ROLLING DOWN THE OCEAN. Ahoy!!!!! At 7:30 Carina woke us up with a crazy bodypump exercise (in the background someone was playing what some of us would call poor quality Dutch music), sleepy trainees got on their feet and started doing pushups and squats all over the place, getting the pulse up and out. Comments from the trainees “it was not hard, I would do it again!”. During this bodypump the crew got their act together and made the anchor go up and the ship was once again on its way towards the horizon's slow glowing light. Finally, we had the sun on our faces, leaving France was a rolling delight (well not really delight), ridiculously huge swells greeted us and literally tossed us back and forth like fluffballs in the wind. Everything onboard has been rolling from side to side and it’s been a kind of bad couple dancing experience just trying to walk or just sit still in one place. The wind has decided to not blow hard at all today so we are just motoring along, making the swells even worse xD. But “hey” it’s a hell of a roller coaster ride! Right in this writing moment, we encounter a group of dolphins jumping around the boat, I quickly ran out and joined the trainees trying to catch a glimpse of these beautiful creatures, while sliding along the deck. In about 3 weeks or so the trainees will do a takeover of the boat, this means that they will learn skills from the crew and then apply for our jobs as deckhands/captain/bosun.. and finally they will do it themselves, taking over the boat. So after having a wonderful and lovely self-study xD and as always a very Happy “Happy hour” the trainees themselves could decide what kind of skills they want to obtain from the crew. Tony had Sander D and Hesselhoff (Hessel) for a visit in the aft and Navigation room, as far as I could understand they were having a chill time cruising along with cool captain Tony. Apparently Jelte the first mate had set a new course which was fairly interesting as Tony could not figure out the reason behind it xD Dee (our awesome doctor) gave the trainees a tutorial in practical medical skills. We had some bananas and sponges in need of some stitching of “wounds”. While stitching bananas Marijke almost “fainted” during the procedure, “oh I can see the inside of the banana, ooew..”. The general feelings during this tutorial were the following: “I'm not sure we are helping these bananas and sponges, maybe we are killing them”! Jeskaaaaaaaa (Jeske) caught some trainees and brought them into the bow net to teach them how to be safe and sound. Sonic (Sander V) Niki and Arienne had a fantastic time with lots of fun, they told me that they felt kind of safe. At one moment they saw a Jellyfish, and they did not want to become wet! Astonishing news from Nadine the Chef, Steam oven is working again, It’s a miracle!! “ I think the machine just decided to take breakiii for a while!” Nadine said with a big smile on her face. Tony says that we are where we are because he wanted to see something, what it still stays a mystery! Sander D was trying to dance on the roll of the swells but could not find the rhythm and slipped and tumbled on his butt like a penguin. Seasick Kees (one of the teachers) experienced a lovely day while not being seasick, the comments from him was: “the ocean looks flat but every now and then these crazy swells surprise me!”. The superhappy engineer made a self-opening anchor hatch, it filled him with love and you watching it open again, again and again. Me (Joontii) and Nitro (Nico) from the crew went up in the foremast doing some work, and while swinging from side to side like birds hanging from a tree in a hurricane Nitro saw a shark in the water. I went down quite quick because of seasickness xD but the Viking Nitro stayed and finished his work! Altogether a day full of swells, rolling and people flying all over the place, with a great smile on their faces. Over and out From Joontii Fair Winds

TODAY WAS A DAY FULL OF UPS (Oct 23rd) downs and turns on the Wylde Swan. We arrived in the Douarnenez area overnight but were not able to anchor into the actual city bay until the morning and so we set anchor. We woke up for a late breakfast and test day for our trainees. We were hoping to heave anchor immediately but had some technical difficulties that were fixed by our trustee engineer. However, our arrival not the town of Douarnenez was delayed until the late afternoon. We had a nice lunch followed by some trainees helping me with Dutch lessons with was both helpful and very fun. We then had a productive “happy hour” including setting some sails for our 45 min sail into the town. As soon as we weighted anchor we set the trainees loose for a couple of hours in town. We had them back in time for supper followed by a game of “human word jumble” organized by Richel including costumes and crew participation. We are now off to bed with the swell rocking us to sleep before another day starts in Bretagne. Dee Ship Docter Wylde Swan #Masterskipwyldeswan

