"Ahhh... its proper Sea Stallion weather".
A satisfied crew member was looking at the clear sky and the bright sun and could ones again conclude that the Sea Stallion is on good terms with the Clerks of the Weather.
And the weather was not only beautiful; it was also the perfect for the many jobs that needed to be done: cleaning, scraping, painting and tarring the ship.
And it was perfect for colouring the 112 square metres big sail made from flags.
Since the launch in 2004 the sail has had natural colours, but this weekend it changed into red and yellow vertical stripes.
Ochre and salt water
Boat builder Vibeke Bischoff learned the technique of colouring the sail in Venice, where families have been colouring their sails in different patterns for centuries. The colours made it possible to recognize their boats from land.
And there is no doubt the Sea Stallion will be easy to recognize with its ‘new’ sail.
Both the red and the yellow are ochre – earthly colours – and after a few tests the colouring team reached a mixture of 7 litres of water, one kilo of salt and 750 grams of ochre.
The salt is the binding materiale between the dye and the sail and is keeping the dye from washing out when the sail gets wet.
But the job proved to be more complicated than expected. It took a whole day’s work colouring just one side of the sail by carefully dabbing on the dye with sponges. Not until Sunday at four o’clock the team were finished and could clean up after themselves. And so could the rest of the working crew members.
Launching in April
The sunny weather made thousand of curious visitors come to the harbour to see the many activities happening around the museum ships.
The Sea Stallion is launched on the 14th and 15th of April and visitors are welcome to drop by the museum harbour.