“80 miles from Ferrol”. Captain Arthur’s voice tunes in.
The radio starts to yell in Spanish, it is a good sign. Our Johnny Nick Cash happily sings at the helm. It is a good Biscay day on board: deep blue waves and snow-white crests wash the deck, mesmerizing everchanging cloudy skies surround us, we shyly but comfortably peel off one layer of clothes. The toilet thermometer is constantly above 10. It is windy, but not as rough and wild as Biscay can be. Not yet, it will be but not just yet. The breeze keeps on blowing, despite the tiny arrows (aka the weather forecast) predicting the calmness. The calm before the gale we expect.
I cozily sit on the brand-new-second-hand cushions of the nav room. Yes, you read it well former Tres Hombres crew: we now do have something to rest our glutes on in here! I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the innovation yet, and I doubt I will.
I pull out of my watch bag a little red hard-covered moleskine, my pocket brain (so we call the pocket-sized bookies we use to discharge our busy brains with notes, all sorts of lists and random thoughts) and I set the intention to write the first blog of the 16Th Atlantic voyage of this old strong Lady. It’s Monday, hell yeah, and it is my day off cooking duties. It’s also our 16Th day at sea since our departure from home port in Den Helder, it is about time to send you guys some news and updates right?
As I’m launched on the flow of words, mate Nick’s head pops in. “Moonrise!”. Sorry not sorry, blogging can wait.
I jump out the nav room and there, far away on the dark horizon, a splash of fluorescent red pierce my eyes. It is definitely promising, and already so incredibly beautiful and uncommon to see at night such a bright warm colour amidst pitch black! She slowly rises. Elegant, smooth, full. As I’m standing there staring at the romantic show she offers, filling my heart with awe and gratitude for the life I get to experience on this ship and the Beauty of Nature and more cheesy thoughts, deckhand Bram, who is busy cooking in the galley, comes to the helm and announces “I fucked it up with the cheese”. The Doom. Great timing, indeed.
The task to collect and grate the cheese has been rightly given to the most reliable crewmember on board, Aaron, our one and only vegan on board. He has been nominated for the Cheese Guardian. Despite him being Dutch, for obvious reasons as just told (he is vegan), he couldn’t tell the difference between the “oud” (old) and the “jong” (young), which are reserved to different parts of the voyage. Long story short, some of the old cheese, booked for the second part of the journey, has been, I quote, “butchered” in the galley while I was writing this blog. Sacrilegio, mamma mia!
I indulge in some sensational Italian swearing which always sounds and feels as dramatic as ridiculous. We all laugh. The ups and downsides of having a day off, I guess, and still I would not trade it for anything at all in this world. These cuties are cooking supper for all of us and I feel thankful and blessed to be soon eating food I have not prepared myself. The appetite I have on Mondays is one of a kind!
But I’m losing myself here, writing about real-time events while I wanted to share about the past ones! Let’s get back on track.
A few days ago, while we were having a pint, or some, at the bar La Cale in the port of Rosmeur of Douarnenez, we had fun drafting a list of highlights of the pretty eventful voyage leg we just went through.
So I thought to share it with you too, this not-comprehensive overview of our trip from the North Sea to the Bay of Douarnenez, which took us a total of 10 days. Technically only 6 days of sailing, as 4 went into sheltering in Swanage bay, off the English coast, trying to escape the major kicks of a nasty storm called Darragh which swept the Western coasts of Europe for almost a hundred hours in a row without taking any rest. Well done Darragh, you have been impressively efficient as you also prevented our beloved Black Lady, her anchoring gear and her crew to find proper rest for as long.
Anyway, without more superfluous chit-chatting, here the list, raw and real as Life on board Tres.
Read about? Helm’s a lee!
– Departure in December, check.
– Cinnamon rolls, coffee break, check. (Rosa, thanks for baking them for us, they tasted great, we enjoyed them so much we felt like sharing them with the fishes soon after).
– Seasickness for 3/4 of the crew, check.
– Sickness for 1/4 of the crew, check.
– Crazy “horse back riding” experience on the water, check.
– Intense, mind-debilitating rolling, check.
– Extreme dish-washing, check.
– 1 degree Celsius spotted in the toilet thermometer, check.
– Soaked wet boots and gear, check.
– Puking record x individual set at 25 times at an average of 3 waves period, check.
– The biggest lentil stew pot ever cooked by the cook in her 6 years career on this ship eaten in one single meal, check.
– Zero gravity foc’s’le experience, check.
– Socks jungle with weird combo of tropical level of humidity and arctic temperatures in the foc’s’le, check.
– Low pressure system riding, check.
– 10 knots speed, check.
– Unplanned stop, check.
– Big ass storm, check.
– Double anchor dropping, check.
– 15 miles “sailed” while at anchor, check.
– Lobster pot fishing, twice, check.
– Movie session cargo hold, check.
– Bilge pump morning rave, check.
– Fish & Chips feast, check.
– Mainstay sail reef, for fun, check.
– 3 pins broken, all on the same line -topsail sheet-, check.
– Bread failure, check.
– Bread success, check.
– Submarine give-way, check.
– Transform Jason into a bad boy, check.
– Wind turbines running free, check.
– Eilish’ random celebration cake, check.
– Channel winter deck shower, check.
– Deaf Captain you actually have to shout at, check.
– Kouign Amann, crepes and baguette feasts, check.
– 3 days of hectic stop-over, check.
– Continuous LOL (lots of love + laugh out loud), check.
I can’t tell if from the outside this sounds like the recipe for the perfect nightmare or the sweetest dream, but believe me, we had and still have a great, great time here. 12 of us (including all 7 professional crew) are signed on till Amsterdam in spring time. It is a very cool and highly promising well mixed bunch of humans. We are solid and eager for more. We just look forward for more southern latitudes, brighter longer days, less layers, warmer temperatures and a sip of time off on a sunny terrace or a green patch of grass.
Galicia, estamos llegando…