Enjoying ice cream in the sea breeze

Per usual, the day started at midnight with portside (my watch) going on night watch. During the watch relieve, there were two people celebrating their birthday, and so we sang “Happy Birthday” to them before going on watch. It was a great, unique start to a night watch that kept going in a pattern we’re used to by now.

During our night watch we practiced how to dowse, furl, and set three different sails, all in the dark. This time, me and three buddies climbed the bow pole and furled the sail all the way in the front (“yttre klyvaren” in Swedish). It was a hard task, made harder by the fact it was the first time doing this for half of our taskforce. With a lot of trouble and some misunderstandings we were finally able to furl and unfurl the sail to be able to get back on deck.

The night went along and finally it was time to go to bed and get seven hours of well needed sleep. At eleven a.m. we woke up to a delicious meal, followed by a cloudy but still very hot day. Then it was time for our day watch, the only difference now being we had something to look forward to – the three o’clock coffee break (“trefikat”) which we had heard rumours would contain cake thanks to the birthday boy and girl.

There had been some work with a sign that was put up next to the serving station, as you can see in the photo. The text insinuates you should wash your hands to get ice cream (it was cake with ice cream served by our lovely “backisar” / chefs). It was an amazing finish to a tiring watch.

Emma Berntsson, Portside