Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Week 14 - End of Daysail Season

This week we wrapped up daysail season. Three in a row evening sails culminating in a triple 50th birthday celebration. 


End of daysails means most of my shrimp peeling is done (we have a few events during tall ships festivals that we will be needing shrimp for). 130 kilos later I figured I'd earned some "shrimpilettes". (#galleygirl has too much off time?)


A few late starts meant that I had the chance to do some mornig runs. I found out the giant hill I've tackled (successfully) is called the Will Hill (well it's called something in Norwegian that means that). A very fitting name. Here is the view from the top. 


One morning run was quite warm and I finished with a super short swim! Must be summer!

I've been teaching one of my shipmates to knit. It's going well, she's done one mitten and working on her second. 

On Sunday we had our annual galley dinner out at a lovely harbourview restaurant. It was lovely to take our time over a delcious dinner that we didn't have to prepare!


I got a new plant from a shipmate and it's surviving quite well so far. Nice addition to the cabin! 


The last couple days have been full of things we need to do before welcoming 70 trainees - organising, putting things away, making lists and checking them twice etc. Ready or not here they come! Next installment coming from Belfast!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Week 13 - The Same and Different

This was another week of day sail arrangements. Of course no two weeks are exactly the same, this is what was different this week:


Nadia and I began the project of returning all the refundable cans and bottles from day sails. We each walked two garbage bags full up to the grocery store and fed them into the self-serve machine which we managed to jam a number of times before finishing. 

On one of the nice weather days we had a BBQ quayside. It was a great night to sit outside and enjoy a meal in the fresh air. 

I went back to the library and got out a couple more books. Not sure if I'll like them both but the beauty of the library is of course that if I don't like them I just return them!


I added a top to the tea cozy I knit a few weeks back and am now considering starting a sweater after noticing a deal running at local craft store where you could get the yarn and pattern for a sweater for 299NOK (about $45). One thing I love about Kristiansand is there are about 4 or 5 stores selling yarn and knitting supplies within easy walking distance of the ship. 


One of our arrangements started with the Jr Sorlandet Shanty Choir singing a few songs. Well I didn't realise quite how Jr they were going to be - they turned out to be preschool/kindergarten age! They did really well and clearly enjoyed the song where they got to "haul" on a rope. 

There were a few days with no arrangements this week and we used that time to do some organising and preparing. 

A few crew changes and additions this week. We're up to 20 now and more to come this next week before we leave for Tall Ships Festivals. 

And of course some things stay the same: beautiful fjords, shrimp to peel, runs to go on, letters to write, etc. 

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Week 12 - Southern Norway Take 2

A lot of the same ports this week: Kristiansand, Arendal, Lillesand. More events on board, more shrimp peeling! 


Friday and Saturday were very busy - on Friday we had an evening sail with buffet dinner for 120 and then Saturday we had a lunchtime sail with finger food for another 120. Luckily we are now practised at the buffet game and while it's a super busy day we kind of have the hang of it and know the flow of things to do. The finger food went pretty well as well. Got to use up some of our toothpick supply! ;) 


Thankfully Sunday we didn't have any events and the crew worked a shorter day than usual. Nadia and I did some deep cleaning which was very satisfying and still had time to run, shower, do laundry and clean our cabin! 

The next 2 weeks we'll be in Kristiansand doing more events and getting ready for tall ships races so things are busy and about to get busier!


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Week 11 - Around Southern Norway

This week we were in 4 different ports: Kristiansand, Arendal, Grimstad and Lillesand. This area of Norway sure is beautiful! We weren't anywhere for long but I had the chance to go and explore a bit. 

In Arendal:


In Grimstad:


Second largest wooden church in Norway:


In Lillesand:

A little free library made from an old charthouse. 


In Grimstad Luca, one of our mess girls from last summer stopped by the ship and when Nadia & I had our break she gave us a guided tour of Grimstad, where she lives. Grimstad, we were told, is known for bicycles, a couple authors, shipbuilding (they like to think) an having a lot of hairdressers per capita. Also having the second largest wooden church in Norway. 

In Lillesand we had a rather interesting docking spot, kinda had to come in sideways to get the yards between bits of the crane. 


In all these ports we have various arrangements with companies who hire the ship for a day or evening sail. There is usually food involved, usually our "famous" fish soup. My contribution to the soup is peeling shrimp. So far I've peeled over 70 kg. The excitement of life on a tall ship!

One arrangement was with a school, maybe grades 4-8. They weren't sail training, just having an afternoon on board as a field trip. Mostly they seemed to enjoy hanging out in hammocks in the banjer, I don't think it would've mattered to them if we'd just stayed in port the whole time! Easy to keep them happy though! 

I've now passed the half way day of this voyage. I have a feeling the last half is going to be a lot busier than the first and before I know it summer will be over and I'll be headed home. Which is lovely but doesn't include views like this: