Europa 11 Red Watch Day 2

August 8^th 2011, Halmstad – Europa

 

I’m Fraser, today I arrived, slightly later than planned - due to Ryanair not flying on a Sunday from Scotland to Sweden - but I made it just in time for lunch.  So many people to meet, so I haven’t quite learned every name yet but I’m sure I will get there.  The afternoon was spent around Halmstad bay in the ‘Parade of Sails’ where all the ships show off their impressive repertoire of sails, Europa of course looking fine and beautiful. Most ships have moved onto the next port but we returned to Halmstad to go on a short tour of the city. Our local trainee crewmates took us to some historical city sights as well as some local graffiti parks and youth centres. It’s a quiet, unassuming kind of city but a very pleasant one. Unfortunately the weather has been pretty terrible, fairly typical of this part of Sweden we’ve been told, but who cares? The worse the weather, the better the sailing! Dinner saw me have two massive helpings of meat, stew-like vegetables and rice. You could say the food is rather good. I’ll learn more about the sails and the ropes tomorrow when we head off, and perhaps be-friend the ship’s dog. I should probably learn his/her name!

 

I am Miguel and I am from Portugal. I live in Sintra, a beautiful town surround by nature and lots of monuments with interesting stories to tell. Note: in Sintra we have good sweets (don’t forget these names: Travesseiros and Queijadas).

Before I was on board I visited London and after that I went to Copenhagen, both with a large diversity of cultural and enthusiastic places and people to meet.

I have been on board since yesterday (7^th August) and I am loving this amazing adventure. Why? I will explain. The crew are really friendly and we help each other every moment of everyday. The meals on board are excellent, and the beds and the boat, I can describe in just three words - very very good.

I have seen many beautiful tall ships; it seems I am in the middle of Pirates of Caribbean movie. It is awesome.

Today (8^th August) I tried lots of things on board, such as pulling the ropes, tying some knots and washing the floor. In conclusion, I have started to try the real life on board. More one thing, we walked trough Halmstad with great tourist guides (the Swedish crew).

 

Blue Watch: day 2 Europa 11: Parade of Sail, Games and tour of Halmstad

Day 2- Woken up at 7 for a quick breakfast and games. Borrowed the dog’s ball and within 5 minutes it was at the bottom of the harbour. Then we played a quick and confusing knot game followed by dinner. Then we had to make ready to depart climbed bowsprit and untied the sails, unfortunately we untied one to many (the flying jib) and had to spend another 10 minutes figuring out how to tie it back up. We then followed the tall ships out of the harbour and then prepared and set the main sails. We sailed approximately three nautical miles (nm) out to the peninsula at this point we turned around and headed back to Halmstad. On the short voyage we learnt how to brace the yards and how to correctly handle the ropes to hoist the sails. Working together in our watches (with a lot of help from the crew) we managed to get safely back to Halmstad where the sails had to properly put away and the ship moored. Operating the ropes, especially the mooring line (Parking break), was hard work but fun even though it started to rain.  Dan then climbed the rigging all the way up to the royal (the 2^nd to top sail) and had to make sure the gaskets were put on and the sai was tucked away nicely. Once we were moored a few of the trainees from Halmstad showed the rest of us around. We visited sculptures one of which was designed by Picasso and was situated within Picassos park. We also saw a new library which cost 6 million euro and a youth centre which was well equipped for many activities such as dancing, filmmaking and arts and crafts and a pool table. Then we saw the graffiti park which is one of the only places where graffiti is allowed and is actually encouraged. After this we learnt a Swedish dance which was about a frog to celebrate spring time and I am sure the video will be on youtube (oh dear) – here’s the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFn-cj8dTVQ . Finally we headed home to the ship and had diner and chilled out for the evening singing sea shanties such as the last shanty.

 

Europa 11: Day 2 Pictures