Meeting dolphins and Irish dancing

Day 7 – Sunday 23rd July

In the morning we left the port of Aber Wrach. Because there was a storm the day before, there was a lot of swell on the water.

We started the day with making our own deodorant of baking soda, corn starch and coconut oil and essential scents. It was really fun but lots of people were seasick because of the movement of the boat. Lots of people slept and rested and read books. We also put in Toby – the manta trawl – and analysed it. We found 8 pieces of plastic.

During the white watch, we set some sails with Hidde. Before dinner Judith played the guitar, Axel played the trumpet and we sang lots of songs on the deck. We sailed and had almost all the sails up. For dinner, we had rice with peanut sauce, chicken, vegetable soup, and tomato sauce with veggies. It was very yummy and warm.

Day 8 – Monday 24th July

We were anchoring at Lands’ End in England. We couldn’t go ashore because not everyone brought their passport. In the morning the murder game was introduced by Shauna. And we could sign up for the open space workshops, like watercolour, workout, and Irish language and culture. The Dutch people had to start with their dessert, which was making pepernoten and cheesecake. At 11 o’clock we had a lovely apple pie with jam, made by Bas.

Learning about the plastic pollution of the oceans

Around 15:00 we could go swimming in the Channel. It was really fun and there were high waves. Everyone jumped from the boat. Axel and Sam did some backflips. Then the open space workshops started, Rachel and Eva did a seminar about Irish language. Axel did a workshop about watercolour. Kart and Sam organized a workout.

During the open space, the dutchies prepared their dinner. Before the meal, we played some traditional Dutch games. The dinner was Andijvie stamppot and hutspot. Together with a salad and stew meat and tofu. The dessert was the pepernoten with cheesecake. After the dinner, we did two Dutch dances (kabouterdans and links rechts).

We also saw dolphins and had a party on the aft of the ship. We danced and sang to so many songs with trainees and some of the crew. We started with Dutch songs, which Maarten translated for the not-Dutch trainees. Afterwards, we also did English songs.

Day 10 – Wednesday 26th July

In the watch from 12 to 4 blue watch sang a lot of songs and ate pepernoten. They put all the sails up by themselves, it took a long time (1,5 hours).

Climbing the mast

In the watch from 4-8, red watch saw the coolest sunrise, Axel played the trumpet. They put up the sails, removed the sails again, and put them up again. They ate many peanuts, did the dishes, and cleaned the tables in the galley because they were so dirty. Then Suzie also tried playing the trumpet.

Then white watch had a watch from 8-14. We played mind games like Black Magic and the open cup, closed cup. Noor also played Yahtzee with Maarten. It rained almost the entire shift, so everything was wet. Hidde killed Kate with Toby. We put Toby in the water, and Noor, Anna, and Romain analysed the findings. Toby caught 11 pieces of plastic.

The blue watch had a watch from 14 – when we anchored. They put the sails away, and it rained a lot. They cleaned the deck during happy hour and did not do much else except have fun.

Around 16 Maëlle did a workshop about gender issues. We had a group discussion about inequalities and experiences. We also had a lesson from Maarten about boat stability.

In the night we had an Irish dinner, we had coleslaw and brown bread. The main course was a spice bag (potatoes, peppers, onions with chicken, and tofu with spices). Dessert was a shot of baileys or chocolate milk with apple crumble with whipped cream. Afterward we did some Irish dancing inside and on the poop deck (Shoe the Donkey, Qn Droilín, Balla Luimní). We played games like bullshit and werewolf.

Some people did some watercolouring and sang music. We had lots of fun.

We had visitors!

The Journey Frameworks:

Sailing

Getting into the watches, Writing the logbook, Harbor watch, Informativ ship evening, meteorology session, knots, sails, safety, briefing, clearing.

Education

Inclusive and not gender-based learning methods shared among the trainees during the whole voyage. Only non-formal education and learning by doing.

Community

Sharing, caring, talking, eating, cleaning, partying, laughing, crying, listening and do-creating this unique experience.

Ecology

Marine species, plastic pollution, low tech solution, blue flag scheme, session on ecocide, workshop on recycling, zero-waste workshops, talks and debates.