Thur. 15th July, Lerwick. Leaving day!

The wind and rain had been lashing on the window during the night so it was a welcome change from the forecast when we woke to find a blaze of sunshine and and a fair wind. Couldn't be better! Yesterday had been a day getting stores onboard. Stocking up on food for the trip, diesel and water were topped up, new laundered matress covers onboard. That only left last minute shopping for today, bread and milk. Sailors began to arrive, a collection of stringed instruments were passed down the hatch. A big African bongo drum was stowed somewhere....somehow..

A large crowd of family and friends were down to see us off. Family and friendsThe motley crew!

We set sail at midday with final farewells and a fair wind, fiddles blazing south through the harbour and the start of the 600 mile trip to Antwerp. Because of the rules of the Sail Training International Tall Ship Races(formery called the Cutty Sark Tall Ship races) 50% of all on board must be aged 15-25 inclusive. We have nine youths and two adult voyage crew + four Swan crew members. Among the youths are three musicians who have been sponsored by Shetland Arts Trust to promote traditional Shetland music abroad. On this leg they are the amazing fiddle players, Ross Couper and Stewart Grains and fast fingered guitar player Grant Nicol. On the second leg the excellent pianist Neil Georgeson will replace Stewart and for the third leg another talented fiddle player Mark Laurenson will replace Neil.

The means of puting this page on the internet is entirely dependant on getting a decent phone signal, so updates while we are racing may not be possible. But we will try to make them as regular as possible.
Ready to roll!

Fri. 16th July.......Underway...

North Sea calmThe wind fell away gradually and by early morning it was glassy calm. We dropped the two headsails and were motorsailing over a flat North Sea. North Sea calm
Dolphins at the bowA school of 6 dolphins came to check us out and play around the bow wave. Dolphins at the bow

Charlotte: Up bright and early and it was definitely worth it. The cloud cleared enough for us to watch the sun rise and dolphins joined us at around 0500 hours. They were clearly visible in the bluest (and flatest!)ocean I have ever witnessed After a brief snooze it's back to life on the Swan - food, music and plenty to do!

Laurie: Just got soaked by a wave trying to look at dolphins! Saw some this morning when it was flat calm looked brilliant. In the middle of the North sea on the way to Antwerp. Hi Lisa!!!! Hi Sarah!!!!! xxxx

Grainzy & Grant John Baille Nicol Jarvie o' da Heights: Aabody mair or less drookled eftir tryin ta hae a skoyit at da dolphins, except me (Stewart) cus i wis tryin ta un-wipple me life-jacket doon below; so nae dry drarrs required as far as am concerned!! Nicol is wringin fae da snirlie ta da taes. Onywye, wir watch dastreen wis fae 8pm ta midnght an eftir bein up aa day an nae neebs we wir fairly blyde ta get a guid corn o sleep fur 7 or sae oors. Willie Simpson fae Whalsay (no relation ta Homer) had scranned a bag o Hake aff da Alison Kay an aabody glippit dat doon wi a guid helping o maelie tatties an lumps an dadds o lightly salted lurpak clatchable gree fur added texture. Grant even hed a light sprinkling o peerie but muckle puckles o ready A peerie tyoon on da wye doonchappit peppercoarns. Mmmmmmm. Added delight. His face said it aa bairns. Eftir da very sam watch, Ross wis geen an faan by wi aa his claes on an wis lik a dried up skyumpie ready ta be baaled ida bogie fire, but he got himsel re-Couper-ated wi a 500ml can o vitamin T. A peerie tyoon on da wye doon
Wir hed a braly guid tune daday eftir dannir time learnin new tunes etc, followed by a peerie scar o oil-rig spotting, which is catching on around these parts of the North Sea. (SG & GN)

18th July

We were off the mouth of the Westerschelde in a fresh south westerly just as the darkness came down. The sea ran off as we moved in the river and soon we were in flat water. Antwerp is about 45 miles inland and is one of the largest ports in Europe. We had a fine run upriver overnight passing huge container ships on their way to the sea and massive complexes/factorys where the work never stops, the reek from them belching out into the night sky. Stars covered the clear sky overhead. The Antwerp docks stretch over a huge area and are all sheltered behind lock gates.

19th July

First day in AntwerpWe got to the first lock at 5am as the daylight was coming in and were able to get straight through and into the docks. First day in Antwerp
As the sun climbed and the temperature rose we peeled off the heavy North Sea gear and pulled on the T shirts, shades and shorts from the bottom of the bag. Sleeping bags and pillows were hauled out for an airing and soon the deck was covered with them.

