Wismar and Ireland

Okay so once again it has been a while since I have posted and for that i apologize but it is kinda hard to get internet on the boat. Since my last post we have been in Kiel, Wismar, and right now in Warrenpoint Ireland. Wismar was fun but a little to GDR (Eastern German) for me. The buildings though old (1472) were run down due to the Socialist times. That and to get into any of the clubs you needed I.D. which we didnt bring with us so they would not let us in. We arrived in Warrenpoint yesturday morning. It is wonderful and green here. We are the headlining act for a Blues festival with over 60 bands. It is great fun to be able to walk around a small town and hear all types of blues from each pub all day. Our journey from Germany took us up around Denmark and Scotland then down to Ireland. It was realativley painless except i drew the short straw and got Nasty watch from midnight to four, but oh well. The weather was supposed to be really killer but we escaped all of it and had a great cruise over averaging around 10 Knots the whole way. There is no greater feeling in the world then climbing 103 feet up and looking in all directions and seeing nothing but the big blue North sea. The Irish that have been on the boat so far are very funny and a little strange. They also are very fond of their drink which means getting them off the boat at the end of a sail is a challenge. Thursday we haed down to Dublin for the weekend for the Maritime Festival, they are expecting 20,000- 30,000 people to show up so that promises to be a hoot. After Dublin we head to the Isle of Man then back to Germany for Kile week, or as we call it Killer Week. 10 days of two sails a day and starting at dawn and ending at midnight. So i am a little nervous but it is said to be a grand time. Love to all. And yes mom when i climb the masts i do have a harness on.
p.s. Pictures coming soon!

Queen's Day and Journey to Hamburg

Queen's day or my favorite day ever. On a boat in Amsterdam with music pumping and everyone dancing and having a great time iis about how the day went. On the front of out boat we had a huge head of the Queen that made us instant celebrities which is always fun. Every time we came out from under a bridge thousands of flashes from different cameras made it hard to tell Ron the captain wether to speed up of slow down. No major accidents and a nice tip from the people on the boat, all in it was a great day. Tonight we start our passage from Harligen to Hamburg. This should take us about 36 hours. I sadly as the new guy get nasty watch from 12-4 oh well. We have three watch groups so 4 hours on watch 8 hours sleeping and doing other on deck work. It should be a fun and tiring journey. When we get to Hamburg we have a day to rest and get ready for five days of 7 am starts and 1 am finishes with two groups of people per day. Just wanted to checkin before we left. I have to go now customs and immigration are here to check the boat. Love you all and please write.

Sailing Plan

Okay here is the sailing plan for the rest of the season!
7 may-hamburg for the Harbour Festival
11-16 May in Wismar, Germany doing day sails
23-29 May in WarrenPoint, Ireland for day sails
29 May- 1 June Dublin for a Harbour Festival
10 June Douglas, Isle of Man
20- 28 June Kiel Germany for KIEL WEEK!
3-5 July Wilhelmshaven, Germany
10-17 July Bremerhaven-Helgoland, Germany and back
18-26 July Wismar, Germany
1-7 Aug COWES WEEK!
13-16 Aug Belfast
17-21 Crossing from Belfast to Delfzijl Netherlands
22-24 Aug Delfzijl Netherlands.
I hope if you are in the Area of any of those you will let me know I would love to meet up, maybe bring you sailing. Any dates with a lot of time inbetween are becasue it takes a while to get from one place to another.

STCW and Easter

Sorry for not posting more but I have been very busy. Lets start with the biggest thing first shall we? I am now a certified watch leader for commercial vessels. It only took a four day class filled with fire fighting and gumby suits. The first day included a 30 minute lecture then practical use of fire extingusishers and fire bloankets on real fire. CO2 and Powder extinguishers I know them all. We had to cover a burining body with a fire blanket and the class at that point almost became one less. A unfavorable wind blew the fire right in one ladies face. Only in the Netherlands would they give you a pep talk then expect you to put out real fires. That afternoon it was finding victims in smoke filled rooms with our own oxygen and face maskes. Nothing like getting done with lunch and suiting up to enter smoke so thick you could not see your hand if it was on the eye holes of you mask. The class just kept getting better and better. Next day survival suits in a dutch community center pool complete with life raft. 14 people in full dry suits swimming linked in a strait line with life jackets on probably look really funny. But we had the last laugh, I found out a water slide is great fun in a survival suit. The same lady as before with the fire almost drown, she got stuck under the raft. In the Netherlands two near death experiences only mean one thing, Lets go set off some flares. I tried to get a pool going on her flare saftey but found no takers. The class was good and I passed and that is all that matters. Easter came around very fast. To my unpleasent suprise the Albert Hein had no food colouring so my ship mates did not get a Easter egg hunt. I think they were secretly happy, cause with three masts and a 300 ton boat they would still be searching. I got up and went to find a service at a church and did pretty well. Dutch easter services are classically dutch. I could not help but laugh when a young boy messed up one of the readings, it made me a little homesick. Other than that my time here has been uneventful. We work hard everyday from 8-6 painting and sanding and generally getting the boat ready, some time this week I am told we are to load 200 kegs of beer onboard. Time for bed, love you. Safe and Sound.

First Days

The boat is beautiful but is in need of some good loving before she is in any condition to sail. That will be nice rewarding work. It is a long day of hard work but at the end you can see that you have actually done something. We have a full month in Harligen before we head to Hamburg. I am trying to get a solid plan about where we are going but that is proven harder than i thought. I am the third sail crew on board which means I am third in command which is fun. I am working right now on finding a leak in the water tank and rigging up the jibboom net. Those tasks should take me through next week at least. It is dinner time so I will finish this up. Love to everyone. Safe and sound day 3.

1st Day

Red eye flights are never good. I cannot sleep on airplanes so that presents a major problem. After the flight the train ride to Utrecht was nice a little scenic. I saw my first windmill which makes me mark day one as a success. I met Mickail at Utrecht University and had a nice nap while he had his first class. I am now left in the computer lab all along to fend off impatient students from this computer. In other words Mickail is in class. Once he is out I believe it is a early dinner then a night on the town until about 10 or when my eyes will no longer open. So far everything is great a little rainy but heck its the Netherlands. Safe and sound day 1.

Wheels up tomorrow at 8:30

Packing and getting everything ready has never been a strength of mine, and I am remembering that now. Sorry Sarah your room is the staging area. Everything is going fine so far, I am very excited and just like the first time I was going to Disneyland I will not be able to sleep tonight. I have to get back to work. The next post I will be at the ship so look forward to some photos.