit again!
Catching Jesse one last time before he leaves us!
Departing photos
Did I forget to mention that I had my mom bring me up some of my favorite salsa from my fav Mexican restaurant in LA...which I happily shared with everyone as we prepared to head out 😁
Bye, bye Seattle!
It was fun!
A few shots taken by Clipper from the parade of sails...
