Today is the second to last day of the Atlantic

and I am “arbetsstyrka”! Hurray! Or maybe not? You see the thing with our Atlantic crossing is that on certain days, you just despise work and all you could ever wish for is being “post” and on some days you just wanna throw out your anger on pulling on ropes as “arbetsstyrka”. On those days when you feel like not being “post”, you just feel like it is a never ending chore for 4-hours straight. Standing on the “backen” as lookout, staring out into the black sea, only dimly lit up by the moon, struggling to stay awake and keeping your eyes peeled on the horizon.

After thirty, painfully long minutes the sound of the bells finally reaches your ears and you rejoice quietly for yourself. After you have been lookout you are then switched out by the lookout-“postens” next victim as you happily walk back to quarterdeck.

Sometimes, when you feel decently energized and happy, being lookout is not so bad after all! You have thirty-minutes of peace and quiet all for yourself. You can lookout over the sea, admire the breathtaking night sky and whilst not having anything to do! After a exhausting day as ”arbetsstyrka”, you long for those quiet moments on ”backen”!

After walking back to the quarterdeck, you ask the “rorgängare” which heading they are staying on, take a couple of steps into the navigation cabin and then remember that you forgot which heading the “rorgängare” were staying on. Nervously asking if the heading you maybe remembered is right, the commanding officer looking at you like you just swore in church and
then the walk of shame back to the rudder after you misremembered the course by a 100 degrees and finally grabbing the rudder. 30 minutes goes by in a couple of minutes and then you are finally ”livbojsvakt”!

You can finally kind of hang-out with the rest of the watch if they also are on quarter-deck and if they are not there, you can enjoy the moon and the night sky if there aren’t to many clouds. Time flies and the its time to ring the bells and switch out ”posts” with the lookout! The circle of being ”post” then begins anew!

Filip

Midships