Curres blogg:

ARC - svenskarna snart framme

Efter snart fyra veckor till sjöss, har nu många av svenskbåtarna i årets ARC bara 300 – 400M kvar. Om 3-4 dygn bör äventyrarna få landkänning.

Svaga vindar har gjort att överseglingen tagit extra tid, men fortsatt är humöret gott ombord på båtarna. Särskilt på More Fun, som gjort skäl för namn genom att vinna klassen och krossa Atlanten på snabba 16 dagar. Hur Alexej Murashkin lade upp seglingen, återstår att få veta. Men en sak visade han - farten i en More 55 är förträfflig.

Medan de yngre Gustav, Robert och Mie ser överseglingen som ett äventyr.

GUSTAV PÅ MORE GREY
Tisdag 6 dec. 540M kvar. Ett långt dygn med stiltje och diesel förbrukning har gått. Fuldieseln, som vi fick av ett lastfartyg tog slut, men samtidigt kom lite vind, så vi kunde segla iväg i 5-6 knop. Tvätt av soprummet (garaget) blev det under stiljten, samt en tvätt av mig själv i det 29,5 gradiga vattnet.
Maten börjar ta slut, endast en måltid kvar som är lagad av oss. Imorgon får vi börja med burkmat och frystorkat!.
Fisket är trögt nu mera! Tråkigt, men inte så mycket vi kan göra!
Tankar om målgången börjar komma, besättningen tippar på 9-10 dec pga stiljten vi hamnade i.
Lev väl o ät gott! När jag kommer in till St Lucia så ska jag ha kött, sås o potatis!
Gustav de Vries på More Grey.

ROBERT PÅ LADY NOR
Vad gör man efter man kört genom Kambodja och Vietnam på egen hand på en moped för 1500kr under några månader och 300 mil längs kusten? Jo man tar sin Land Rover Defender och kör från Stureplan på julafton för att komma fram till Sydafrika och Kapstaden tre månader senare. Vad gör man sen?
Hmm, jo varför inte segla över Atlanten? Efter pratat med Fredrik på More Sailing fanns det ingen annan väg i livet.

VEGAN OCH NYKTERIST
Som enda vegan och då givetvis samtidigt vegetarian och nykterist på båten, hade jag bett om att få köpa och laga min egna mat, vilket jag blev glad att höra gick bra. Så mitt matlager bestod av nya saker jag ville prova på, torkade alger, massa olika nötter, fröer och pulver, koks/mandel/soyamjölk, som inte behöver kyla, förens de öppnats. Detta passar mig hur bra som helst, så slipper jag ta upp utrymme för de övriga kylområden. Jag har även ett schema, där jag skriver upp vad jag äter och när jag äter det under hela resan.
När jag skriver detta är det tre dagar kvar till målgång, så jag har lyckats få ett redigt schema på vad och när jag ätit det.
... Hur mycket kan egentligen hända på en sån här segling, som alla mina vänner i Sverige sagt, är som en räkmacka, bara segla med? Vilket visade sig vara helt emot verkligenheten. Ha aldrig förväntningar eller förutfattade meningar, livet har inga sanningar...
..Som båtens minsta kille och förhoppningsvis även smidigaste, blev jag tillfrågad om jag kunde pressa ner mig i kölsvinet och dra åt bultarna till hjärtstocken. Givetvis, jag älskar att lära mig nya saker och stilla min nyfikenhet om hur t ex en båt är uppbyggd eller vad olika saker och ting heter och fungerar...
...I början fick man även lära sig TÅLAMOD, och det lugn man behöver på en båt som kastas upp och ner, och åt sidorna ut mot Atlanten. Spillde ut kaffet tre gånger innan jag fick ordning på en kopp kaffe och begav mig upp för trappan för att väl uppe på däck mötas av en översköljande våg, som gjorde att jag tappade balansen. Och efter spillt den fjärde koppen kaffe satte jag mig och smålog åt hela händelsen...

