Time and Space

I have never thought about Thursdays as the middle of the week. Normally you’d say its Wednesdays that are the weekday exempt from time and space as the middle of the week. Well, the workweek, that is. Saturdays and Sundays, as the weekend, are more exempt from time and space, even more than Wednesdays. But when you work a full seven days each week, Thursdays are the middle mark. The sign that says: “keep going! You’re halfway there!”. That’s what its like onboard Gunilla. And the only days even slightly exempt from time and space are Sundays – democracy days. No lessons.

But as I woke up this morning and looked at my makeshift calendar, pinned to the wall by magnets, I had to count the days to realise that it was Thursday. In the box underneath today’s date, it said “Home” in my sideways, messy scrawl with an “M” looking more like a “W”. As I saw this an empty feeling started growing within me. We’ve got less than a week left onboard. Less than a week for the rest of time. We are never again sailing T/S Gunilla as her students.

We are set to arrive in Ponta Delgada on Saturday, a day exempt from space and time. That is, in a way, a good day to arrive, because maybe, just maybe, the emptiness can hold off until we join normal time on Monday morning.

Apart from time moving too quickly, sailing has been fairly uneventful. The rocking eased up from the previous days, as the sea became calmer. I think everyone’s happy about it. It takes a lot of energy to keep your balance. And being able to set the tables for mealtimes in the small mess, without having to worry about jugs of water leaping off the tables in a particularly big wave, makes life a lot easier.

We did try to set the fore royal sail during our day watch, 8-12. We failed. That makes us sound like we’re bad sailors…we’re not! – I mean we may not always pay attention that well but we’re good enough – Something was wrong, and we weren’t able to raise the yard in order to set the sail. We still don’t know what’s wrong. That was the most eventful happening in a while. Otherwise, it’s been calm enough for the north Atlantic.

Most days onboard are similar to the ones before. We are exempt from time and space, every day. It’s a nice feeling. Being at sea. No time, no space, no society, yet so much of each at the same time. We have a strict routine reliant on time, we see more stars than anywhere else and we learn about the different constellations, and we are our very own society. It’s freeing.

It’s a unique experience, only shared by other tall ships. And while I’ll miss sailing onboard Gunilla, and everything that entails, I know I’ll be able to find the feeling onboard other ships. Ships that will be my home for other periods of my life. But I’ll forever be thankful for the home Gunilla offered me during this period of my life. Forever grateful for the warmth she welcomed us with, and forever grateful that she sends us off better than we came.

Astrid, Midships