Unexpected Journey - 2. UJ Chapter 2

When we stepped out of the Airport terminal in Oslo, it was quite cold, but the sun was out, not that it made any difference with the temperature, and we caught a train into the city, to get to our hotel, as the airport is 50 kilometres to the North East of the city, then a taxi to the hotel, which is a good 2 kilometres from the main train station.

Mum was booked into her own suite, while Curtis and I shared an adjoining suite, and once we had settled in, we all went for a walk to explore the areas near to the hotel, and to find somewhere for some breakfast. Afterwards, we checked out the beautiful park that is almost directly across from the hotel, with its large fountain, and not that far away is the magnificent Royal Palace, which is very impressive.

After about three hours, we were all starting to feel the effects of the long-distance air travel so we headed back to the hotel for a good rest, and we ended up sleeping for about four hours, till the middle of the afternoon, and we just relaxed at the hotel for the remainder of the day.

The next day during a very early breakfast, Mum announced that we are taking a full day sail on a small sailing yacht, so as to get familiar with sailing before we start the journey on the much bigger tall ship, which I was informed is 64 metres long.

The smaller yacht that we are going on today, is 38 metres long, and we would be part of a group of tourists taking the sailing trip. Reluctantly, we agreed to go, not that we had a choice really, and after we changed and gathered a towel and change of clothes each, we set off in a taxi to the harbour, where we could see a number of tall ships, including one gigantic one.

“Is that the one we are going to join on Saturday?” I asked Mum nervously.

“No not that one, but it is very similar in size, so now you have an idea of what you will be going on” Mum replied.

“Bloody hell!” Curtis whispered so that only I could hear him, as he looked up towards the top of the masts, that must be nearly 30 metres up, “I am getting dizzy, just looking up that far” Curtis added, as we followed Mum towards the end of the wharf, where a smaller tall ship was berthed.

“Welcome to the Eldorado, this is a 38-metre long schooner, that is 6.5 metres wide, and has a draft of 3 metres, which means the distance from the waterline to the bottom of the yacht, and she has a steel hull.

We have onboard, a total of eight permanent crew. My name is Hans, and I am your skipper, my beautiful wife Anna, is your chef for your lunch, today’s journey to Tonsberg, six-hours, which will be the end of the journey for you and this yacht.

As of tomorrow, she will be loaded onto a cargo ship, and transported to its new home in Singapore” the skipper said, before beginning to say the same thing in German and French.

“Although we are a Dutch-flagged vessel, all the crew are Norwegian or Swedish, and all crew are fluent in English, and myself, my wife and Ingrid, the chief steward, are the only crew fluent in German and French,” the Captain said before translating into German and French.

Soon we were on our way, as the chef arrived with drinks for all the 30 passengers, and she continued the commentary, while the skipper headed to the bridge. Curtis and I stood on the mid-deck, watching the crew, as they unfurled the sails, and as they filled, the engine stopped, and all we could hear was the wind in our hair, and I absolutely loved the feeling.

The two-masted yachts, has two square sails and 4 different types of jibs, which do not require any climbing of the mast, some of the other passengers went below deck, and others including Mum headed to the undercover aft deck lounge area, with its two large tables.

Curtis and I took our time exploring the main deck of the yacht, watching the crew as they magically floated along the decks, not losing balance, as the yacht rocked from side to side, as a passing boat created waves.

We learnt that the eight crew consisted of the captain, 1^st officer, chef, senior steward, engineer, bosun and two stewards, who also multi-task as deckhands. After watching the deck crew at work for about an hour, as we headed south, we headed below, to explore what is on the two lower decks.

The mid-deck has a large galley and bar, plus dining seating for 22 people, plus the captain’s office. From this deck, there are two sets of stairs heading down, the forward's stairs, lead to the four guest cabins, each with their own bathrooms, with two double cabins and two twin bunk cabins, plus two twin bunk crew cabins.

We were informed that there is a crew quad bunk cabin, with a shared bathroom, that can be reached from the forward hatch. The aft stairs lead to the aft lounge, the captain’s cabin, and office lounge, plus the last guest cabin, and the extra stores.

I was quite impressed with the layout of the yacht, as we headed back up on deck, and checked out where the hatch is for the forward crew cabins, before heading to the aft seating area to join Mum, who was happily chatting with some of the other passengers, but not in English, and I soon realised that she may be speaking in Norwegian, which quite surprised me.

Once Mum had stopped talking, I looked at her with a frown, and she chuckled, “Well, I had no choice in learning the language, since my parents often spoke it at home when I was growing up” Mum said to me.

“Excuse me, Master Matias, your Mother informed us, that you and your friend are going on a large tall ship journey in a few days’ time, would you like to work alongside me, so you can get some experience, before then?” the Bosun, asked me, and I looked over to Mum who was smiling.

For the next two hours, Curtis and I were kept busy learning all about each of the ropes on the yacht, and what their use is, as well as learning some basic knots, that are used regularly.

By the time we sat down for lunch, Curtis and I were buzzing with excitement at our approaching big tall ship journey and everything we had learnt in just a couple of hours, and we demolished our lunch at breakneck speed, one because we were so hungry, and two because we wanted to get back to work.

