Day of arrival

I spend the night travelling from Amsterdam to Göthenborg, to board the ship the Göthenborg. A fantastic replica off an 18th century ship. The first man on board I shake hands with, introduces himself as Bjorn. I do not want to stereotype the Swedish but I could not surpress a smile on my face. Dazzled by the look off the ship, I slide down some steps and get a warm welcome from the crew. All off them, at the same time: “Hello!” I feel at home immediately. This is going to be a trip to remember.

My name is Marvin and I am from Amsterdam, lucky enough to get a chance to set sail to Amsterdam on the Göthenborg where it will be docked during SAIL Amsterdam 2010. A big nautical event that takes place every 5 years. On board of the Göthenborg we will be performing a musical for kids. The actors of the musical joined me for the trip. For two weeks I have been anxious as a little boy to finally board the ship. I am not a sailor at all, but a chance to be like Jack Sparrow is one that should be taken.

After meeting the captain, who has a wicked sense off humor, we get introduced to Carolina who tells us that she is our shipmate. She will be taking care off us as if she is our mother. She’s very straight forward about it all. I like her style. “You will be on the mid-deck watch, on the shift from 1600 – 2000… “. That’ s not to bad I thought,  “…and from 0400 – 0800 “. Whoops! After giving me some time to get over the “dog shift” , she tells me I am number 41. “Number 41?” I asked.

She explains to me that the Göthenborg works with a system with numbers, that’s really easy, because everything responds to this number. The box were you can stoll your bag, it indicates were you can hang your hammock, and in case of fire you can easily recognize if a “number” is missing by standing in line. Even your climbing harness. Yes M’am we are going up the mast!

It is quit clear that I have stept into a completely different world. With its own rules, names and total lack of privacy. I was expecting this to happen, but I think this trip is going to go overboard on the cool factor. Can’t wait till tomorrow so I’m off to my hammock now, to get a little bit of sleep. Tonight we will have the safety briefing at eighteenhundred….