So we are back in the BVI’s! Audrey & I were here 8 years ago onboard Spellbound, an Oyster 56′ owned by our great friends Paul & Lynn Armson!

We never would have dreamed we would be back here 8 years later having sailed the world and on the first Oyster 885 having made fantastic new  friends and having a blast!!

I love the way life works like that!! 🙂 One Life…Live it! 🙂 Paul

Paul reflects on the circumnavigation!

Today I have achieved a dream that I have had since I was 11 years old!

I can now say I have sailed the world’s oceans and circumnavigated the planet!

But what does this mean? I am not the same guy that left Antigua a year ago onboard LUSH that’s for sure!

I return to Antigua with more energy, more passion, more ambition and I’m committed to achieve excellence always and hold myself to the highest standards in life!

Out in the oceans you reconnect with our world and what is truly important in life and that’s life itself, its treasuring that gift we have all been given of being on the planet right now and making sure we live fully!

It’s not how long we are here, its what we do with our lives that makes the difference! More than this though, the people in our lives are what makes the journey!

I am so grateful to my team onboard LUSH! Our story is of great times, fun times and tough times where the common bond we share is the same bond that seafarers have shared for centuries and will pull us through any storm and weather that chooses to cross our life’s course!

My gorgeous wife and fellow shipmates Audrey, Alan & Lucy are quite simply an inspiration and I know this journey that we have sailed together will be forever in our hearts! I quite simply treasure them and we stand strong together!

To all the guests and crew who have sailed with us on LUSH, it was inspiring to be able to share this journey with you and give you a taste for life on the ocean wave!

Finally to my friends & mentors Eddie and Marie Jordan who are the most inspirational, passionate and superb people to spend time with! Your story has inspired us more than you will ever know! You embody success and living fully and we are looking forward to many more journeys with you both to come!

This journey has formed bonds of friendship that like the ocean will always be!

One Life … Live it!

Paul Adamson xxx

Audrey reflects on this extraordinary Circumnavigation!

Cruising amoung the islands in Clew Bay (in Mayo,west of Ireland) on our family boat, as a child, ignited a lifelong hunger and passion in me for the sea, sailing and all that it emcompasses. For as far back as I can remember I’ve harboured this dream to sail around the world and here I am in my 33rd year, with my husband, about to realise this incredible ambition. When I applied to study dentistry in the UK, I wrote on my UCAS form that aside from my desire to become a dentist I had a seperate goal… to sail around the world some day.

Now, here I am in Antigua having fulfilled this grand vision, working for an incredible couple, Eddie and Marie Jordan, having sailed the worlds oceans with my husband and our fantastic team. I have never felt more alive, engaged, connected and fulfilled as I have on this trip. It has been so much more than I ever imagined possible. While we’ve endeavored to keep you, our loyal blog readers, up to speed on our World Voyage you’ve actually only had a taste, a small glimpse of our experience on this most rich and rewarding journey.

The overwhelming memory I’ll have of this adventure is of the beautiful people we’ve met along the way. We’ve certainly lived ‘out there’, beyond the routine of an average life, we’ve found the extraordinary in the ordinary, the miraculous in everyday situations. We’ve experienced traditions handed down through generations, witnessed island life on the edge of the world, stumbled upon countless, unforgetable, breathtaking sights. We have had the privilege to be amoung some of the worlds most tremendous creatures on sea and land. We have been at one with the universe, sailing under the starriest of nights, watching the sunrise and set on the worlds wonderous oceans, knowing that this was exactly as it was for the earliest of ocean explorers.

This circumnavigation has been an invigorating, life changing adventure that has left me with a profound sense of awe, wonder and appreciation of this magnificent world, along with her cultures, people and wildlife. I thank Eddie and Marie massively for this opportunity to Circumnavigate Planet Earth, sailing west through the tropics, all the way around on this most exquisite yacht LUSH.

One Life…. Live it, Love it, Cherish it, Sail it… and finally Circumnavigate it!!!

Lots of love,

Audrey xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sign Up for Exclusive Extra Behind the Scenes Gos!
Well, we’ve taken a whole heap of pics and videos that we still have left to share with you all. We have the story of how we became professional sailors. How I gave up dentistry and learned to cook so I could run the galley successfully on a trip like this cooking from celebs to royalty! There’s stories of our challenges, in particular mindset challenges and how we consciously control our own thoughts and guide them, pushing and bettering ourselves constantly. Stories of how to run a superyacht, a five star floating penthouse in all the wierd and wonderful locations of the world. We’ve had alot of messages asking me what sorts of things I cook in the galley when in guest mode and crew mode. Also stories of the medical side of the trip and dentistry on the high seas. We’ve had people contact Paul, wondering what it’s really like to skipper a boat like this and run such a project in superquick time. And people asking how the hell did Joe Mc Govern (my Dad) manage to get on LUSH for so many ocean legs when he was only supposed to sail from Southampton to the Canaeries?…..actually I don’t have the answer for the latter but I have an incling it has something to do with a deal made between Dad and Paul the day Paul asked for my hand in marriage!!