TAPPA TÅLAMODET
..Jag märkte även hur lätt det är att tappa tålamodet mot andra på båten, hur jag blir arg och upprörd på personen, som står vid rodret när jag spiller något, pga av att jag tappar balansen. Detta fick jag ta tag i rätt omgående och intala mig själv bara var dumheter. Svårt, men ett måste och inte mer än rätt.
Hörs snart, det finns mycket mer att berätta, tex när bland annat jag och kapten Fredrik byggde ett roder av golvskivor åt en annan båt, som kört på en val mitt i natten..
Mycket kärlek från mig - denna resa bland de mäktigaste jag varit med om.

MEI PÅ LIA
Här kommer ett blogg-inlägg från Mei på Lia Of Sweden. Mei är svenska, men eftersom hon bor i London, har hon skrivit på engelska.

Hello from Lia of Sweden.
By now we'd been out at sea for two weeks. After a few days of stagnation as part of a rescue mission to help out our Slovenia friends at "Lady Nor", we are back on track, heading west. Another week to go, and we shall reach our destination in the Carribeans, I've been told. We'll be riding the tradewind and it'll go fast.
My fellow crew mate Olof joked about that we've been going upwards, hence it's been slow, now that we've passed halfway, with the help of gravity, we'll go downwards, faster and faster, he gestured with both his arms to make his point.
Olof is known as Olle here on the boat. The inspiration came from the Swedish TV show "Fråga Olle", where the audience get to ask the host, Olle, all kinds of questions regarding relationships and sexuality. The answers are usually rather amusing. Our "Olle", him too, has been providing us with endless hours of humour. He'd often stress, "It is alright, as long as it is consensual."
***
I was the last crew member to join "Lia of Sweden" on this adventure to cross the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, I was sunbathing in the Carribeans just a few weeks ago. When I found out there were some last min cancellations, I jumped at the opportunity in the blink of an eye. After a 20h transatlantic flight, I found myself at Las Palmas Marina, the night before the race. I hurried to shop sailing clothing and neccesities early Sunday morning, just a few hours before we set sail. Hopefully the weather god will be on our side, as I didn't have a chance to shop waterproof trousers.
I am a fair weather sailor, participting in the occasional superyacht holidays and the annual regattas in the MBA league, representing Oxford, my alma mater. To be honest, I usually pick the division where it is more of a social gathering rather than hard core sailing. A few hours of sailing, mixed with night long partying :p This time, I've ventured out into unchartered water, to say at least.
Luckily, my fellow crew mates seem to know what they do. Pulling ropes and working on the wrenches as we left Las Palmas midday on Sunday. There are eight of us, plus Fredrik the super skipper. Some of them have their own boats and often sail in the Swedish archipelagos. Göran, the doctor is the owner of this vessel, a MORE 55, and this is her virgin voyage into the deep blue.
***
Five days into the race, out of the hundreds of participating boats, the MORE boats are all at the head of the pack; with "More Fun", the Russians, leading the crusing division, shortly followed by the Slovenian "Lady Nor", and us, "Lia of Sweden" at a respectable third place, advancing rapidly, averaging almost 10 knots.
It is on the evening of the 5th night, that we heard a distress signal from "Lady Nor". Something happened, in a heated moment of panic, the crew were ready to jump into the lifeboats and abandon their "Lady". As we were the boat that were closest in distance, we changed our course and hurried to rescue. We didn't reach them until early morning the next day, 6 or 7 hours later.
From the fragmented pieces of information I gathered, it turned out that "Lady Nor" lost part of their "rodder", probably as result of impact with a whale. As they lost control of their boat, two of their crews crushed into each oher. With one of them knocking the other in the face with his elbow.
It was quite a scene, waking up to five new crews on our boat, squeezed together, half asleep on the sofa. One of them with blood stains on his shirt, a swollen face, with probably one or more brocken bones.
Later I found out, "Ms Robinson", another MORE boat, also joined the rescue mission. Their skipper, our skipper Fredrik, and Robert, our unofficiall blogger, all went over to "Lady Nor". First to inspect the "rodder" and later to build an emergency "rodder", with materials found on the boat.
