Törn: 136.19
Datum: 10.07.2019
Mittagsposition: 58°06‘ N 009°49‘ E
Das Wetter: 23°Air, 16.5°Sea, Clear, Wind NW 4-6 Knots, Smooth Seas
The Race Ends But The Fun Continues
The Race ended today at 1000 and the wind and sea were both very calm after a night that allowed us to have all of the sails set. A tall ship under full sail at sea is the machine equivalent of a grand dame in court dress, so we took the oppurtunity to lower one of our safety boats and do a photo tour of ship. This means we got to climb over the side into the waiting dinghy and take a little ride around the Alex II, taking pictures and video. I can’t wait to share these with my students in the Fall.
A little later we saw splashing in the distance- a pod of pilot whales swam by and came quite close to the ship. There were several calves swimming with their mothers drawing “awwwws“ from the crowd gathered at the side to watch them. Reluctantly, we turned from them to divide the work of cleaning the ship. We spent the middle part of the day scrubbing and polishing the ship from stem to stern to prepare to enter the harbor tomorrow. At 1530 ice cream was served to a grateful and sweaty crew- with the sun out and no wind it was quite warm.
We ended our last day at sea with music on the back deck, lifting our voices with guitar and violin. Our sing-alongs are my favorite entertainment on the ship, and sitting there in the sun with my friends all I could feel was overwhelmingly lucky to have found these people and this ship.
Yeah sailing’s a lot of work, yes, I haven’t slept a full night in a week. But when people ask why I would pay to go work on a ship on my vacation time I think of these moments of community. I think of how alive I feel climbing the rigging with the wind whipping past, of how satisfying it is to hear and understand the maneuvor commands in German and go to exactly the right pin. Some people have saltwater in their blood and sailing in their souls- and for us we’ll always do whatever it takes to get back out to sea again.