Öckerö gymnasium

A Sky Full of Stars

The door opens and the light turns on. I open my eyes and hear Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen from the door opening. Am I dreaming, or am I turning crazy?

It’s 11:30 PM and it’s my turn to go on watch duty. From the student corridor I hear that you can see northern lights on deck. I beat my head in the overlaying bed and put my clothes on. Dizzy and confused I go up on deck and see the green sky that’s full of bright shining stars. This might not be as exhausting as I first thought.

Right now we are going by engine towards the Shetland isles where we will stay for two nights from the 26th of august. No sails are set because of the bad wind that we are experiencing. Hopefully we will have better weather conditions tomorrow or on Tuesday, but that remains to be seen. It all depends on if the almighty Njord, God of the sea, will answers to our prayers. Today we had a ceremony where we made offerings as a gesture for stronger winds. The offerings consisted of potatoes, yes potatoes, which were carved into figures. We sang songs, presented our offerings and threw the potatoes into the sea. Hopefully Njord will be happy with the craftsmanship and devotion that went into making them.

Otherwise we have been doing preparations for the homecoming by cleaning different storage spaces on the boat. It just struck me that we just have about two weeks left here on Gunilla. It’s sad that we soon have to leave this beautiful boat, but at the same time everything has to end. It has been a pleasure from the start to the end.

No watch is the same, the way I see it is that you always have to be ready for anything. Tonight we saw a flashing light coming by the boat on starboard side around midnight. When you see a flashing light in the sea it can either be fishing equipment, a buoy or a person. Luckily it wasn’t a person this time but fishing equipment that had been left behind. Experience things like that gives you a different perspective. If it would have been a person in the end of the flashing light, what would have happened then?

The answer to the question: “Am I turning crazy?” is no I’m not. To be woken up to Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen can only happen here, under deck on the North Atlantic sea surrounded by whales, northern lights and a sky full of stars.

Greetings Albert Edvardsson, midship

Publicerad:

Öckerö seglande gymnasieskola
Björnhuvudsvägen 45
475 31 Öckerö

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