Week Seven - Still in Denmark

This week we celebrated a birthday on board! Of course I made a cake (chocolate) and then for dinner most of us went out to a nearby restaurant. It was to get off the ship for a meal and eat something different than our usual fare (if you were wondering I had salad with smoked salmon).

In these quiet days I've had time to do some extra jobs like ironing table cloths ready for fjord tours and repurposing an old holey table cloth into some smaller pieces of fabric the right size for lining hotel and half pans.  There's a sewing machine on board (two really as there is a sail sewing one as well) and I hauled it out to do the hemming.  It was nice to be sewing again, even if it was for a quick and simple project.  Other extra jobs included cutting non-skid mats for various tables and shelves. You can see this working on a ship gig is really exciting!

I'm still doing a lot of baking.  As well as old favourites I like to try new recipes and this week I tried this new chocolate chip cookie recipe.  It's a keeper for sure, even without the sea salt.  I also tried making donuts and that was successful as well.  I can't remember if I've made donuts before, I know I haven't on board and I don't do a lot of deep frying so it could be I hadn't but it was fun to try and since there were 14 of us to eat the results it wasn't an overwhelming amount of fried goodness to deal with.

I've been lucky this rotation that I can receive mail regularly through the ship's office.  Of course now that we are in Denmark and not just a few blocks away the mail delivery is less frequent but it still gets through! The last delivery came via Andre, a volunteer on board who went back to Kristiansand for a couple days to help them move the office.  

A few weeks ago I bought a pansy and this week I fashioned a plant holder for it so I can hang it in the hatch where hopefully it will get more light.

Looking for a nice place to go for a walk I was directed to the "Palm Tree Beach", just a few kilometres from the ship.  It was a nice walk but there were no palm trees! When I got back and mentioned my disappointment I was told it's too early for the palm trees to be "out" yet.  I guess they get put out in the warm weather (so... 8 weeks a year?) and it's not that time yet.  It was still a nice beachy walk and I hope to get back before we leave.

We had crazy wind one night (the internet said gusts up to 60 km/hour) and the night watch and mate on duty were kept busy tending lines and keeping the ship safe.  There's a mooring line right outside my cabin and it was squeaking away so loudly that I packed up my bedding and found a bunk in the banjer for the rest of the night!

And now I am looking forward to Nadia's arrival and lots of good times together!

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!

Week Five - Almost Ready to Go

Still in Kristiansand but this coming week we set sail! 

A new chief cook got hired and arrived so my days are now easier (for a few days until our 60 voyage crew arrive). 

Other exciting news is I got a Kristiansand library card! Not a huge selection of English books but it's still fun to have some more choices and it's free so it seems like a win-win situation. 

One night I went to quiz night at the pub with several of the crew. We had to get the Danish people to translate the questions and were quite horrible at the local news category but did ok on the others. Surprisingly I knew a fair amount of answers in the social media category!

This week I went provisioning (for 12-60 crew) in an 2 seat Alfa Romeo. Perfect vehicle choice?! Everything just fit - phew! We also had some things arrive from a chandler and we will pick up a big provision order on this first sail. 

As we get going into operation mode we've been going through some safety and drill things. We had the fire hose & pump out and we all had a turn to hold the hose. It's quite heavy with all that water pressure - rather glad that's not my job in an emergency situation.

Galley work slowed down and I got some deep cleaning done. Some of the places I scrubbed haven't been accessible for a few years so it was very satisfying to wash that dirt off!

The ship had sanitation and radio inspections this week. All is good and those items are checked off our pre-season to so list. 

The next update should be more interesting with the news of a sail to include!

Change of Address

Please note as of April 30 I have a new mailing address!

c/o Fullriggeren Sorlandet
P.O. Box 102
4662 Kristiansand
Norway

Week Four - Staying Put in Kristiansand

With Easter holidays over the contractors were back to work on the ship. This week a lot of galley areas got attention so that at one time or other almost every galley space was inaccessible due to work going on! Since I knew ahead of time I'd prepped a lot of meals and stuck them in the freezer so at the end of the day all that needed to be done was sticking something in the ovens which thankfully were never out of commission! I snuck in bread mixing/baking when the galley was emptyish and prepped cold food in whatever area was free at the time. It all worked out, everyone ate at appropriate time, dishes got done etc. 

There were some new cooking experiences like pulling soup from the oven (made possible by the steam setting) and boiling eggs on deck with the hot plate usually reserved for tar!

In galley news the chief cook cancelled at the last minute so it was another week of a solo galley team. Not really a problem since everything was pre prepped! It was also the week where crew started eating at two tables, not one. We are now 12 which is just enough to make sitting all together a bit cozy. 

I went for a few runs and found some nice trails that I'm sure I'll revisit at some point. Although I spend much of my day in motion it's nice to get away from the ship and see some land based nature. 

Photo Essay from Bredalsholmen (Dry Dock)

Week Three - we go sailing! (Kind of)

The excitement this week was going (motor) sailing! We went out twice. The first time to leave the dry dock and head back to the winter dockage by the Kilden centre then after two nights there we came back to Kai 6, the "home dock" of Sørlandet. We had to make the stop at Kilden to pick up items we'd left there but didn't want to stay long as the shore power had been turned off. 

One of the nights at Kilden we had our first BBQ of the season. Hopefully the next one will be warmer! We set up quayside but the ship blocked the sun so it was rather chilly. Now that we are at Kai 6 with no big buildings around we get sun all day and it's lovely. 

The past weekend was Easter holidays which is a very extended long weekend in Norway. Everything closed Friday, Sunday, Monday with shortened hours on Saturday and Thursday. I understand a lot of people go skiing or to their cabins on that weekend. 

This past week the captain and chief mate switched over/rotated and there are a few new crew members joining this upcoming week. Including the chief cook who is new to the ship. 

One of the things I had to get used to as a galley team of one was timing not only dinner prep but also setting the table. Luckily dinner is the quickest meal to set for (surprisingly the fewest amount of food choices on the table) so it's not too bad. Usually I start dinner, put it on hold or let it cook in the oven, set the table and then come back to do final food things. Setting it before I start cooking doesn't seem like such a great idea as sometimes there is work related business going on in the salon. 

Also upcoming this week: work in the galley and aft pantry. Some equipment is being moved around, taken out or changed. It will be interesting to see how that goes. At any rate I've got a week's worth of dinners in the freezer so hopefully we can just heat and go. Or, if that doesn't fly we can go to town to eat. When you're on a ship you need to be ready to go with the flow (pun intended)!