It was a tough process. The Skipper, officers and section leaders were all gathered at Øhavets Smakkecenter on the island of Strynø on Friday and Saturday. The trip on the little ferry from Rudkøbing had been stormy, and winter was baring its teeth outside the smack dingy centre, but inside all attention was focused on the many names, skills and profiles.
“In reality, what we’ve got is a problem of success. There are a lot of really good people in the existing crew, but unfortunately more people were still needed to fully man the ship, so we advertised for new crew last autumn. And applications just poured in – about 200! From these, we selected almost 50 for closer inspection, and now we have picked 33, who have either been given a place in the final onboard crew or been selected for the waiting list”, explains Toke Morell Neve, who is one of the ship’s three section leaders.
The joker on board
“The Museum looks upon the waiting list as an active part of the crew. Everybody has to go through the same safety training, and experience last year showed the need for a waiting list. Sickness, new jobs and other events are the joker in the project from now until the Sea Stallion gets back to Roskilde on 9 August 2008”, concludes Toke.
Facts about the crew:
Once more, the Sea Stallion will sail with a strongly international crew:<//font>
Spain: 1
The Netherlands: 1
Canada: 1
Germany: 1
Finland: 1
The UK: 2
Sweden: 3
The USA: 4
Norway: 4
Ireland: 9
Denmark: 68
The youngest member of the crew is 17 and the oldest is 65. And 25 crew members are women.
The crew – both new and old – will gather this weekend at Osted Independent Continuation School to “kick-start” the home trip. There will be lectures, information and discussion on the project and, not least, socialising.