Sail to Lisbon, Portugal – hello Atlantic!

October 11, 2012 – October 23, 2012

Seasickness strikes again! We had to put up safety lines across the deck so that people could walk around the deck! It was much rougher than last time and people were really starting to feel the motion of the ocean. It’s nice how even the smallest things can make a rough day so much better though. I was down in the banjer finishing up supper when someone called out about dolphins so we rushed up onto the foc’scle (short for fore castle, the deck that is the furthest forward) to see dolphins swimming and playing by the bow with a beautiful sunset behind them. Two of the dolphins were even doing some synchro and one did a sort of back dive! 

The banjer

 Things calmed down a lot after the first couple of days, and we were able to begin RIG TRAINING!!!! Finally! We learnt how to put on the safety harnesses and how to climb (technically called “laying aloft”) and we got to go up to the lowest platform on the main mast. I was pretty nervous to go up, but I took is slowly and it was incredible! Most of the time you aren’t actually clipped into anything, but the only sketchy part is when you have to lean back to get over the platform, and you have to clip in for that part. Once up there I could look out over the entire he ship, feeling the sun and the wind, and it surprisingly relaxing! It was an experience that all of us students had been waiting for, and it was amazing!!

Rig training!

Since the rig was set up, we finally got to set some sails! I was sitting in class one day when the ship suddenly got quiet; the engine was off and we were sailing! We didn’t get going too fast so had to go under power again a short while later, but I got to go onto the lower topsail (on the masts there are the arms that are perpendicular to the mast, called yards, and the lower topsail is the 2^nd to the bottom) to furl a sail! It was a little bit scary, especially when you have to step onto the yard because you need to step across quite a gap (you are of course clipped in at this point) but it was still a great experience working aloft, the first of many!

The following day we had yet another experience in the rigging! We practiced furling and unfurling sails, and I was once again on the lower topsail. We didn’t have any classes that morning because of rig training, but it was back to life as usual for the afternoon. Nothing much happened until that night; it was just after lights out and I was on the foc’sle before bed when we saw dolphins swimming in phosphorescents (I’m not exactly sure how to spell it). They’re basically tiny organisms in the water that glow when they’re disturbed, so the dolphins swimming through were outlined with sparkling light and you can see them so well in the darkness; I have never seen anything like it! We saw dolphins twice more the next morning during night watch (my watch is on the 6am-8am now) and each time was as incredible as the first.

Later on during watch, the sun rose and the huge rock of Gibraltar was visible, looming close by. We went alongside in Gibraltar to Bunker (get fuel) before continuing on through the Strait of Gibraltar. The strait is really narrow, the narrowest point only just over 7 miles across, so on the right we could see Europe and on the right was Africa! I have never been to or seen Africa before, and I can’t wait to go in a couple of ports!

Once we went passed through the strait we said hello to the Atlantic Ocean! The weather, as expected, was rougher to go with it. I was on helm and the wheel was jerking and the ship was going up and down so it was like one of those rides at amusement parks where you sit in a pirate ship that swings back and forth! It was actually so much fun, but my hands were so cold/stiff from grasping the wheel so tightly since it was moving around so much. The big rolling waves (and rain!) continued on through the next day too. The waves look almost like small hills; if the water were snow we would have been tobogganing! The rain finally stopped the next day and I was on lookout where I could see a beautiful, perfect rainbow stretching in a complete arc across the sky!

Helm and Standby!

Sorlandet at sunrise

Another interesting thing that happened during the sail: I found the astronaut that you’re supposed to find on your safety round! Turned out it was in the pump room, where students aren’t allowed to go without permission. I had heard that the engineer was the last to see the astronaut though, so I asked him about it and a friend and I got to go down to look for it! Once we found it, it was our turn to hide it. But when I went back to the hiding place later it was gone! The search continues.

October 20^th – arrival day – came sooner than expected. Ten days at sea seemed to go by so quickly. Lisbon is a parent port, one of two ports of the year where parents can meet up with us and visit, and the big arrival day wasn’t scheduled until three days later. We had classes for the next two days, as if we were still at sea, until our “Grand Arrival” on the 23^rd!