God morgon! Jessica skrev ihop ett inlägg under tiden på båten och har äntligen skickat det till mig. Hoppas ni är duktiga på engelska.
From:
Subject: Re: Sea Hag part I
Sent: Thu, Aug 27, 2015 9:11:15 AM
Journey to Sea Hag
The last twoish weeks on Sofia have been quite an adventure. Things started out a bit slow as I arrived on the boat sick and doped up on medicine. The first half hour I passed out sitting up and was told to go to sleep. I wake up to a beautiful sunny day in the Cuxhaven harbor, so we take bikes and explore this little German town. We decided to stay an extra day to sail with another Swedish boat the following day. So we had a boat fixing day, which I was an enormous help with, I taped things and filled things and watched the boys absorbing all of their pirate skills. This night i am introduced to the principles that are practiced on the boat; love, compassion, spontaneity, creativity, metabolism, and hygiene. I think I can manage.
The next day we set off for Norderney and it was just the perfect weather, not for sailing, but for life:) Isak gave me my first sail lesson, taught me some knots, and basic skills. He was so patient and really great at explaining stories about princesses and dragons that somehow make knots. We only spent the sleeping hours in Norderney and went straight off in the morning for what we thought was going to be a day trip to a place I can’t even remember now. But a few hours in we get a call from Kuheli (the other Swedish boat) and they ask if we want to do an overnight sail and head to Amsterdam. This is exciting because the current crew of Sofia had never done an all night sail. We unanimously decide we really want to do the all nighter. At first I am so thrilled, this is the adventure! Then it sets in that I have NO idea what I’m doing and the idea of a night watch is super scary. So the guys were really understanding and let me take the early am shift so I wouldn’t be in the dark and risk everyone’s life. So, we’re headed to Amsterdam and just as the sun sets two or three whales come up alongside the boat and just swim with us for about 15 minutes. It was such a surreal experience, they were so close to the boat and kept changing sides and playing with us. Later I expressed that I thought my sunset meditation had conjured the whales, while the boys thought it was their workout happening at the stern. Either way, we were putting out some serious energy and the whales decided to join. Our party of three turned to a party of six, but really we all became one for that moment in time.
The long sail trips are my favorite, you think you’d get bored but you find ways to occupy your time. I spend hours just staring off into the horizon, sometimes contemplating the vastness of the ocean, other times in a meditative state. Each sunset is more beautiful than the last and I think about how I want everyone in the world to experience what I am feeling right now. But really, it is such the experience, first the beauty of the sea and all her power and then the bond you create with the crew. Being in such close quarters with people, spending every moment together. You know their pee schedule, you coordinate naps, you discuss if its an appropriate time to eat, you sit in silence while they painfully learn new instruments, and you truly get to know them in ways you would never if not on a boat at sea.
We arrive in Amsterdamish early afternoon and decide to celebrate. I try to impress our new Swedish friends by offering them some of the nonalcoholic beer I just purchased. They later gave the guys a bottle of wine out of pity for being stuck with me. The next day Marcus and Isak meet me in Amsterdam and hang with my friend Sina. I love this city and we all talk about wanting to do more here, but we have to keep moving. We end up just going a bit south to Den Haag and pass the amazing beach filled with people. Ah, yes, living the dream. We immediately dock and head for the beach for some serious bootcamp. You sit around a lot in sailing, and when you sit around you eat, and man do we eat. Every meal is like a buffet of fresh fruits, veggies, spreads, yogart, cheese, and grains. If its one thing we know how to do, its eat. So bootcamp is necessary, but I talk about doing bootcamp more than I do it. We end up staying in Den Haag for another day due to a pretty intense lightning storm, which is just kinda how it goes, you can’t be attached too much to a schedule because your life revolves around the weather. The plan was to make it to London over the weekend for a party and festival with my friend Bianca, but it just didn’t happen.
We set off the next day for France and the ocean was rough, it was cold, the waves were big, we were rocking everywhere, but it was still fun because nothing was actually wrong. It calmed down a bit which was a relief for our next all nighter. This time I did the night watch and it was really great. It’s very peaceful being on the water alone at night with your thoughts. Marcus and I were fantasizing about the beach of France, bronzed bodies sunbathing and frolicking along the beach. Isak claimed that sea hags didnt exist in France. We arrive in the harbor to find the perfect view of a loud carnival, not exactly our daydream.
Finally, we begin our backwards sprint to England. We leave the harbor around 16:00 for another all nighter to Brighton. Just as I had made our first round of mocktails, the engine starts to overheat. In a rage of productivity, Isak breaks the entry door to the engine and fixes the engine within minutes. He comments on how much Cindy (my mom) will love this story. That’s what I love about Isak, things go wrong and he’s making jokes. So we move on sailing for bit to realize we are headed into some tides that if we continue straight on we will be at a steady pace of zero knots. Another delay, another decision. Do we head back to Dover and backtrack? Or do we continue on and get tumbled by waves going nowhere? We decide to anchor in a little area that blocks the wind and wait the tide out. Day breaks and we are sailing again, we made it up to 7 knots. I should be in London by dinner, not sure what day, but dinner someday.