Four days back in Yorkshire and such a lot to do, the weekend was spent washing and packing my final kit list, deciding what to put in and what to leave out, we have a 20 kilo weight limit per crew member (otherwise too much weight slows the boat down and we do not have enough room to store it anyway). On the Bank Holiday Monday I did an interview with BBC Radio York in the morning which was fun, then I went back to the Mount School with a film crew to talk about my time at school and how this prepared me to take part in the Clipper Race, I thought this was a bit odd! until a few of my school friends jumped out from behind some pillars to suprise me in front of the cameras, I think my reaction was just what the camera men wanted and they couldn't shut us up for 10 minutes, If the footage is used it will be in a documentary series about the Clipper Race, which comes out next year. In the evening my mum, brother Scott, sister Amelia and I went out for a meal to Florios, my favorite restaurant in Malton.
Tuesday was spent saying goodbye to friends who were not coming down to London. My final night in Yorkshire was spent in my dad's new house, so at least I know there is a bedroom there in a years time to come back to.
A 5.30 am start the next day to get to St Katharine Dock by 10.15 am to report for duty, showing members of the pubic around the boat, then an evening meal with friends at The Dickens Inn overlooking the dock, the atmosphere was great.
Thursday was to be the big day we were going to officially find out our boat sponsor and have her named; 'Mission Performance'. Mission Performance Limited are a company who can make ordinary people achieve extraordinary things! The whole Team and skipper Matt were really pleased to have them as our main sponsor, they bring a lot of expertise to the boat on how best to work as a team and much more, so it was straight down to work, they took us all out for a meal so we could get to know each other better, this is going to be a very good partnership.
The following day more work to be done on Mission Performance mixed with showing people around her including Christine Doey a Trustee of Contented Dementia Trust, the charity which I hope will make lots of money from people who enjoy reading my blogs donating to it! Then a quick live call from BBC Radio York to wish me well for the race.
In the afternoon my mum, brother and sister had arrived along with five of my best school friends, just in time to see John Harding the local hairdresser cut my hair sitting on top of the boat with family, friends, members of the public and the film crew again! all watching my waist length hair become shoulder length, it would be very hard to manage on the boat anyway and the cut hair has been donated to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides real hair wigs for children with hair loss, look them up, you never know you might want to do the same one day! Everyone agreed my new style looked great and thank you John for donating your time. That evening I was able to show off the new look at the friends and family Crew party at the Grange Hotel before staying there that night.
On Saturday morning all crews and skippers had a briefing and we found out which watches we were to be on when we set sail (I will tell you more about this once at sea). In the afternoon another best friend Vicky from school and my 91 year old Grandpa arrived along with more family and in the evening a meal at Zizzis' on the dockside for 21 of us, before a last bath and a comfy bed.....
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