Oyster Yachts

Paul and I have always been huge fans of Oyster. Their yachts are pure class, the craftsmanship in building them is second to none. The detail, style and luxury is what sets Oyster apart from their competitors. It’s one thing to sail around the world but it’s a whole other thing to do it on an oyster and it really can’t possibly get better than to undertake an adventure like this as part of the Oyster World Rally, the most prestigious yacht rally ever to be held!
We have done our fair share of Oyster events in the past. we actually fell in love at the Oyster Regatta in the British Virgin Islands 8 years ago on an Oyster 56′, Spellbound. Paul originally worked in Oyster Commissioning and then ran the 56′ for a few years for our great friends Paul and Lynn Armson. He continued doing bits and pieces for Oyster and I tagged along for a couple of these events. Events that stand out for me include racing at the Palma Oyster Regatta on Oyster 72′ Luskentyre and then racing at the Americas Cup base in Valencia on Oyster 62′ Great Bear. Liz Whitman worked for Oyster at the time and it was her who really set the tone of Oyster for me. The events were like prestigious, luxurious family parties and always had a friendly jovial atmosphere mixed with fine dining, a balance difficult to achieve. In fact I believe it was originally Liz’s idea to run this world rally to mark Oysters 40th birthday. It’s great that David Tydeman and the crew at Oyster went ahead with this rally, it has certainly been all that we’ve come to expect from Oyster and a whole lot more!

Shore Side Support

Well, where would we all be without our Rally support team, Eddie Scougall and Debbie Johnson (aka Ebbie)? They have been absolutely superb and always a welcome sight when we arrive at new destinations. They are normally dockside awaiting our arrival or contactable on a designated Oyster VHF channel. Even before we set off for each new location they provide us with all the necessary paperwork in advance making the customs and emigration process run smoothly and quickly.
For us as a professionally run yacht with four full-time crew one would think we don’t need them, but that’s not the case. LUSH set off on a circumnavigation straight from build and she has sailed around the world in super quick time, as with the rest of the fleet. Having this shore side support has made our jobs a lot easier, whether it’s tips on the best food markets for me, spare parts for our engineer Al or paperwork and visa info for Paul along with addresses on where to get spare parts sent to. This all helps to run a new yacht on such a quick schedule and so successfully. Obviously, they have been busier with some of the lesser-crewed yachts and we are all so grateful to them for quite simply doing an outstanding job and running a world class event.
Jackie Kotze has also played a big part in the Oyster support team. From her office at Oyster headquarters, in Ipswich, Jackie has done an terrific job of looking after the admin, and co-coordinating the rally and various events from base.

The Rally Participants

The camaraderie between the yachts on this trip and the friendships we have made and developed is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Everyone looks out for one another, helps each other out, sharing tips and secrets along the way. The girls get together chatting about all the comings and goings on various yachts, on food markets, shopping etc.. and the lads get together and talk shop! Listen, I love talking ‘boats’ but all day, every day? Seriously lads, is there nothing else to talk about? In fairness though it’s been just one laugh after another, one party after another, one rum after another.
When offshore we all keep in touch via the SSB radio sched run by Ian Davis, from yacht Yantina. He does a mighty job of it and the boats chat twice daily on the offshore passages discussing their position, weather, boat speed and any concerns etc. The range on the radio is pretty impressive, we’ve been in touch with the fleet from over 1000nm apart! It’s hard to think it will soon all come to an end with the final rally bash in Antigua on the 5th of April. There’s already chat of a reunion and no doubt there’ll be plenty in the years ahead. We’ve all shared this most extraordinary epic adventure together and a dream for all of us has come true. To circumnavigate this globe really is some feat and it’s all the sweeter that we can share the achievement together and chat about the wonderful places, people and experiences over the coming years. Who knows where we’ll all be next year, let alone ten years from now but one thing is certain while yachts will come and go these friendships will endure and surly that is the best measure of any journey!

One Life.. Live and Share it!

PS
We’re currently flying along the North Atlantic Ocean and expect to arrive in Antigua tomorrow!! Our final Circumnavigation blogs will follow albeit not immediately.. there’ll be some well earned champagne to drink first and I can’t think of a better excuse to crack a bottle open!!!

(By Audrey Adamson)

On the first of March 2013 we crossed the equator in the Pacific Ocean and entered into the wonderful Southern Hemisphere. Now, less than a year later we have returned to our home waters in the Northern Hemisphere. And as ye might have guessed we celebrated in style as always. Four of us had already crossed the equator making us ‘shellbacks’ as I explained last year. However two of our crew were crossing the equator at sea for the first time and so had to earn their rite of passage as we had all done previously. These two crew, or ‘pollywogs’ were my Dad, Joe, and our hostess, Lucy.

The challenges were as follows.

No.1: Down a shot of Tabasco

No.2: Write Neptune’s name on the deck using tongue and saliva

No.3: Walk blindfolded down the deck, from stern to bow, without touching anything, if they touched the side deck or ropes etc they had to have a spoon of my disgusting ‘galley mix’!!

No.4: Still blindfolded they had to chose three times between two different bowls, one with chocolate and the other with Alan’s horrific mix of mouthwash, orange juice and salty water!

After the four challenges they then had to bow before king Neptune and Queen Amphitrite while they got dowsed in water and then the rest of the ‘galley mix’ thrown all over them! Hilarious!!! In fairness to Dad and Lucy they were great sports and certainly earned their rite of passage.

Check out the pics for more of the gory details!!

One life. Live it

Audrey xxx