Or at least they want to be better than all the rest! Having told you about Qingdao in post 28 and Unicef in post 29, here’s a short summary of all the other boats. Six of the boats have been branded and the other five have yet to find sponsors. Don’t all rush at once.
First a quick recap. Team Ian (Unicef) is John’s boat. The Skipper is Ian Wiggin, 30 years old, British. The AQP (first mate) is Mike Miller, 50 years old, British. There are 63 crew members aged 18 to 70, 42 men and 21 women. Fourteen nations are represented and there are eight RTW’ers including John. She is number CV 31 if you want to follow her on one of the many apps or websites that make you waste TOO much time! (You’ll see the number on the boat here above the Clipper box but somewhat blurred).
Team Chris (Qingdao) is George’s boat. The Skipper is Chris Brooks, 33 years old, British. The AQP is Rhiannon Massey, 23 years old, British. There are 63 crew members aged 23 to 72, 45 men and 18 women. Ten nations are represented and there are nine RTW’ers including George. She is number CV 30. Here she is:
Now onto the new ones. CV 29 is Visit Sanya or Team Seamus. The Skipper is Seamus Kellock, 26 years old from Edinburgh (currently British). The AQP is Jorge Infante Llorca, 30 years old, Spanish. There are 59 crew members aged 27 to 68, 38 men and 21 women. Ten nations are represented with nine RTW’ers. Here she is. You can’t quite see her number, there will be one at the back (stern) as well as the front. Forever tropical paradise, looking forward to that visit!
The final Chinese one is CV 28, Zhuhai, Team Nick. Skipper Nick Leggatt is a 52 year old South African and the AQP is James Finney, 24 years old from Glasgow (Britain). There are 58 crew members aged 18 to 66, 40 men and 18 women. Eleven nations are on board with nine RTW’ers.
I’m skipping a couple of numbers now to go to CV 25, Team Jeronimo which is the Punta del Este boat. This will be the first to arrive at her “home” in Uruguay in mid-October 2019. Of course she won’t be first home as John and George (or is it George and John?) are determined to come in at the front of the fleet. Skipper Jeronimo Santos Gonzalez is 44 years old and Spanish. His AQP is 27 year old Canadian Ryan Barkey. There are 64 crew members aged 24 to 76, 45 men and 19 women. Here is the oldest crew member, Luis Garelli. John will have to go again in 2025 to beat that! Fourteen nations are on this boat with eight RTW’ers. She was “wrapped” very recently and in this photo is not even in the water, although she is now afloat and was racing last week. I thought they were all painted by hand, very disappointed! Go to this link and you’ll see how they do it, rather like papering a wall. https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/news/article/punta-del-este-makes-a-splash
These are, to date, the only ones who have their final appearance. The last one to be branded and I guess being wrapped even as I type (well, maybe not, it’s six o’clock in the evening) is Team Ben, the Seattle boat. Skipper and AQP are both British, 42 year old Ben Keitch and 52 year Judy Hilton. There are 55 crew members aged 19 to 70 with 36 men and 19 women. Thirteen nations on board with eight RTW’ers.
The Seattle supporters were easy to spot last year with their GREEN heads. I thought there must have been an Irish influence but apparently it is because the Seattle skyline looks like the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz. I’ll have to go back and watch the film. No pic of CV 22 yet. You saw the back view of a supporter in the header to post 24 and crew in post 20. Here’s a VERY enthusiastic crew member from last year, will MBB emulate him? (One bright blue beard and one red/gold, interesting thought).
Now to the five teams who have yet to find out whose sign they are sailing under. In numerical order, CV 20 is Team Mike. Once again both Skipper and AQP are British, 55 year old Mike Sturridge and 23 year old Sam Cooper. Sixty crew members, 42 men and 18 women aged 20 to 69 representing fifteen nations with eight RTW’ers.
CV 21 is Team David. This has a South African Skipper, 48 year old David Immelman (known as “Wavy”, I’ve yet to find out why) and a German AQP, 46 year old Fabian Fisahn. Once again there are 60 crew, 17 to 72 years old, 41 men, 19 women with eleven nations and eight RTW’ers. Here we have the youngest crew member, Ellen O’Brien.
CV 23 is Team Mark, Skipper Mark Burkes (54 years old, British) and AQP Dan Jones (21 years old, British). They are in charge of 66 crew members aged 19 to 67 with 46 men and 20 women. There are thirteen nations and seven RTW’ers.
CV 26 is Team Josh, British 31 year old Josh Stickland (“Sticky”, well I can work that one out) and 29 year old Frenchman Hugo Picard (Beam Me Up Sticky?). They have 62 crew, aged 27 to 73, 42 men and 20 women. Fifteen nations and eight RTW’ers.
Finally, CV 27 is Team Guy. As with Team Josh there is a British Skipper (52 year old Guy Waites) and a French AQP (21 year old Hughes Stellio). They have 60 crew, 45 men and 15 women aged 18 to 74 years. There are eleven nations and seven RTW’ers.
There are some good videos on the Clipper website “behind the scenes” which give more information on the preparation, see here https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/news/behind-the-scenes
These are all provisional numbers as there are still some spaces. If you weren’t tempted to sponsor one of the unbranded boats, how about sailing for a month or so? Ah and the countdown is now 72 days, 5 and a half hours…
George and John's boating trip no longer 