Birthday on board

8 April 2019

Update by Sara Källvik: “Today is our third day at sea. We have put 550 nm behind us since we left the island of Sal and the Cape Verdes, heading for home port Rotterdam. When I started my watch at 2 am this morning, the wind slowly died out and the sails started to luff. Luff, luff, luff. The peacefulness from previous watch, when we listened to the waves against the hull and the wind in the rigging (and of course the chop chop sound from the cook preparing our next meal), was all replaced by this irritating sound of the absence of wind. We were only doing 2 knots (although in the right direction towards the Azores).

Today also happens to be my birthday. So, what did I wish for? Well of course: to sail in 8 knots, and ice cream. Since we left Cape Verde without having found any ice cream, I was slightly upset that my first wish might also not come true.

While watching for changes in the wind (we had some showers surrounding us) I learned a Dutch birthday song. It goes like this:
De kop van de kat was jarig
En de pootjes vierden feest
Het staartje wilde komen
maar die was net ziek geweest
hij kwam net uit het ziekenhuis
en had zo’n last van zijn keel
want al dat dansen en dat zingen was hem veel te veel

After four hours we finally felt the wind increasing and as the sun was rising, we hoisted the jibs again. We were back to doing 8 knots. Just in time for the rest of the crew to wake up and enjoy the sunrise and the sailing. Now it’s time to hand over to the next watch and get some rest before I will go on again at 2 pm. Lucky me, I get to wake up twice for my 22nd birthday!”