I went on a tour of the Liverpool Clipper yesterday in bright sunshine at the Albert Dock.
The crew are all so enthusiastic about what lies ahead of them, and their enthusiasm is infectious.
Not infectious enough to want to sign up though!
On deck the Clipper is close to gleaming - even the most rigorous Royal Navy tartar would surely approve. It's a beautiful boat and I'm sure when it's in full sail with a fine bow wave and the sun is shining there's no finer place on earth to be.
But after hearing about the rookie crew's early hours adventure outside Rotterdam where a 55 knot, force nine gale ripped the main sail from top to bottom, and after seeing the living conditions below deck - on balance I'll wave them off from the Mersey on Sunday and return to dry land.
They talked about how spacious it is below deck. Not when you've got 19 people on board, even if some are always on deck at work.
There aren't enough berths for everyone so a lot of 'hot bunking' is likely to happen. And it's not anywhere as saucy as it sounds!
The bunks run along each side of the hull and have a little pully system so if the clipper is tacking heavily to one side the crew member can raise or lower the edge of their bunk to get a better night's sleep - and not fall out which is always a bonus.
Then there are the 'heads'. Those of you who don't sail, or have never read the Master and Commander series (my main source of information about storm and studding sails and the like though I have to admit!), are the toilets.
There are two. For 19 people.
Lovely.
Still, that's one more than the number of showers. There is one single hand-held shower attachment for the times when you don't want to smell like last week's socks.
Apparently what eveyone does is wait for it to start raining and then go on deck with their shower gel.
There's also the little matter of stocking up with groceries for the voyage.
There are the personal goodies - crew member Ian is taking as many Mars Bars as he can carry.
But mostly it's tinned and packet foods which are bundled up into individual days with menus, so if it's Wednesday lunch it must be chilli con carne and rice, that type of thing.
There's dried milk for when the fresh stuff runs out, and nets full of apples suspended from the ceilings. Let's hope they also have plenty of citrus juice as we don't want them arriving in Brazil with scurvy.
Mind you, they'll get some lime juice down them after the first caipirinha or two.
All the members of the crew have also been taught to bake fresh bread, while a chef was going on board this week to show them how to whip up can't cook, won't cook style feasts from the bags of tinned peas and packets of noodles.
Despite all this, as I said, there are some pretty exuberant, excited people ready to take the Liverpool08 Clipper on its 35,000-mile voyage.
I hope they get a good send off on Sunday afternoon when all 10 clippers sail out of their berths at the Albert Dock and down the Mersey towards Liverpool Bay.
The next time we'll see them is July 2008.
