23^d of May to 29^th of May 2022

Hello, all my friends! well, there we are sailing towards Sweden! We are carrying salt onboard loaded in Delfzijl and discharging in Stockvik. So far it is nice to be back onboard. I know I know it has only been 3 days… but you know, getting back into the rhythm, getting used to schedules, food, times, people etc well I am there and on top of things! We arrived on Tuesday and started discharging in beautiful weather. Perfect to just open up all the hatches. Even though there is no need to rush to close hatches in case of rain with this cargo….

At the end of the day, we went for a swim – of course- Captain H, myself and… the new engineer of course! the water was at 12 degrees so honestly not bad at all compared to our ice swims! Poor engineer, we gave him the taste – and the test- of the Ruyter crazy crew: fire noodles, Carolina reaper sambal, cold showers, eating lemons, and…. swimming in cold water! I hope he enjoyed it. He always had a smile so I guess he did. Even if he did not stay long in the water, he went full-on with a direct jump. en even a second jump after he declared the water was too cold for him! Haha funny, and courageous! I am proud of him! probably because I would never jump full-on without knowing the water temperature before….. crazy right?

The discharge of salt when quite well. Not so fast, but good enough that there was no irritation, waiting or stress. The crane driver left too many « big piles my opinion and the bobcat waited too long to come in the hold, but I say that probably because I am just fresh from home so full of energy! right? So basically find everything slow. It went well of course. the bobcat cleaned up and while I was sweeping the hold, or more precisely shovelling the heavy salt left on the tank top… the guys were finishing taking all the slings out of the forecastle with the forward mast crane.

Indeed…… next cargo is timber! but only in the hold… that is fine, right? no deck cargo. I like it that way! But we still needed slings. A big part was prepared and taken out of the lashing store. We have to estimate the cubics per package and count two slings per package, then keep the fingers crossed that it will be enough ad that we will not have to take more slings out halfway!

Once all the salt was out and swept, we closed all hatches to head directly to Ala where we would load the timber. We had decided we would wash the cargo hold the next day as it was not a problem for the following cargo to be on a humid tanktop. Indeed Timber is usually stored outside so as long as the cargo hold is very clean it is okay to have it humid. Besides, when loading timber it is not a problem to have rain at the same time.

Our next port of call was not so far away. Only half a day sailing which we did without a hurry as we knew already they would not start loading upon arrival. The following day was a national holiday so there were no cargo operations. We actually made it a Sunday onboard so that we could rest and make our next Sunday a working day. 

When we arrived it was of course a great sunny day. Ala Harbour was just a quay that could fit on each side one vessel of our size but it seems that the other side of the pier was very seldom used. It was at the end of a very narrow channel and there were a few nice very small islands around with only a few trees and houses on them: a main house and what we thought would be a shed and a sauna and a boat house probably…. You could really imagine yourself going for a week’s holiday there without the internet but just your book and some knitting to do. Very nice. Of course, as you know us by now, we really wanted to go for a swim again but somehow it did not happen. maybe a dodgy shore ladder was the reason or maybe just the sunshine that disappeared as soon as we arrived… We decided we would go for a walk the next day and again; we had only walked a couple of hundred meters as we were almost at the gates, we got stopped by some people from the factory telling us it was not allowed. Okay. It happens; we went sadly back to the ship and enjoyed some good chat on the quay commenting on the houses surrounding us. Sometimes it happens that the plans you had for your rest day did not go really as planned.

The next morning we started loading the timber and it took a full day till completion. it all went very smoothly and we found ourselves leaving at the end of the day towards… SPAIN! yes, you heard me well! a timber trip with no timber on deck and a long voyage of 7+ days… towards the sunny south of Europe? I was very happy. I felt like in the past years most of the Spanish trips were for my reliever. I know you cannot do anything about it and it is just the way it is, but it is nice to leave the Baltic again and sail a bit of Ocean right? Hopefully, the Bay of Biscay will be kind to us, but it seemed so far that the weather would be good and…. that we were not in a hurry!

And do you know what it means to not be in a Hurry? Eventually, we could have a swim call in the ocean! where the closest land was 5000 meters below your feet! I love that!

It would also mean that we would arrive on a weekend while in Spanish harbours they most of the time do not work on the weekend! perfect right!

So there we were, sailing the normal route in the Baltic, towards the Kiel Channel, and out of the Elbe and sailing along the Dutch coast. But for once we would continue in the VTS past Ijmuiden, past Rotterdam and past Vlissingen and Belgium!

It was probably a couple of years since I had not sailed through the Channel. Do you believe me? I might be exaggerating… but yeah I would definitely have to check… in any case, that is how it felt.

I am having a good routine onboard; catching up on sleep enough to wake up a little earlier for a short workout. how awesome! The trainee is doing a few hours on the Bridge to give him more responsibility, and to give him the chance to feel like he « is on watch » When it is safe, I go for a round on deck; I even started / and decided I would try to commit to this/ skipping rope for 20 minutes just nearby the bridge. Hopefully, I will manage to do this, this time I sign off. That would be awesome. You have no idea how much it is important for me to try to stay fit onboard. actually, it can be quite frustrating because I always gain weight onboard. I used to think that it was only women but you would be surprised that every time I came back on board I’d have to search for my personal scale! yep… also the guys want to follow up on that! interesting….