SEA SICK SUNDAY!! Wat een week en wat een dag. Je blijft jezelf en elkaar toch echt uitdagen om met een zeilschip in oktober/ November Zuid te varen. Uitdagingen genoeg voor iedereen. We zijn nu iets meer dan een week onderweg. De wind bijna altijd zw van 4 tot windkracht 10. Gelukkig waren we optijd in Falmouth om te schuilen voor de storm. De straat van Dover viel vies tegen, stroming kwam net niet uit en wind was veel meer dan voorspeld. We kwamen er niet meer tegenin met de motor, (lees: 1 knp achteruit.) Mainsail erbij en beetje motorzeilen overstagjes naast Traffic Separation Zone. Dover control was het er niet mee eens, maar ja toen ik ze uitlegde dat we liever niet achteruit varen in Separation zone mochten we doorgaan. 10 Nm zuid in 6 uur…. Poeh…. En waarom gebeuren dat soort dingen altijd ‘s nachts met regen? Ondanks de tegenwind gaat het echt bijzonder goed met trainees en crew. Wat een bikkels hebben we aan boord. Ze maken er elke keer weer een feestje van. Blij in zeilpak in de tender storm kijken, Liedjes maken en zingen met een zee van 5mtr hoog, voor de 3e keer spontaan gaan afwassen omdat hun nieuwe vrienden te ziek zijn, glaasjes water halen voor SeaSickKees etc. We hebben vanmorgen in dikke wind de 6 moring lijnen losgekreken en zijn onderweg gegaan naar Douganez in Frankrijk. De Swell en wind waren beide zeer aanwezig maar gedurende dag namen beide af. Het gaat net lukken om optijd voorbij Ile D’ouessant te komen voordat de stroom en wind tegen ons in draaien. En wat een prachtschip is het toch, ze huppelt vrolijk van piek naar dal.(niet iedereen vind dat huppelen zo'n lekker gevoel, vandaar SeaSickSunday. Ik denk dat we dinsdagmiddag weer vertrekken uit Douganez om de Golf van Biscay over te steken, zouden we dan toch nog een lekker hogedruk gebied krijgen? Ik leg voor de zekerheid mijn slippers en korte broek maar klaar. Warme groet vanaf de Wylde Sea! Kapitein Tony van den Bos

FALMOUTH @ anchor

MASTERSKIP WYLDE SWAN invites you to join! More info: www.masterskip-wyldeswan.com

HAPPY OFFICERS at custom clearance. A warm welcome @ Falmouth Haven!! At the left: captain Tony, at the right: first mate Jelte.

WE ZEILEN!!! Sinds dinsdagavond hebben we de wind in de rug en is er genoeg wind om te kunnen zeilen. We varen onder de Engelse kust, al is die niet in zicht. Het is heerlijk om rustig door het water te gaan, voortgestuwd door de wind, wiebelend op de golven. Omdat we deze week al een paar keer sailtraining hebben gehad weten we de namen van de zeilen en alle lijnen die aan de zeilen zitten. Even herhalen: de zeilen hijs je met een halyard en haal je naar beneden met de downhaul. Het bedienen van de stand van de zeilen doe je met de sheets. En opruimen gebeurt met gaskets: daarmee bind je het zeil bij elkaar. De voertaal bij sailtraining is Engels want we varen met een internationale crew. Gisteravond is ook het wachtlopen begonnen voor de trainees. Er zijn vier wachten van 2 uur tussen 18:00 uur en 02:00 uur. Tijdens het wachtlopen leer je van alles over het zeilen: sturen, om je heen kijken en waar je dan op moet letten, kompas aflezen, koershouden, etc. Maar ook help je met het hijsen, strijken of bijstellen van de zeilen. En het is heel erg gezellig met de crew op het achterdek! Iedereen is vandaag weer een stukje fitter dan gister, omdat we een veel rustiger nacht op zee hebben gehad dus beter geslapen hebben. Maar ook omdat de ergste zeeziekte voorbij is. We kunnen zelfs met z’n allen gewoon zelfstudie en een centrale les doen in de main hold. Gister waren er een paar trainees en docenten die dit echt niet vol konden houden omdat ze er te ziek voor waren. Gelukkig is dit vandaag voorbij. En vanmiddag gaven Nienke, Jeske en Dee ons een uitgebreide sailtraining, de eerste terwijl we echt aan het zeilen zijn! Geschreven door Nynke, Onderwijs coördinator PS. Het allerleukste vandaag!? We zagen dolfijnen!!

AHOY BABY SAILORS your gear is ready! #YoungCrew

GOODBEY WYLDE SWAN last Saturday. They are now struggling nearby Dover against the current and wind.

@PORT HARLINGEN - Till next year for The Tall Ships Races!! Join us!!! www.wyldeswan.com/voyages/tallshipsrace2018/ Thanks, to Nicolette van Berkel for the photo.#TheTallshipsRacesHarlingen

FIRST MATE JELTE was shortly on his home island Terschelling with the Wylde Swan last night. Navigating now down the Vliestroom on the way to Falmouth.

VISIT FROM A SMALL SHIP (Pride of the Fleet)!! When, in 1974, Pride of the Fleet was built, her makers could not imagine why in the world an owner would like to be his boat's deck red. Who wants that? They could not have known that "Pride" would since be the subject of much more crazy stuff. She was sailed across the North Sea dozens of times, often single-handedly, engineless and without modern instruments, or even watertight compartments. From Denmark to South-West England, crossing shipping lanes on oars. She hosted our family of four for weeks. It was old-fashioned and certainly traditional. But much changed when her current owner joined the Wylde Swan, where safety, besides tradition, is key. In the picture, Pride is ready to be transported to the yard to get a radical refit after 43 years at sea. Next year she will no doubt meet the latest SOLAS requirements too. Victor #smallship #tallship #sailing