Baltic Research: Ingo

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Day 1 – 23rd of July 2022, Saturday

Today we all arrived in Gothenburg together. We got to meet all the participants from different countries. Ingo hadn’t arrived yet so we all went to a scouting club to spend the night. We did a lot of activities to get to know each other. We also prepared the country presentations and ate some Swedish tacos for dinner. After dinner we all got together around the campfire and roasted marshmallows. Then we had some free time and later we went to bed. I think this was a great start to our adventure. – Sophie, Midship Watch 12-4.

Day 2 – 24th of July 2022, Sunday

Today we woke up, packed and had a delicious breakfast. We got the bus to the port and dropped our stuff. We travelled to Gothenburg and explored the city. Then we met in a beautiful park where we did some fun group activities. My personal favourite was the acting game, we also shared our hopes and fears for the trip. Afterwards we made our way to Ingo and met the Swedish crew and got settled in. – Grace, Midship Watch 12-4.

We woke up at 7 am with loud music, the first one was ‘I got you’ by James Brown. Then we had delicious breakfast and cleaned everything. When that was done, we had to walk to the bus with all of the bagage and went back to Gothenburg. There we had some spare time to look around and shop before we had lunch in the park. After this we did a couple of games to practice the team work and get to know each other. Then we walked to the Ingo for the first time, which was really exciting! We ate sausages with pasta and roasted vegetables which were really delicious so a big compliment to the cook! When our dinner was eaten, we played a lot of different cards games which were really nice! After this we slept for the first time on Ingo. – Portside Watch 8-12.

Day 3 – 25th of July 2022, Monday

We were woken up by the crew with the song ‘It’s raining men’. We felt some rain on our feet, and the whole boat was leaking. The crew tried to figure out where the leaks were coming from, while we got all the safety instructions. We all got to climb the mast and after that we were told that we would change ship. The Ingo had to be repaired, so we went to Kvartsita. We got on a bus to the other ship and sailed for about an hour.

In the evening we got an introduction about The Ocean Movement by Maarten. After this we finally got to shower and some of us even swam. We all went to bed quite early that day, because of the hectic morning we got. – Portside Watch 8-12.

Day 4 – 26th of July 2022, Tuesday

After having breakfast and cleaning the boat, we did a beach clean-up on Kornö. It was quite scary to see how much trash we found, but at the same time it was a great experience. It was peaceful to walk on the beach as the sun was shining and with the sound of the sea. We started sailing after lunch (this time a little bit longer than the previous day 🙂 ) and then we heard that Ingo was ready, so we went to Lysekil to drop off Tobbe and Linn so they could take Ingo to the same harbour. While Tobbe and Kristian were doing that, we spent some time in Lysekil, showered and bought some groceries, and then we had the first harbour night watch, during which Ingo came back! – Selma, Midship Watch 12-4.

After breakfast we cleaned Kvartsita and after that we cleaned the Island. When we left Kornö we set sail while still tied to the bridge. We made a really nice departure with the schooner and the forestay sail. Soon after the departure we set the rest of the non-top sails. Then we sailed for a couple of hours before arrival. – “The stars”, Starboard Watch 4-8.

Day 5 – 27th of July 2022, Wednesday

Today I woke up and had a lovely breakfast as usual. Straight after breakfast we cleaned up our ship and moved back to Ingo. I think we all settled in nicely. We started sailing shortly after lunch and I was a part of the first watch. After my watch I got the chance to sit in the net attached to the bowsprit, it was such a great feeling. We had a traditional Swedish dinner today and were informed of some Swedish cultures and traditions by our lovely Swedes. – Micah, Midship Watch 12-4.

This morning we woke up on the lovely Kvartsita, still in the harbour of Lysekil. We had all had our first night watch at the port last night. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, except the arrival of our newly repaired Ingo. After breakfast, we split up in our three watches to clean and tidy the borrowed ship, as well as prepare the Ingo for our return. We all moved our stuff into the now dry bunks, and then spent some spare time on shore. Around 11:30, we all returned to the ship. We played some card games, and had lunch in the bright sun.

Some time later, we got ready to leave again, on our 52-hour mission to Malmö. After setting the sails all together, the first watch (12-4) took position. There was not too much wind, but it was a beautiful sailing day. We passed some really cute villages and tiny islands while sailing under a clear blue sky. At 16:00 Starwatch took over, and around 19:00 we had dinner on board. At 20:00 Portwatch replaced us, and according to the new ceremony, they wished us a good rest, and we wished them a good watch. We also gave them a question to reflect on during their watch, and then we all went down to get as much sleep as possible before our next shift, early next morning. – “The stars”, Starboard Watch 4-8.

