For five years I have lived near one of London's most beautiful tourist attractions and never gone in. It took my friend coming over from America for me to finally visit.
With Ray Abel
I met Ray in 2017 in Seattle when we were both attendees at the Build developer conference. He was there with his business partner Dalton to make contacts and share their newest invention, saw me speak on stage and reached out to suggest we meet for a coffee. Years after that first meeting Ray is now more like family.
Cutty Sark is a British clipper built in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line. She was one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of design development, which halted as sailing ships gave way to steam propulsion. Her home is now in Greenwich, London, where she has a permanent dock as a museum.
Walking into the lower deck of the boat was visually striking, with flooring constructed from various tea chests, giving context to the boat. This was where we learnt about her use and history. The upper decks were more as you imagine they would have been with small rooms with tiny beds set up as they might have looked when lived in.
She really is an impressive ship, in scale and detail and we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Standing on the huge upper deck you could really imagine being out at sea. I couldn't believe that only 35 people maximum would have manned it in shifts, it's such a large ship!
Recently I was lucky enough to be part of a mixed ability team who crewed a one week journey on Lord Nelson, one of the Jubilee Sailing Trust's tall ships. I absolutely loved it and standing on the deck of the Cutty Sark brought back wonderful memories.
To visit the Cutty Sark get your tickets here.
'As a child I wasn't able to explore much. So, as an adult trying new things keeps the child inside of me alive.' Ray.
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