Up she goes!

Robbie gets things organisedThe day dawned with a clear sky and before long the sun was blazing down on the forest of masts that lined Alesunds inner harbour. The waterfront was a scene of activity as the fleet prepared to leave. Bleary eyed sailors stood in queues at the showers and toilets. An excess of farewell partying the previous evening was evident in the motley line up. I heard,"Never again", in four different languages. One Swedish lad said, "There is a carpenter inside my head and he's doing a pretty rough job". Most crews were busy with undressing their ships. Down came the flags and lights and the pennants from previous Tall Ship races. Some Shelties came down to say geerio and wish us well. The supermarket was like a bee hive as crews did last minute stocking up. The torfisk man was battering out the last crangs of cod he had in his barrow. Every boat had a set time to leave harbour and come 11.30 we were slipping our ropes to head out. The musicians played us away from the pier and the crowd of people who had come to see us off clapped and cheered us on. "Thank you Alesund!", we shouted in return for what had been a splendid host port. At the harbour mouth a male choir dressed in suitable nautical fashion sang sea shantys and waved their caps to us as we fell in line to motor out.

Once outside the harbour we got all sail set and sailed over to our mustering area to await our turn in the parade. The sequence for this parade was for a group of three of us smaller class B and C vessels to file in behind each one of the big class A ships. So it would be one big ship followed by three smaller ones, then one big, three small all the way down the line. It was what the harbour board called a "duck and ducklings". We were all positioned to the north of the town and the parade would take us past the harbour mouth and down through the fjords. The harbour tug "Sjobrannsproyta" with her high pressure water hoses jetting out from each side led with the "Statsraad Lehmkuhl"as the first of the class A Tall Ships behind. We were to follow the Omani ship, "Shabab Oman", along with Lotos and Provident.
Swan and Provident

Swan and ProvidentAs we waited there was a call from the Dutch ship "Eendract". They needed a fast rescue boat and an an ambulance. While hoisting sail one of her main booms had dropped two metres onto the head of one of the female crew on board. Her condition was described as serious. They pulled out of the line and made ready to transfer her onto the rescue boat.

Our turn came and with fiddles blazing we sailed past the saluting vessel,"Alesund". A cannon boomed out from her side and we gave them a blast on our old klaxon. Soon everyone was peeling of to go seperate ways. Some inland to Geiranger, some out to sea and we set a course to take us to the small island of Silda just north of Maloy where we had planned a quiet night.

Just before midnight we motored into the stillness of Silda's small harbour. A peaceful scene. No wind. A light in a window here and there as people prepared for bed. The musicians were up on deck to play us in as we were tying alongside the restored "Valentine" who had gone in 10 minutes before. Then we saw the pier was full of people! A gang had come out from Maloy to welcome us in! Before long they were dancing across the deck of "Valentine" and on board us. "Welcome to Silda"!...