A hectic day comes to an end, and what a day it was! An early start to do the last cleaning on the boat. By 8am the skippers arrived to do final check, then blessing of the boat, followed by the individual crew presentation/ introduction. We were the last ones to hit the stage – the massive crowd around St Katherines Dock was roaring – it was an awesome atmosphere (video to follow) Supported by big Swiss flags and cowbells we hit the stage to the tunes of “Good Feelin’ “by Florida (our official team song!). We were of course in brand new shiny flashy uniforms (see picture:) It was our final send off- and big thanks to all my friends who came out to wave me off !!! It was an unforgettable moment and I never would have thought that being the bearer of the Swiss Flat would make me so proud (i even managed my fellow non swiss teammates how to shout “Hopp Schwiiz!”)!
Back at our boat we could finally go on with sailing, or at least motoring. It was huge parade on the Thames (apparently similar to the Queens golden jubilee)- Many, many supporter boats followed us first through the Tower Bridge and then down the river Thames. At every pier, river pub and also hundreds of balconies people were waving shouting and applauding…. In Tilbury we even got gun salutes by the local sailing club… the hands soon started to ache from all the waving!!
We finally moored at a buoy around Queensborough, ready for the real deal tomorrow.
The highlight of the day? way too many… Spending the last few days with m friends, waving a gigantic flag and also see my parents waving on one of the spectator boats. But I shouldn’t forget about the delicious cake a high school from Lincoln, UK has sent us. They have “adopted” us and will closely follow our progress – and so we don’t forget about them they made us a cake 😉
Tomorrow 9.30am is the big start- looks like downwind sailing for the first part, yankee and spinnaker up! Lets hope the wind lasts for a bit.
