What should you do when the wind blows 17 m/s and you can`t stand up straight? What should you do when everyone is sick and everything is covered in salt? And what should you do when your moral sinks because we`re sailing in the wrong direction? Answer: You make the best of it!
I woke up, before anybody got the chance to wake me up, because I was partly standing on the wall of my bed. Immediately I knew this would be an interesting shift. My work was to be lookout in the front of Gunilla, where it tilts the most. As I was standing there seeing land, and being splashed by 2 meter high waves, I wondered what I was doing here. I`m sea sick, scared to death of heights and not very strong. But I kept reminding myself that it`s worth it in the day. Whenever I moved I could feel how the water had dripped down in my jacket, but at this point I`ve just stopped care. It happens way to often for anybody to be surprised.
We did a 180o turn away from the Spanish coast. I went back to steer the boat, and as I did I felt how everything was covered in salt. The stairs, the ropes, the door handle, the steering wheel, my hands, my clothes and my hair. Everything was salty. Our shift ended and we went down to have English. Chairs and people moved side to side, and frequently caused laughter. Tired and sea sick, everyone tried to make the best of it. I used one hand to write on my computer and the other one to hold myself from falling. I tried to help the sea sick people in the hallway before making myself ready for another shift. Everyone is sea sick at one point of the trip, but for those who have severe sea sickness there is really nothing that helps. It is frustrating watching people you care for feeling sick and not being able to help them.
I stepped out onboard and was welcomed by a wave covering everything up to our knees. Because of the wind, waves and darkness the lookout had to stand by the steering wheel. I could see a lot of lights in the horizon and supposed that it was land I was seeing. I thought it was weird because of the fact that we were sailing south away from Spain. The compass showed 180o. I asked and the Captain answered “It`s Algeria!”. All the time I thought we were supposed to sail outside the Spanish coast not to Africa. Although seeing Africa, what you could see of it in the dark, was cool. I got this feeling that we were going in the complete wrong direction. But at the same time, I will probably only do this once in my life and most people doesn’t even get the change to. So who am I to complain, I`ll try to enjoy the rest of the trip the best I can!
Annie Larsson, Midskepps
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