Immediately prior to departure for Norway, Swan had been at
the Portsoy Scottish Traditional Boat Festival.
The name hints at the importance of the event in her annual calendar and
indeed she is paid to attend. Portsoy
is a picturesque small harbour and town on the north coast of the Murray
Firth. The festival follows the expected
format of such events with craft, food and music now almost more evident than
the boats. Also attending was the
herring drifter “Reaper”.
Reaper is a
lug rigged boat and larger than Swan.
The other evident difference is their current roles. Reaper is a museum ship and makes no attempt
to comply with the code of practice for passenger vessels. An example of which is that she does not have
a guard rail fitted. She is therefore a
far closer representation of the “authentic article”. This hints at a continuing debate in all
“preservation societies”, preservation for what? There are many possible answers and my own
take is “preservation for purpose”. In
other words decide the purpose and then preserve. It chimes with the military emphasis on “get
the aim right and the rest will follow”.
Within the Swan Trust, Portsoy is also spoken about in hushed tones
because it represents a challenge for skipper and crew in entering a very tight
harbour with very limited time afloat.
Local krill boats vacate but their mooring buoys and rising pennants
reduce engine use and it was therefore necessary to warp her out.
warping her out
warping her out
2, 6 heave!
It was therefore with some satisfaction that Swan both
entered and left harbour without mishap, the more so that the latter was in
very public gaze and rising winds with a nasty swell running.
Taking local advice and noting the crew
capabilities, we headed down the coast to Buckie and a more secure berth in
which to lie storm bound for 24 hours.
Even here the waves were crashing over the breakwaters.
The planned 36 hour timetable between return and slipping
for Norway was always tight – the more so that there was also an Operations
committee meeting but when the weather Gods intervened, it became unachievable.
The trainees reporting time was slipped
from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning and it was 1500 hrs before we slipped
Lerwick and headed out through the Bressay Channel into a rising wind. The forecast for sea area Viking was 5-7
possibly 8 for a time. However initially
we did have every stich of canvass flying but by midnight we had dropped the
mizzen and jib and run in the bowsprit.
We were to finish with 2 reefs in the main.
Force 8 and 2 reefs in the main.
Whilst Swan simply rode the waves and was
alive, the same cannot be said for her crew.
No one was as sick as Fred
Those too ill to work had a miserable experience in their bunks and
those well enough to work were dead on their feet with the additional work of
looking after and covering for their shipmates.
There is no complaint here since it as a crew that we live and
survive.
Closing the Norwegian coast in reduced visibility was a
challenging but welcome experience. The
winds had fallen away dramatically and we were now under motor. The crew started to surface in various degrees
of consciousness. For most the proximity
of land and the promise of Stordfest produced a rapid recovery. Delaying our arrival so as to join the
“Parade of Sail” gave us some time to practise man over board drills. Initially using the traditional fender we
progressed to yours truly in the water.
This also gave us opportunity to rehearse the normally neglected drill
of actually picking up a person from the water to the deck. In this case we assumed a conscious casualty able
to help themselves.
“Stordfest” was a bit like a big Portsoy and is hosted in Leirvik
which you will not be surprised to learn is twinned with Lerwick and has the
same derivation and meaning; muddy bay.
For me there was the frustration of discovering that “Blackberry” phones
aren’t supported in Norway. In fact the
frustration turned to inconvenience and then to release. Once you accept that there is nothing to be
done, you can enjoy the reality. Swan
proved something of a point of interest and we hosted many hundreds of admirers. We were also welcomed on board other vessels,
many of which are old friends to Swan and in some cases to me as well since
they had visited Shetland earlier this season.
The traditional sailors activities of drink and singing flowed although
of course the former in suitable moderation.
It was also an opportunity to make new friends.
One such friend offered to show us part of the local area
and his 300 year old house. By
coincidence it was in the same bay that that we had practised MOB drills a few
days earlier. Faced with a time issue
and assurance that we could lie on the pier head we approached gingerly. The result was not one of my finest moments. With hind sight it would have been far more
sensible to have anchored and gone ashore with the inflatable, which is what we
did but only after having cleared the prop of a fouled rope and the assistance
of our own inflatable and a local boat.
With Swan in a somewhat exposed anchorage with poor holding, I remained
aboard. Once ashore the others discovered
that this was not to be a quick visit.
I hold to a maxim of taking opportunity but this was a finally balanced
call between enhancement and distraction.
Back to perspectives!! However an
upside was the opportunity to sail of the anchor. This gave me a real buzz and challenge but I
still don’t think the trainees appreciate the significance of what they did.
One consequence was a later than hoped for arrival on the
island of Espevaer and it set in motion a train of events that culminated the
next day in a “show down”.
Having been told to be back on the boat at a certain time
the trainees arrived 30 minutes late. This combined with a general apathy of
engagement meant that I did not let it pass.
I told them that not only were they late, but no one had apologised and
all had simply sat down waiting for Peter to serve tea and coffee. I also told them that I did not hold grudges
and that we should draw a line under it and move on. Later that day we returned to the ring for
round two. One or two were again feeling
a bit sick but the others who were fine were behaving like passengers. No attempt to look after their friends or
interest in running the boat and an expectation that “we” should be doing
it. This time I was less restrained
about their attitude and that if they wanted to be passengers then they could
be passengers on an aircraft back to Shetland I invited comment (as I always
do) and was pleased that two people in particular offered three comments and
whilst I think only one of their points of detail had merit, their willingness
to speak out was testament to their own confidence and they did give an
alternative and helpful perspective. I’m
not sure that morale was high but the air was cleared and we were all able to
take account of others perspective. In
this sort of situation it is not helpful to dwell on issues but rather to take
the opportunity to gain understanding and “get on with it”.
The air cleared we went into a lesson on helming. There was an uneasy truce on the boat but
deciding that manoeuvre is more effective than attrition, I let matters rest
and that night we put into the delightful fishing port of Skudeneshaven on the
southern end of Kamoy. It’s a
delightfully place and combines a picturesque waterfront of traditional
fisherman’s houses with a thriving maritime town industry of ship building and
fishing.
The next morning I initiated
some of my aspirational add ons. Hahn
notes the distinction of training for and through the sea. This trip is about the latter and so In an
attempt to encourage team working and communication skills, the watches were
tasked with writing a blog for the sail train Shetland web site and preparing a
presentation for the other watch.
The
presentations were about differing aspects of sailing Swan and also acted as a
confirmation and reinforcement of their knowledge. In the afternoon, with the challenges of
yesterday behind us we sailed to Stavanger.
It was a great sail although the wind died towards the end and tacking
was not to everybody’s taste or enjoyment.
Still harmony and laughter had returned and that is worth a very great
deal.
The next day after completing boat chores, there was an
opportunity to explore Stavanger and whilst some went off to search out Burger
King and “Macy Ds”, I headed for the maritime museum and then a museum
recalling the fish canning industry; a truly fascinating and thought provoking
visit on how fish, smoke, tins and wealth were intertwined.
Sadly neither visit was long enough to do
justice to either place. I also squeezed in a brief visit to the
Cathedral.
And then the boring
part. I gave people 50 minutes notice to
get tidied up and be ready to slip immediately after one of our “big”
neighbours. To much excitement I
explained that we would go to anchor and take the opportunity to use the
inflatable In fact people appeared on deck after 50 minutes and expected it to
be all right. There was no time to
adjust lines or brief people on departure.
So it wasn’t all right. The
result being that we didn’t slip and were delayed until after the next big ship
left. It was hugely frustrating and
disappointing.
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