Öckerö gymnasium

More than a thousand miles from home

«I feel like going home»

That is one familiar sentence. The sentence I've heard multiple times this last week.

Today it's the 28 of septembre, or as we like to count – one day 'til we see the shoreline. When counting days we don't exactly say «oh it's been this long since the trip started» you are way more likely to hear people going on saying how many days there are left, the closer it gets the more relief you can hear on our voices. Don't get me wrong, this trip has been great. It's just that these six days on the ocean from Cherbourg to La corunâ have been hell. For most of us they've felt even longer than the seventeen days across the atlantic.

«I feel like going home»

Last time I heard this exact sentence, with a big sigh afterward, were a few hours ago.

Today the waves ain't as big as they've been before, and the rain ain't as heavy as a few days ago when I stood post and it rained through my sailors' jacket. I still have clothes hung in my cabin for drying. Today I think we can say the weatherforecast looks pretty good.

«I feel like going home»

Uttered so many times in these couple of days, it might seem we're loosing our spirits, but don't worry. We're trying our best to keep them at bay. To keep our spirits up we've been singing songs, chanties, compeating and playing games.

A popular chanty is "Pump her boys" It's not a song usually sung on this kind of ship but it's very catchy. Someone exclaim a verse then everyone else answers «Pump her boys, pump her dry, down to hell and up to the sky. Bend your backs and break your bones, we're more than a thousand miles from home.» And so it continues.

«I feel like going home»

After today, there's six days at port, four days at sea and then eight days at port again before going home. That's when that wellknown sentence will change, it'll no more be «I feel like going home» this time it'll be «I feel like staying»

Olivia Johansson, Midship

Publicerad:

Öckerö seglande gymnasieskola
Björnhuvudsvägen 45
475 31 Öckerö

Telefon: 031-97 62 00
e-post: kommun@ockero.se