Anyways. My fingers are crossed it will help. Next week with Captain H. We are making a small challenge for ourselves: only one coffee a day, no decaf either, and no snacks, cookies or unhealthy sugary things to eat or drink outside of the meals…. Let’s see. it is only for 5 days. I should survive, right?

I will let you know! enjoy the end of your week!!

xxx Sophietje

20^th of May to 22^nd of May 2022

Dear Friends, I am back onboard!

I guess you are now thinking «Wait what already? » Indeed it has not even been 8 weeks yet since I was called to come back onboard earlier than I planned! It happens. It just needs a little organization on my side as I had planned quite a few things – of course- for my last weeks before going back on board. Especially during my Navy days. I guess I will need to catch up on them as soon as I am back home and after the summer holidays! I feel Like I am going to be really busy till the autumn!
Did I tell you I am buying a house? Yes! That is my big project these days, and you understand probably better why I have been a little …. « overdue » with posting my articles on the website right?

I have been full on since last December: finding a house, meeting with the banks, going to visit the house for work to be done, surfing on the net to estimate prices, thinking of what I would love to have done, and what type of house I would like to have. Anyways, a very exciting project, even though it takes quite some time!
So I was called to join the vessel a little earlier. No big problem, no worries, just usual last-minute timings that sometimes just are. I had to make a few calls and of course, postpone buying my house which made me quite sad, but seafarers life, right?

So there I am on the plane to Paris then Amsterdam. The ship will arrive in Delfzijl and will load salt for Sweden!

I had one night in the hotel in Amsterdam because of flights I could not arrive later. And I was picked up by Captain H. who was also signing on that day. We still had a 4 hours drive to the north of the Netherlands. It was nice to be in good company and not do the trip alone.

It was the first time I was loading salt in Delfzijl. It was salt from the Akzo company. It was an easy loading as I like: 4 piles of salt in the hold and direct communication with the crane who was manoeuvring the belt. The cargo was not sensitive to rain so all hatches were open and I could just go go go. easy.

My reliever had started the loading and I finished it of course…. in the rain… nice. not even unpacked that I was already outside, soaking wet checking drafts to be slightly on the stern.
We were going to shift quay directly after loading for the waiting berth where we would get provisions and fresh water and directly sail out afterwards. So a long day. as usual when I sign on!

12 hours later we were in the Kiel channel: in the early morning. So when I arrived on watch we still had the second part of the channel to go through and I was really glad that Captain H handed me over the manoeuvre of the vessel inside and out of the locks. Of course, I go the funny jokes again to get more fenders out and immersion suits. usually, Pilots onboard find it a bit strange. they are not sure if they can laugh or not but we find this joke funny. Me too by the way. I do not mind. Manoeuving is not always as smooth as I would like it to be but I just need to do it more and more. like when learning how to park a car, isn’t it?

Getting back onboard always takes me a little bit of time: unpacking, getting used to the watches and rhythms onboard, the food, the sounds…. I need a couple of days to adjust before I am shipshape!

On the other hand, seeing everyone again was really nice! We had a maritime officer for a replacement for a couple of weeks already onboard; just stepping in to adjust between two schedules. Coming from another vessel from the Company. It was very refreshing to have a new crew from another vessel with us!

I find it great that the step-in crew is always so happy and cheerful and ready to help anywhere they can. I have done that in the past stepping in on my great tall ships. For a month or more like 3-4 months honestly, I felt like I was full of energy and ready to enjoy and help where ever I could. I was taking that time as the greatest chance and opportunity to have fun and enjoy as much as possible. And you know what? It is very rewarding!

A fun fact is that we had fun « repairing » the washing machine together. Haha. When I came on board, apparently the crew washing machine for normal clothes was not spinning anymore (we separate the normal clothes from the working clothes and keep separate washing machines for those). I sometimes find it interesting that when some household equipment is not working that nobody does or says anything about it. During my student years, I had that once when my washing machine was not spinning anymore. I googled -after calling my parents living more than 400km away from me- and found great videos on youtube on how to analyse the problem. And it was the belt. bought a new one for 10 euros and replaced it in 15 minutes. literally. I was quite proud of myself and thought about those who would pay a lot of money for a technician/repair person or even those that would just replace the washing machine entirely!

This time as the board washing machine was not spinning either, my first check was the belt, which was still intact and in place. Youtube was my best friend again. I opened up the washing machine and found out it was not the belt … oh oh. Hello, youtube! found a 3-minute video, applied it to my washing machine and the engineer assisted me. We found out it was the carbon brushes. It was the first time I was doing this. Him too. well cleaned them a bit and put everything back in place and the washing machine was working again. perfect! we did a high five of course as we were proud to solve a problem. new brushes on the shopping list and off we go. I like to be efficient like that. It is not rocket science, and I know that this could also happen at home so I will then know how to do right?

Ok. So yes this was the highlight of my week: coming back onboard, and repairing the washing machine!
Tomorrow is a new week! Enjoy your evening!
xxxx
Sophietje