Robert has got this ordeal documented with his gopro. I often call him Moglie. With his hasel eyes, flowing hair, and a preference for half-nakedness, he's quite the incarnation of the character straight from jungles of Disney.
For the next 3 days, we've been more or less stationary as we waited for updates from "Lady Nor". During which time, we'd meet up with yet another MORE boat, "MORE grey", motoring back and forth to help transport fuels for "Lady Nor". Eventually, things looked better, the "rodder" had been patched together, all skippers and crews returned to their original boat, the heroes have been greeted and celebrated with champanes and we are all on our way again. "Don't leave us!" cried the Slovenians. And we agreed to accompany "Lady Nor" all the way to St. Lucia, albeit at a slower speed, or as fast as we can without risking yet another incident.
***
The journey to the west did not lack adventures. Already before the episode with "Lady Nor", we've had a bit of scare ourselves, when the "kik" suddenly broke and all the crews rushed to the upper deck. The sail, hatches and other things will eventually break, and we'd fix them one by one.
We've put up a map of the North Atlantic Ocean by the sofa in the dining area, and day by day we're making progress. I'd get up in the middle of the night, for my watch. Sitting underneath the sky, pitch black, decorated with millions of shining stars. Once in awhile, I'd catch a shooting star, and make a wish. The ocean is mostly calm, with the meditative sound of one wave crushing into the next. Gentle wind brushing my face. For as far as the eye can reach, there's just the imenseness of the ocean, no signs of others apart from the navigation light of "Lady Nor" at a distance, reminding us that we're not alone.
Christian is my company at these early hours. He's been out at sea for awhile now, with his long hair and beard, looked like a true viking. I've met him at a house party a year ago and kept in touch occasionally throughout his various sailing competitions and my incessant globetrotting. It was him that mentioned ARC to me this time.
The first time I came across ArC was 4 or 5 years ago. I was looking for a crew position on a boat and posted it on cruisersforum. Apparently twenty something girls were in demand, I received hundreds of replies within days, it was a bit overwhelming. Eventualy, I picked a boat and was ready for the passage, however, due to other commitments, I wasn't able to go in the last minute. So I was happy to be able to make the team this year, this experience has been on my bucket list for awhile now :)
From dawn to dusk, my favourite moments at sea are sunrise and sunset. As the clock approched 9am, my night watch would come to an end. I'd watch the sun pop up from the horizon, filling the sky and clouds with the colours of warmth, in a shade of orange and pink. After that, I'd go down to the kitchen, put on the kettle, make a simple breakfast, skim through a few pages in a book, as I waited for the rest of crew to wake up from their rest. Soon the boat would come to life to face another day at sea, and I'd retreat to my stateroom to catch up on some sleep.
It is at one of these times, while I was resting during the day. I heard an urgent knock on my door. "Hurry! Come to the upper deck! Quickly!" In my half awake state, I grabbed my lifejacket and hurried up the stairs. Their I was met with the entire crew, and our skipper Fredrik, his head covered in a perculier helmet made of silver tape and foil. In his hands, a spicky rod with forks taped to the sides. In a dramatic voice, he declared himself the Nordic god of the sea, and was ready to initate us into better sailors. But first, "Mei, on your knees!" He demanded. I had no choice but to obey. Before I had time to catch my breath, my face were covered in shaving foam, and I had to be cleaned from my filth. Next I know, a bucket of water was poured my way. Drenched in salt water and foam, I witnessed as my crew mates received the same treatment, one by one. That was not all. Next, we were each given a glass of stinky portion and a slice of meat. I've no idea what was in the ingredients, disgusting was all I know. I hardly managed to swallow it. Just thinking about it makes my stomach turn. As each of us went through the ceremony and carried out the motions. Fredrik finally declared, we've now sailed halfway across the Atlantic Ocean! The crowd cheered.
I start to appreciate the simplicity of life at sea.
Mie

Svenskläget i ARC dag 16