If you were near St. John’s Harbour on Monday you may have noticed a different boat docked there — the pink and white yacht Liverpool 2018.
Perhaps you were even one of the friendly locals the crew marveled about in their blog.
They’re competing in a race around the world called Clipper Round the World but had to make an emergency stop in St. John’s because crew member Dominic Littlewood fell ill.
“We had a very treacherous stretch of water where most people got very ill and started to feel the effects of the Atlantic. My diabetes, I got into a bit of a problem with it, and I’ve now got what’s called ketones in my blood, which is basically a poison,” he said in a video posted to their website before he went to hospital.
Littlewood is doing fine now, though he had to bow out of the race and was flown back to London after a short stay at hospital in St. John’s.
The rest of the crew, however, enjoyed their detour to this “cute little place steeped in history” where “very oddly, they all speak with a strong Irish accent,” wrote the skipper, Lance Shepherd.
“And oddly they are really big on Guinness … And speaking of the Guinness, well there’s a whole story there, maybe for another time but all I can say is I liked it.”
Shepherd didn’t get into those details but he did say in email correspondence with The Telegram that the crew enjoyed an evening on George Street.
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What stood out most to them, however, was “how nice the locals were.”
“They could not do enough for you,” Shepherd wrote.
“A big thanks to Charlie, a local fisherman and tour operator of the Scademia, and his family for the advice and fresh cod he gave us before we left.”
Shepherd said the bag-full of cod was already filleted and they “devoured” it for dinner that night as they set sail across the Atlantic.
He was also interested in one of the province’s big tourist attractions – icebergs.
“I must admit it was a little unnerving to see (boat tours) to go and watch what is probably every mariner’s nightmare, icebergs.”
The team was docked in St. John’s for just one night and sailed off again at first light Tuesday.
They are currently completing the first of two races that forms the final leg of the circumnavigation from New York to Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland, where they are expected to arrive between July 10-14.
From there, the teams will compete in a short race to finish the circumnavigation in Liverpool on July 28 – the same city they set off from 11 months ago.
“We were a bit gutted to stop racing, however the health of a crew member comes first. Once the initial disappointment wore off the whole crew got very excited about exploring a new place,” said Shepherd, adding that they “LOVED” St. John’s, calling it the “best stopover ever!”
“A lot of our crew would love to go back and explore further.”
Because of their emergency detour to St. John’s, the Liverpool 2018 was in last place at press time.
“We are about 500 miles behind the rest of the fleet but will try our best to catch them.”
Unlike the winning teams, at least the Liverpool 2018 crew can say they visited the oldest city in North America.
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
