There were hello kisses and farewell tears and a party developed spontaneously as the 16 new hands for the Sea Stallion turned up from Denmark late last night at the esteemed Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club at Lowestoft on the English North Sea coast. The club has taken the crew under its wings and is treating them with exquisite British friendliness.
Sixteen other crew, who are going home to their work and families, signed off to travel home this morning, Sunday.
So the whole crew was gathered together for a few hours, and in a dark hour late Saturday evening practically the whole crew could be photographed together. After that, everyone ran into the yacht club to have a last English beer before closing time. Beer is allowed on land when the Sea Stallion is not sailing the following day.
The Sea Stallion has been moored at the quay in Lowestoft Marina since Thursday evening for two reasons. Firstly, as mentioned, some of the crew were to be replaced after 635 nautical miles. But the ship has also been waiting for the right weather forecast for the four to five-day trip across the North Sea, which should end at the mouth of the Limfjord. At the time of writing, it looks as if the Sea Stallion will leave on Tuesday, but the weather forecasts are very changeable at the moment and a high pressure area appears to be on its way towards Denmark with easterly winds to offer at the end of the week. That isn’t exactly the wind direction on the Sea Stallion wish list.
Most of the new crew have been following the Sea Stallion’s voyage from Dublin on the website and in the newspapers, which are still covering the marine archaeological research project closely. One of the 16 is forester Henrik Hansen from Randers, who will function as steward in the galley. He sailed on half of the trip to Dublin last year.
“Of course I paid particular attention to the report of the trip down through the Celtic Sea to Land’s End – that sounded quite severe. And I realise a lot of people were seasick,” says Henrik Hansen.
“I’ll be in the galley, helping Jens. He’s the boss, for he has the experience. There was someone who backed out, so I took on the job. I don’t think there was a queue for it,” he adds.
“My expectations are first and foremost to have an opportunity to cross the North Sea under sail, because I was on board when we had to be towed over some of the North Sea last year. I don’t care whether it rains or storms, as long as the wind blows so we can get going,” says Henrik Hansen.
Social worker Martin Rather has also just landed from Denmark. He is in quite a different situation from Henrik Hansen, who knows the Sea Stallion well. Martin Rather has sailed with the ship twice on Roskilde Fjord – and that is more or less all his sailing experience.
“I’ve been on the Sea Stallion’s website every day,” says Martin Rather. “And I’ve read the reports with a completely different perspective compared with last year, because I am to be on board. And I’ve wondered whether I’ll be seasick, because many have been. I am in no way nervous about the challenges that lie ahead. I’m sure I’ll get through them, either standing up or lying down seasick. I am basically very excited about the adventures awaiting us.
“My motives for participating are probably first and foremost a curiosity to see how a crew – some of whom, like me, don’t have much sailing experience – can function together under extreme conditions, such as on the Sea Stallion. I would like to see how I fare in such a situation. And of course the whole Sea Stallion project is a case of thinking on a grand scale and is fundamentally madly fascinating,” says Martin Rather.
