Leg 8 - Race 14: Den Helder to London & Race Finish!

Race start out of Den Helder

The last race began at 1400 local time on July 28^th.  I wrote down nothing from the race as we were going strong the entire time with no time for breaks. It was neck and neck the entire race. Depending on which tack you were on, you may show up in first or fourth, that is how close we all were.

Trying to take the win!

Trying to pass Derry, they are so close!

One memorable moment I remember from the race is when Jesse informed us that we would be crossing our own path. Although, it was just random coordinates in the middle of the ocean, it was quite meaningful to all the RTWers on our boat. 51°30'2 N, 0°57'5 E, that point marked the spot where we officially circumnavigated the globe! There were cheers and tears all around and lots of hugs to be had. Then it was back to the task at hand, trying to keep up and overtake Derry!

We really gave our supporters a show as it came down to the wire. We were neck and neck with Derry, only 0.01 nautical miles between us. So much support and commentary on our Friends and Family Facebook group as we neared the finish line. We held strong and crossed the finish line in 2^nd place. Derry crossed at 2014:39 UTC on July 29^th and we came shortly after them at 2015:08 UTC, only 29 seconds behind them! It was a great finish and well deserved by our team. And I’m sure this made for a fun birthday viewing for Mama Hobbits!

Waving to my in-law's family!

It was late in the day, but no one was tired, champagne was flowing and lots of singing and dancing was to be had. We made our way down the Thames River and into St. Katherine’s Docks on the 30^th, bright and early. I even had a lovely surprise waiting for me in the crowd…my brother-in-law’s family came to cheer me in! It was great seeing family so far away from home!

And there they are in the crowd!

Receiving our 2nd place flag!

Sending photos to home via Ali!

It was a crazy day and there wasn’t much time to do anything! There were quick prize givings aboard each boat for the Race 14 victors and then the overall race prize giving was held up on stage as each team came up celebrating their amazing accomplishments over the past year. Although, we finished the overall race in 8^th place (still quite good considering how many times we were close to last), we managed to pick up the overall Stormhoek Social Spirit Award! I think this was a greater achievement than coming in 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd place because our journey was so much more rewarding than just competition; this was an experience we will never forget and we made friends for life and I think our supporters probably did too!

Winning the Social Spirit Award meant that we also got to partake in a Stormhoek sponsored party that afternoon! So it was off for a very quick check in and shower and then back to the docks where the celebrations continued. Of course, no Visit Seattle party would be complete without some Rum and Gingers, so James so kindly made that happen by bringing a case of Mount Gay for us all to enjoy at the party. James and Ana were even behind the “bar” mixing up the drinks for us! I saw the staff looking at each other skeptically wondering if they should really being allowing us to bring our own alcohol and serve it, but I think it was anything goes at that point!

 

That night was also the last official crew party for all crew. It was a great night with lots of dancing. Jesse went out with a bang! And then disappeared off for an early flight home in the morning!

The next day, a majority of the team for all legs met up for breakfast at Tom’s Kitchen, the very place we started this journey before we headed off for Leg 1. Friends and family came and it was a nice good bye meal for many of us departing London that day. At some point, I made my way back to the boat to search every crevice for anything that I had left behind and made a large drop off to the bin with stuff I’d never like to see again! Jan was also onboard trying to download all the media files so he could share them with the team later. One of his friends met up with us and we ended up reminiscing at the bow over some beers. Emily, her brother, Jon, Hollywood, and Matt all ended up joining us at some point and we had a nice little evening chatting the night away.

Good bye breakfast

On the 1^st, I went and watched my home for the past year motor away back to Gosport. This time I was on the other side helping with the lines. Although, sure glad I didn't go on the delivery back...they hit quite the storm! 

I moved into the Airbnb I’d be staying in for the next week until my parents arrived. Did copious amounts of laundry and sorted out my belongings of what was staying and what was going. This is also when I decided it would be a good idea to wash my Nike’s which reeked horribly bad…word to the wise, don’t try this! Apparently, even though I was just washing the shoes and not drying them, the temperature was too hot and ended up melting my shoes! They are now permanently curved and the bits on the bottom have melted off. They will still last me until I get home though!

If anyone was wondering...the nepresso
machine made it around the entire world with us!

And now we arrive at August 2^nd, my 32^nd birthday! Posh took me out to a delicious breakfast in the morning, then I met up with Karri who took me shopping, and treated me to a blow out and nails! I hurried back home to change for the evening as Karri had arranged for all of us to meet at a nearby pub. So many people from the boat turned up, even friends from other boats.  Amancio and Leo who had been on the boat delivery back to Gosport even managed to catch the earliest train back to attend the event and my brother-in-law’s brother and girlfriend showed up too and last but certainly not least, a friend from home managed to stop by after work too! I sure felt the love that night!

I would have never thought that I’d be celebrating a birthday in London, let alone after circumnavigating the globe with so many new friends! It was a great year and ended with one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had!

Until my next adventure… ;)

Den Helder Stopover

Let’s see, what can I tell you about the Den Helder stopover?? Well lucky for my readers, I did not take ANY notes from the stopover so this blog will be way less detailed than my past ones, but what I do remember is that we came into Den Helder on July 22^nd in 1^st PLACE!!!

We crossed the finish line around 2 in the morning local time. We then circled back for PSP who were going to cross the line in 2^nd behind us to cheer them in. There was lots of singing and dancing onboard as we motored in. We eventually made it into the locks around 6 AM. We got welcomed in with the lovely Dutch tradition of eating a raw herring and taking a strong shot of gin schnapps! What a wakeup call!

