Week Six - the Season Begins

So this was the week we started the sailing season. On Thursday we had about 50 students from a local international school join the crew and after intense familiarisation we set sail for Denmark. It was fairly rough and there was a lot of seasickness through the night. The next day we arrived in Frederikshavn around lunch time and that afternoon we loaded provisions as well as fuel. We were due to depart that evening but we didn't get too far before we had engine trouble and did an emergency anchor drop before getting a tug to help us back to the quay. 

And so here we are, still in Frederikshavn and we will be here for maybe another 2 weeks, it all depends how the repairs go. Of course this isn't the ideal situation but we navigated the situation safely and we are in a place where there are ship yards and resources to help us out. 

So that's the big news! Despite the change of plans I think the students had a good time. They still got to do a lot of sail training activities as well as explore a different country. Instead of pre-determined galley crew we asked for volunteers every day and that worked out really well. 

Other excitement is that Carsten arrived! If I've talked to you since last summer I'm sure you heard a Carsten story or two. So it's back to "it's better in Danish", lots of bad jokes and systems for everything. 

Before we left Norway I went to get a seafarer's health certificate. It was pretty much a non-event. Checked blood pressure, hearing, eye-sight and checked off a bunch off questions like "do you have asthma?" So now I'm good to go for 2 years. 

I'll finish with a quote of the week, "there's a man outside dressed as a pirate and I don't know what to do with him." I kid you not, I heard someone say this and the stranger thing is those who heard it didn't even blink an eye!