Oh happy day!

This friday consisted of night sailing, the arrival to Porto and juice drinks made by our own bartender Elsa! The port watch had the responsibility to take care of the boat while everyone else explored Portugal's fourth biggest city- Porto.

The day started already at 00.00 with a 4- hour shift at sea. My job was to be a helmsman which is my favorite position. Therefore, I didn't mind the tiredness that comes with having the 12-4 shift. The watch was quite calm and our workers did both bracing and

fairytale-reading. After the watch I went straight to bed, just to wake up to the beautiful Port(o). We have sailed through Biscaya at a speed that beats Gunilla's record, and we couldn't be more proud of ourselves and Gunilla. Most of us expected tough sailing but we ended up having, in my opinion, one of the best sea legs.

Even though I was excited to see the city, duty called and I had to do maintenance work on the boat. The chores included vacuum cleaning on deck, climbing and adjustment of the tails in the rig. The port watch was all tired and had to use extreme measures to not accidentally take a power nap. However we fought through and used the small highlights of the day (food) as our motivation. When meal time finally was there we found out that one of our chef’s helpers had spiced tea time up. She welcomed us with drinks which directly gave us all a smile. The ingredients? Juice and juice. It may sound a bit suspicious but it actually tasted fairly well. The ordinary “fika” had now turned into happy hour! Suddenly we were energised to finish the work day with the everyday cleaning.

When everyone else came home from their city exploring we heard stories about their day. Some students toured the city by surfing and hiking. Our friends had seen charming houses with different patterns and colours. They told us about the delicious food and spectacular views from all corners. Others could sense the christmas spirit every step they took.

Christmas music was played in the stores and holiday lights were shining on the buildings.

This all together made the port watch even more excited to do similar activities tomorrow. We went to bed happily knowing what was ahead of us.

I hope you are doing well at home! Ebba Sab2023