We had immigration check our passports on the boat before we were able to depart. I took the opportunity to practice my Dutch with the immigration officer. He just looked at me with a blank stare and said, “the American accent is very different than the Dutch.” Hmm…I think he was telling me that I speak great Dutch!

Huw getting a champagne shower

Once off the boat, the welcome committee had a food truck with local Dutch food and each team got their own keg.  The only catch was that we had to finish the keg before we were allowed any food…luckily they didn’t hold us to that at 6 in the morning! We proceeded to cheer the rest of the boats as they came in. Such a different experience being able to cheer ALL the boats in!

We eventually moved the party to one of the nearby restaurants to get some more food in our bellys. The afternoon gets slightly hazy but I eventually made it back to our B&B, where a good portion of our team were staying. I was supposed to be staying with Karri, but when I arrived at the B&B no one was there, so I told the bartender (there was a bar on the bottom floor of the B&B who held the keys) my situation and she let me into the room I thought I was staying in. I found my bag in the room and took a shower. Then got ready to go to bed and was snugly in bed when Karri texted me asking where I was. I responded that I was in our room. She thought that was weird as she was in our room! Turns out, I wasn’t actually in my room, but in Tino, Posh’s, and Pony’s! So grabbed my stuff and moved in to the right room! We grabbed some pizza and juice and then passed out…it was a LONG day!

The next day was deep clean and sail checking for Karri and I. Luckily, we didn’t rip any other kites in the last race so wasn’t too stressful! After we finished most of our work, we had a late lunch, where we ran into Patsy and Matt and joined them for a bite to eat.

These guys work so hard...

Karri having a go, mind you,
I think that hammock was made
from the old Qingdao sail!

Boyz club

After returning the sails, it was back to freshen up and I image we had dinner somewhere. This may have been the night we went to that Italian restaurant with quite a few of us. Afterwards, as we were walking back to the restaurant/bars near the marina, we walked passed a happening show. So we decided to stay and enjoy the music. Jan and his sisters were there as well. Unfortunately, they only served wine and beer so understandably, Amancio ordered G&T’s from across the street and brought them back over glass included to drink there! It was a fun night dancing away to the music…unfortunately when the time came to leave, my bag that I had left next to the speaker, was no longer there. L  On the bright side, Jan was holding my wallet and I was holding my phone.  On the not bright side, Karri’s phone was in my bag and she was leaving the next day to surprise Mark in London for his birthday! Which would prove interesting with no phone to get around with! I should also mention that my selfie stick was in the bag…such a LOSS!

No idea what I did the next morning, probably a bit of sleeping, blogging, looking for my bag and maybe some sail work? We were in store for the most epic of all prize giving’s that afternoon though! Our team met up before the ceremony and tested out our “Visit Seattle” face tattoos. We had an amazing line up that day, VS in 1^st, PSP in 2^nd, and DaNang in 3^rd…it was sure to be a good show! And we delivered! Standing applause all around (I’m ignoring the fact that there were no seats). And to top off the day, we won the Social Spirit Award! We all put in great effort to get our friends and family to vote for our team as we came into Den Helder as we had Jan on board who had millions of little Dutch school kids following him around the race! He was quite the celebrity there!

  

If you thought the day couldn’t get any better, it did! To top the momentous event, it was Amancio’s birthday! He somehow organized a party at one of the restaurants nearby and we all headed over after the prize giving, but only after a good majority of us got our faces painted! I think most of the teams ended up here and it was quite the evening, with lots of drinks going around and lots and lots of dancing in true Visit 

                        Seattle fashion!

The next morning, I navigated myself home quite poorly. I ended up getting a tour of Den Helder in my hour long trek which should have only taken me 10 minutes! Later I went on a hunt for my wallet which I had of course lost the night before. At some point, I ran into Jan’s sister and her family outside the restaurant we were at the night before. I went in to see if they had my card with no luck, but when I came out, I found out Jan had my wallet again!! I stayed and joined them for a drink. Amancio and Matt joined us at some point and we even got special tattoos from Jules. I was due for a quiet movie night that night as the next day we were headed to Amsterdam for the day!

 Lucy, Leo, and I headed off on the train at some point in the morning the next day to Amsterdam. We walked around for a bit, walked up a bell tower, and went to a museum. Then it was drinks time! We had a nice glass or two while enjoying some more poffertjes! We met up with Emily, Mia, and a friend for dinner that night. It was a lovely dinner with lots of wine and venting on my behalf! Then we had a fun train ride back to Den Helder!

The next day was our last day before we headed out for our last race! No idea what I did, but again I imagine I worked on my blog and packed up…oh I think I did laundry all day! Took forever to wait in line for the machines to free up! I think we had lunch in town with a few of us. Then it was time for crew briefing and team briefing, but only after all the RTW’ers got together for a big group photo! That night Amancio and I had dinner together to discuss our possible Spain trip!

The last race started on the 28^th…and it sure was a nail biting race to the finish!

P.s. Sorry for all the random photo placement...no idea how to get them to line up on here now that I'm back to using a computer!

UPDATE: A month after losing my bag when I was travelling around Switzerland with my friend and her husband, I got a random text, “Ik have found your baggage with I Phone and other things and money. Gif me your adres and I send it to you”. Lins and I over analyzed it and thought it was a bit creepy. So I told Jan about it and he said to just text the person back. I of course couldn’t with my limited phone plan so Jan was nice enough to contact the person. Turns out, it was a nice old man who found my bag in his garage along with his son’s band equipment! The band had accidentally picked up my bag (I actually suspected this) and left it with their other stuff in their parent’s garage! The man found Karri’s phone in my bag, charged it and my number came up to contact if found! I love the Dutch! Such kind people! I have now been reunited with my bag and selfie stick! ;)