Far away

28 February 2015

Update of Feb 28, by Jan ten Dam:
“At work at the 34th floor of an office building in The Hague, I have a very broad view on the North Sea en de Second Maasvlakte. That makes me often remember my voyages on the ‘Oosterschelde’. And, until recently, looking forward to this following sailing trip.
Now I am used to the rhythm of life at sea, I can really enjoy the sailing. It’s marvellous, standing at the wheel or not, to look at the sea. Every time you look you see something different. And for de past five days there was little more to see. Despite that, it is never boring to look at the swell and the waves and feel them by the movements of the ship. The one moment you see a wall of water coming in your direction, the next moment that wave lifts the ship and passes by.
As I told my wife on several occasions, no wave is the same. Depending on the weather and light the sea may be dark grey or she can be blue. The weirdest colour I have seen was during a passage of south Spain. Due to the wind and a spectacular light, the sea was a radiant green. Very impressive.
During the nights the sea shows itself in different ways. Depending on the light of the moon and the stars you see the swell and the waves in a different way. When there is no light from the moon and stars, it can be very dark. In that case you just feel the swell and waves. Is this why I like doing the dogwatch from 0 till 4 at night?
So, even though we need about nine days to sail to the Azores, there is enough to do and see on board the Oosterschelde. After a short stay at Horta we will have a lot off miles to sail. I’m sure I won’t be bored looking at the sea before I am home again (and when I’m back at work I can dream away looking at the North Sea).
I hope readers of this log do not think we all get philosophical on the ‘Oosterschelde’. Far from it. But your daily problems are far away, sailing on the ‘Oosterschelde’.”