Öckerö gymnasium

Blown away

The past 24 hours have been eventful. At least in comparison to the rest of this past week out to sea. Most of the time the wind have been right towards us, which has caused the lack of sailing and we have been struggling against the waves along sides Cuba, not being able to change course due to the island.

What I am trying to say is that we finally rounded Cuba (a very long island) and now the wind is finally advantageous. At my night watch from 12-4 we made almost 9 knots at its best which for sure made us all just blown away, only by sailing. Somehow I always seem to be amazed by the power of the wind and sails. Just knowing that a little wind and fabrics can make a heavy ship like the Gunilla move forward makes me astonished. Thinking about that kept me awake through the night watch.

When we woke up to the day watch the wind had decreased a lot. I don’t know for sure, but I strongly suspect that we were using the engine again because despite the weak wind we were still making around five knots although the sails now were slack and nothing like the night before. This calm weather was used to do some maintenance work instead.

Me and Madeleine got the assignment to oil some things in the rigging, which could have been a very warm experience, but all the sails were set and were therefor casting a shadow on the entire ship and made the temperature relatively pleasant. Our friends who were tarring at the forecastle would probably not agree with us, because they were exposed to the sun the whole watch.

Well, soon enough we will have Jamaica in sight and sun, beaches and an entire night’s sleep will be within reach.

Take care,

Lovisa Garberg, Portside

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Öckerö seglande gymnasieskola
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475 31 Öckerö

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