Sat 24th July

Da Spretland Times: It’s dannir time so wir tuckin intae a corn o Belgian maet, cheese, pizza, loff an juice. Da sun is been beatin doon fae we raise dis morning aboot da foreside o 8 o’clock as we spok Phlegmish, rifted, crecksed, spret at an took on whilst makkin ready ta set aff fae da Bonapartdock whar we wir tied up neest ta a Polish boat caad “Kapitan Glowacki”. Da dregs o da crew dat wis been oot fur a final finale spree boarded da ship ta fin Peter speakin ta twartree o dir crew, so we (no names ta protect da guilty) took wir new 12 euro case o CrapPils lager an offered dem dat. Da brucks o da case is remaining daday minus 1 drunken at 11am ta quench da trist whilst pentin da capstan.

Brian paints capstanHalf da deck is been clerted wi a coatin o oil dis mornin as da musicians played an array o ‘lullabys ta clatch ta’.

Raw ScooperRaw Scooper wis provin difficult ta reesle earlier on as da culmination o female sailors an hard liquor took its toll on da debateless peerie oorick o a fellow. He’s fun energy reserves fae somewhar ta manage ta lay himsel oot on deck an generally get in da rod o Brian da Painting ClatchMaster General. Da spree dastreen wis a mixed affair. Spoons an William gud ta hang loose at “Hang(ov)er 26” (muckle building fur da sailors ta glip drams an schleps pan-foos o mussels). Meanwhile, Me, Raw, Nicol, Peter, Marc (wir liason officer) an Charlie attended a spree on da Esprit (pronounced ‘a-spree’). We spok ta a screed o Irish eens aboard an drank a modicum o peerie “aluminium breakfast size” cans o lager. Dan nature took its coorse an we hed ta disembark da yacht ta ease an impending grething requirement.

…………………………………………. Newsflash: Me and my co-writers for the Spretland Times have been informed by reliable sources that if Glenn’s goings on are revealed on this broadcast he will take thunderous flailing swapps and with strointing ferocity will labber us to da bowsprit wi a roond-moothed shivvel a his right haand an a left-handed tushkar a tidder. So it shant receive an airing as we are fairt. ………………………………………….

Laurie, Tommy an Liam gud ta dir local haunt which wis a Mexican place caad ‘Tropical Grill House’ as it wis da hidmaist night here an somehow or anidder dir favourite waitress got lifted by da authorities “Politie”. Dey wir forced dan ta opt fur a scar o italian fodder. On anidder note, Laurie is been keeping a diary o events on dis hole trip. We ir convinced it wid win Gold at da coveted Hams o’ Roe Post-Rooing Literature/Crö stenklin awards weekend. Peter is joost wakened fae a neeb – he appears ta be pintled an spret. (Close: SG / GJN / RAC) Thank you for takkin paice fur a peerie start an skoiting at dis lang winded insertion / rambling / rant. We are staying da night in Breskens doon by a sooth banks o WesterSchelde (pronounced ‘Waster Skeld’). NEEST

25th July

Heading to the start line at 0530The start line was 26 miles from Breskens so it was an early 0530 wake up and underway.

SunriseThe sun was just coming in as we headed out. A lot of other ships had either spent the night at anchor or in ports near the river mouth so there was a convoy of us motoring out. We got sails up and there was just enough wind to keep us moving. We had a good start and were over in first place but Astrid Finne was soon past and into the lead. The wind picked up from the west during the night and we had some good sailing making 7 to 8 kts straight towards the finish line. We have to call in twice a day to Race Control to report our position then they come back with the placings of all the ships. After 36 hrs we were 4th in class and 8th overall out of 72 ships.

CalmThe wind wasn't to last though and it fell away until we were wallowing in a glassy calm with sails slapping and mast hoops jangling.

Ross playing as a big Maersk container ship passes our sternWe were on the edge of the Texel traffic seperation scheme, a maritime dual carriageway that seperates shipping coming and going into some of the huge contenental ports. We took down the mainsail and mizzen and drifted with the tide around in a circle all night. We were too near the seperation scheme to chance anchoring or we would have done.

27th July

We got the sails set again at 0430 in a light westerly force 1 and were at least moving albeit at 1 to 2 kts. By the morning schedule we were 8th in class and 46th overall. Someone else had found the wind we were looking for during the night. We sailed on till early afternoon and a message came from Race Control to say that because of the conditions they may shorten the race by a day to allow all the ships to get to Aalborg in time for the 4 days there. We had commitments in Aalborg and with 300 miles still to go to the finish line, we very reluctantly made a decision to retire from the race. If we had sailed on the end of the race time we would have missed the first of two important receptions we were to hold for Danish companies onboard Swan in Aalborg partly to promote Shetland produce and to promote Shetland music. Shetland Smokehouse and Valhala Brewery were two Shetland sponsors for these events. Shetland Arts Trust are sponsoring the music for the entire Tall Ships event. From here we would motor up to Thyboron, at the west end of the Limfjord, throught the Limfjord and on to Aalborg. We should get there on the evening before the events start in Aalborg. We got the handline and caught a big bucket load of mackerel during the day and had an onboard BBQ at night to compensate.