There is traffic in Wicklow today. Cars are constantly coming and going and there are really a lot of people who want to look, wonder, and ask questions. So we are fully occupied giving answers. It is relatively easy for the crew. We have heard a lot of the questions before.
Question: "How big is your motor?"
Answer: "We don’t have a motor ".
Question: "How do you go to the toilet?"
Answer: "We sit down on the barrel and relax completely..."
Question: "How do take a bath?"
Answer: "We don’t take baths..."
But long and fruitful conversations also get started – on Viking times, archaeology, the social aspect, the adventure. And a lot of people have personal experience to contribute. The personal contact between us and them has great value for us all. In all ages, the meeting of people has taken us further in our understanding of ourselves.
Insight gained is a considerable part of the essence of the voyage with the Sea Stallion, first and foremost insight in ourselves. As skipper Carsten Hvid usually puts it: “It is hard to keep up a façade in the face of so many people for so many days and in extreme conditions. At some point or another, the façade you present to others will fall and they will see who you really are. And as time goes on, comes the tiredness, the rain, the wind, the boredom, the noise – and in the end the final mask falls and you will see who you really are yourself…”
We are just starting the voyage and a long way from losing our masks as yet. But it will surely come – it’s a long way home.