Bon Voyage

So it begins, right now I am sat in Reykjavik airport, waiting for my connection to the US. Nervousness is my overwhelming emotion right now. It varies from excited nerves to a fully fledged panic :-/ I had a little moment last night while packing, I think it just hit me hard that this is real, it's happening and REALLY soon! Tom found me fetal on the spare bed looking at my kit list ( which I hadn't packed ) 

In the airport 

Ok so I am rubbish, I stopped writing after that first paragraph, got a bit panicky! To be honest I've been pretty much cut off from everything this last week ( apart from posting on Instagram of course ) so sorry if anyone have been trying to get hold of me. 

But I'm back in the land of the living. Calm and collected. It was the stupidest thing that brought me around. Yesterday I went and bought all my thermals - the "sheniz" of thermals - just getting that sorted has seriously helped ( plus I know I will be warm now ) so now the excitement begins!!

"wool with sex appeal"

I just thought some people reading this won't have the foggiest clue what I am talking about. Basically in 6 days I will be sailing from New York to London.

Racing. 

The Atlantic. 

You know like you do ;)

No but seriously for those of you who know me, you'll probably realise that this is a huge challenge. I'm not sporty in the slightest, in fact I recently went to a friends wedding, and pulled out some pretty special moves on the dance floor; I COULDN'T WALK FOR 3 DAYS! ( how am I going to sail for 35?!? )

Why ?!? 

So I'm talking part in the clipper round the world race, but what's so great is that I'm doing it in aid of the Ellen MacArther Cancer Trust. The trust is a organization that give current and recorvery cancer patients aged 8-24 the chance to experience sailing. Sounds very simple but the results are amazing. 

I don't think I realised how much my confidence had been knocked until I came back from my first trip. I had a huge boost and it changed my outlook on life. I have a close friend who actually got the confidence to stop using her walking stick which at 23 isn't the best fashion item. You can see more about my experience with the trust on my just giving page - www.justgiving.com/luciecarrington

Race start last September - Ellen MacArthur

What am I going to be doing over the next 35 days...

Surviving?!? ..." It's fine " has been my answer to every question about the trip! I will be sailing 3750 miles home. I will be in a watch system, so 6 hours on 6 off in the day then 4 on 4 off at night. I'll be tacking, grinding, navigating, trimming, cleaning, cooking, probably not helming ( I'm not very good apparently as I get too distracted and the boat goes in the wrong direction ) but basically I will be a fully fledge member of the crew. 

Not very good at helming

It just so happens that this is 10 years since I was going through my treatment!

My very clever mum ( cheers dude ) wrote a diary in 2004, about my treatment, and there is an entry exactly 10 years ago today 

1st July 2004

I was in the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, I'd only gone down for a pre op assessment but I was so ill by the time I arrived that they had to admit me and I was given an emergency blood transfusion. Its funny because reading it now, I remember that day clearly. I wasn't bothered about being ill I was just so angry they wouldn't let me go home.

Seems like a different life! 

I'm taking a copy of my mums diary with me! Could be quite interesting comparing my days :-/ 

I am so proud I have the opportunity to represent all the current and past patients for the trust , and I am hoping to raise £10,000 for them to carry on the amazing work! 

Thank you for taking the time to read all this, i'm going to be tweeting my progress across so if you want to follow my progress - @luciecarrington ( pretty simple ) I'm hoping my twitter will link up to my Facebook anyway so most of you won't have a choice :) 

                                                                                              

words of wisdom