By the time we arrived in Tonsberg, we had learnt a heck of a lot about sailing a yacht, and not once did I feel seasick, but Curtis was a little queasy for a while until he kept himself busy again. As the crew were preparing to moor the yacht at the wharf, Curtis and I were staring at the huge tall ship that was berthed just ahead of us.

“That is her, you will be onboard that tall ship in just over a day’s time,” Mum said to us, “Wow, it is huge” Curtis commented, and I nodded my head in agreement. “Are we staying here, or heading back to Oslo?’ I asked Mum, as the yacht was finally secured to the wharf.

“We are staying here, I arranged for our luggage to be sent down to here, while we were sailing today” Mum replied.

Once we had settled into our hotel for our two nights stay, we went for a bit of a walk around the town of Tonsberg, and we were told to check out the old site of a fort, on top of the hill that overlooks the harbour, which has some amazing views.

The next day, we relaxed as much as we could, knowing that we had a very busy 21 days ahead of us, and in the late afternoon, we wandered down to the wharf, which was only two blocks away, and Curtis and I slowly walked the length of the giant tall ship, that we will be on the next morning.

“Hello, will you be joining us tomorrow” came a voice from somewhere on the ship, but we couldn’t quite work out from where.

“Up here” he added, and we looked up to see a young man with a harness on, smiling at us from near the top of the ship, and I heard Curtis swallow loudly, “Yes, both of us, but my friend is not so sure about being up that high” I replied, as I gave a short wave.

“You get used to it after a while, look forward to seeing you tomorrow” the young man responded, returning the waves, and we continued walking. “I might ask Ms Madsen if I can change my mind, I’m not sure about this now” Curtis said to me, and I just smiled.

The next morning, we were all up early, and while having breakfast, I asked Mum about her plans once we board the ship. “Well, I will be watching you sail out of the harbour, then later today, I will catch a train back to Oslo, and another one, south-east to Sponvika, where I will be spending a few days, finding out a bit more detail about your inheritance.

On Wednesday, I will fly to Copenhagen, to watch you come into the city, I believe that you will have about 4 hours of shore leave when you get there.

I will spend a few more days there, before flying to Stockholm, to have a look around Sweden, then on to Helsinki, where I will wait till the ship arrives, and I will spend a day or two there, before flying to St Petersburg to watch you come into the harbour.

We will be staying one night there, and the next day we will fly back to London” Mum explained to us. “Sounds like you are going to have an excellent Scandinavian holiday, while we are at sea,” Curtis said to my Mum, “That I will be dear, and all thanks to my Uncle Jakob” Mum replied.

We had to be onboard the ship any time between 0800 and 0930 hours, and we had decided to get there early, so we had more time to settle in and get used to our new surrounds, so once breakfast was over, we packed our bags, and deciding to say goodbye to Mum at the hotel, Curtis and I walked down to the warm, for the start of our great sailing adventure, arriving there a few minutes before 0800 hours.

“Well we have some real early sea birds, I am Kristof, we spoke yesterday, but I was up on the mast then,” the same young man said as he stepped off the ship. “Hello, I am Matias, and this is my best friend Curtis, who I dragged along for this adventure,” I said making the introductions, and Kristof laughed.

“Well, welcome aboard, I am the 2^nd Bosun, we have 18 permanent crew onboard, and I have been sailing on this tub for almost two years now,” Kristof said.

“She is not a tub Bosun, retract that statement or you will be scrubbing the decks” came an unexpected loud voice, as a man in his 40’s approached.

“I am sorry skipper, but she is a tub, and I was just humouring our new volunteers, all the way from Australia, by the sounds of the accent,” Kristof said, and the Skipper laughed.

“Well maybe not scrubbing the decks, I think that is too good for you Bosun, I think walking the plank while at sea would be better. Welcome onboard, I am Captain Karl Ericson” the skipper said holding out his hand, which I shook.

“Thank you, Skipper, I am Matias Madsen, and this is my best friend Curtis Kingsley, and yes we are from Western Australia” I replied.

“Did I see you lads coming off the Schooner named Eldorado, a few days back?” the skipper asked.

“Yes sir, my mother who was with us for that trip down from Oslo, thought it best that we get some sailing experience before we started this 21-day journey since we had absolutely no experience before then” I replied.

“I would grab them for your team bosun, they could be a good asset for you, having some fresh sailing experience,” the skipper said to Kristof.

“Yes sir, I intend too, now that I know that” Kristof replied, “Good, well carry on, and see you both a little later in the morning,” the skipper said, as he headed off forward.

“Right, let's get you both settled into your cabin, I suggest that you get one that is fairly central to the ship, so you have a lot less rocking, and since you are the first to board, you can have one of the two twin cabins, next to the main crew cabins.

All the rest of the cabins are quad share, so you will be lucky enough to have a little more privacy than the rest” Kristof said to us, as we followed him onto the ship, and he led us down below.

Kristof’s cabin was just two doors down from ours, and we had single bunk beds, and Curtis immediately chose the lower bunk, so he was closer to the floor, which I didn’t mind.