The 4-8 shift

GOOD MORNING! The time is 3:30am and we’re getting ready for our night shift. As usually are we pretty stressed, it’s so easy too just fall back to sleep after the one who woke us up have left. Way too easy.

But this morning, we had the luck to be awakened by a song, a song that informed us what to wear and how the weather is. Finally we can get ourselves together and get up, up on the main deck, “Arvas enter deck” I shout, the lifeguard respond.

It’s fascinating how it can be so warm even though the sun is down and the wind is pretty strong. It’s also fun that we’ve just been sailing this leg, pretty slow but still. We start the working shift by setting
one of staysails, then we dowse another one. The best thing with the 4-8 shift is that we get to eat so much during. At the shift 16-20pm we eat dinner and at 4-8am we eat two breakfast’s.

“It’s 10 before fika (breakfast)”, the lifeguard say. What a lovely thing to hear. For the remaining ten minutes we watch the moon, in waiting on permission to go eat. The moon has some kind of circle around it that looks like a shadow at the same time as it looks like it’s made of light. We discuss why it look the way it does and then we go inside and eat.

Now it is time to furl the lowest sails, me and two others climb up to the jib yard. For you to understand how it was specific morning I need to mention that we the day before had tared the shroud so when we’re climbing our hands slips. Not much, no need to get scarred, but
annoying when the hands get sticky. It’s also annoying when the target in your hair, and believe me it does. Anyhow, we climb out on the jib (at the wrong side, you’re supposed too start at the windward side but that we forgot, hehe) and start to furl.

It goes pretty well, were having really fun. To be up at the jib is a powerful feeling. When you have a mission that needs to be done and not everything goes after plan but we figure out how to solve the problem together. When we finished it’s time to eat our second breakfast and then if you want, I want, go to sleep.

When I wake up for the second time today, it’s lunch time. Then we have lessons until it’s our turn to work again, this time in the sun set. We tare, climb and un furl, set some sails and catch the wind. Now that we all have worked the different shifts, my conclusion is that 4-8 is the best time. We get both sunset and sunrise plus two breakfasts and dinner, does it get better?

Alice A, SA2023