During the evening and night the wind picked up and we were sailing close to the wind in forces of 30 knots, with two reefs in the mainsail and the jib. Later on the wind increased further to 35 knots and the jib was replaced by the staysail and a third reef in the mainsail. During the night and in squalls wind gusts of over 45 knots were measured, and the Sea Dragon was racing off and over ever increasing waves like an experienced surfer off Hawaiian waves.
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Sea Dragon was in her right element tacking in strong head winds and the crew experienced some real sailing. We set some Baltic Sea Expedition records; strongest wind, highest waves, fastest speed, number of people puking, number of pukes by a person, largest puke by a person. The crew was despite this in a good spirit during the whole week and sailing into Stockholm again was a calm and wonderful finish of leg 3.
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After the sampling we headed south to reach the next position. However, the weather turned worse during the day; first heavy rain, and later big waves. Despite that the windy weather made the sampling impossible and made several people seasick, this weather gave us a great chance to see this boat using its full potential, as the boat was heeling over.
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It was a beautiful Swedish sunny Saturday the 9th of August when the crew for leg 3 of this Baltic Sea Expedition gathered in the harbour of Sandhamn in the archipelago of Stockholm. We were all excited when approaching this magnificent sailing boat, the Sea Dragon, that was about to be our home for the next seven days. The aim of this trip is to set sail for the northern parts of the Gulf of Bottnia in the Baltic Sea and take samples of the water along the way.
Read MoreDisaster struck last week when our most important (and most advanced) sampler broke down. While enjoying nice temperatures on deck in the Swedish subtropical climate, the control unit of the 3-stage sampling pump just gave up. After several attempts to get it started again we had to accept that one part of the electronics had burnt out. Not an easy task to get this fixed in the middle of the Baltic Sea.
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After a steaming hot day in Sandhamn the discussion topics on deck last night seemed to be endless. Sea sickness, sleeping schedules, sailing strategies, Spotify lists with boat theme …..
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Jessika Hagberg (รrebro University) and Louise Hedenskog (Thorรฉn Business School, รrebro) throw the manta trawl in the water between Sweden and Germany in the southern part of the Baltic Sea. This excercise is repeated twice a day and trawling takes an hour each time most days of the expedition.
Read MoreFor the first trawl, the Manta went in by a ten point throw by Bert and Jonas, and the rest helped get organized for the remaining sampling using the pump and the bucket. When the pump was in the water, we where thrilled to get 15 minutes for a swim off the boat. It was absolutely fantastic!!!
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It was good to get sailing again, up the coast a few miles from Gothenburg towards a rocky cove near Marstrand, effortless motion in the flat water as the afternoon sea breeze built, followed by a swim in the oddly warm sea.
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We disembarked Sea Dragon three days ago, and waved goodbye to the most beautiful of homes. Since then, I have woken religiously in the middle of the night and it’s taken me a good while to realise that no, I am no longer at sea. And with this comes a deep thwack of regret.
Read MoreWe’ve had a great few evenings of talks, by the artists on board – chatting, collaborating and showing their work – and Rodrigo and Belinda, sharing their extensive experience around the world filming and researching whales. One of the best things I learnt, which I mused on last night as we followed the full moon through the murky darkness, was that humpback whales may navigate by the moon…
Read MoreWe could be the last people on earth, if it weren’t for the fact that we are passing through the oil fields of the North Sea, and strange alien like constructions breach the horizon where a few days ago we hoped to see whales. The first rig I saw was named ‘Heather’. Orbited by the lights of protective supply ships, fire spurted from her innards, like dragons nesting.
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