Day 6 – 28th of July 2022, Thursday

Starboard watch had an early morning today. At 3:45 we were woken up by midwatch to get ready for our 4-8 shift. It was a pretty and peaceful shift: the sun was slowly rising and the waves were calm. Unfortunately that also meant the shift before us had taken down the sails because of a lack of wind. Sometime into our shift, however, it was good enough again to raise them – so that’s what we did. We hoisted the head sails, the schooner, and the main sail. Besides that, we just circled around the regular three positions: first look-out, second look-out, and helmsman. After breakfast, our watch went back to our bunks to sleep; when we woke up an hour or two later, we joined our fellow shipmates to practice some knots”. – “The stars”, Starboard Watch 4-8. “

We woke up slightly late for breakfast which made us hungry 🙁 Really enjoyable watch. Lovely sunny weather. After watch, we had an ‘all hands muster’. We had chilli for lunch, it was very tasty. We cleaned downstairs very well. Very sparkly when we were finished. The Dutchies started cooking dinner at 15:00. They made pancakes. Some were plain, some had bacon and the others had cheese. We played the empathy game as a group. It was like therapy. One of the questions was ‘If your mind was an Island, what would it be like?”. I painted a picture of what mine would look like. We all painted + drew pictures. It was really nice.

The Dutchies prepared a quiz for us. I won a clog pencil. After dinner we went for a sunset swim. It was incredible. We then had a really enjoyable watch. We played charades. – Portside Watch 8-12.

Day 7 – 29th of July 2022, Friday

We were still sailing so we woke up just before midnight for our 12-4 watch. Sophia made a nice plate of Stroopwafel chocolate and candy for us. The Stroopwafels were from the Dutch day which they forgot but were very welcome in the night. We also did some charades which was a nice and fun activity during the night to make the time go faster. At the end of the watch, it became very foggy which was a challenge for the lookout. At 4 it was time to go to bed.

We slept until lunch, after lunch we had an “all hands on deck” call and sailed together. We also cleaned the whole ship during happy hour.

After that we waited to go the island of Ven. We had to wait so the captain decided we could swim 🙂 Afterwards we couldn’t go the Island so we went to Landskrona instead. – Maarten, Midship Watch 12-4.

When we reached Landskrona, the Irish members of the ship presented their country presentation and prepared a meal of Shepard’s pie! Afterwards, we were allowed to walk around the city before our watches. We went to a carnival that was in the city. – “The stars”, Starboard Watch 4-8.

Day 8 – 30rd of July 2022, Saturday

Today we arrived in Malmö, we did a big clean up on the Ship to prepare for the open ship. Sofia prepared a lovely lunch for us, which contained some leftovers from the days before. I helped her with cutting olives, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese for the pasta. After lunch we joined together for a beach clean-up with Maarten. The weirdest thing I found was a sleeping bag. At 16:00 we had some time to finally take a well-deserved shower. Then all of us ate dinner on shore before our next activity. For that, we were divided into groups and given a tea bag. We had to trade the teabag with locals and see who could get the most valuable thing out of it.  – Sophie, Midship Watch 12-4.

Sometime in the afternoon, we arrived in the port of Malmö. We completed the second part of Maarten’s plastic quiz, and then set off for our second beach clean-up. Some people stayed at the coast side to go for a swim, while others went back to the port for a shower. We had a delicious dinner at 18:30. After dinner, Tami had planned another activity: trade a tea bag up to something more valuable. We were split into groups and went into the city in search of traders – while simultaneously spreading the word of Sunday’s Open Ship Day. – “The stars”, Starboard Watch 4-8.

Day 9 – 31st of July 2022, Sunday

Sunday morning was a time of cleaning and preparation for the Open Ship Day. We cleaned downstairs, upstairs, and repainted the ladders on the deck. After having lunch on the quayside, our first visitors arrived. We showed them around and told them about our journey. We were open from 13:00 to 18:00. After some hours however, it was quiet enough so that most of us could go for our third beach clean-up. We collected three bags of trash at the coast side of Malmö.

After the clean-up, some of us went back to the ship, but most of us went for a swim at a pier close by. – “The stars”, Starboard Watch 4-8.

On Sunday the crew let us sleep in for an extra hour. We got woken up at 09:00 and had a big Sunday breakfast. Sophia made delicious eggs with bacon and it was fun to have a chill morning. After the breakfast we cleaned the Ship and prepared for the open boat. We drew flags on our faces with all the different nationalities. We showed a lot of people around and it was nice to answer some questions about the Ship. We also got to do another beach clean-up and afterwards we had a nice swim. In the evening we got a night off and ate dinner at Max, which is kind of like McDonald’s but with a lot of vegan options. After dinner some of us went to the city centre and some of us headed back to the Ship. – Portside Watch 8-12.

Day 10 – 1st of August 2022, Monday

On Monday a couple of people went on a run through Malmö, they ran 5km. Also Alba left us because she had to go home which was really sad 🙁 After this we went to another place in same harbour (I think) for fresh water. We also had to drop the garbage before we went back to Gothenburg. When all the boring things were done we set sail and we had to tack a lot because the wind came from the front. I liked it a lot because we could do a lot. As dinner we had falafel which was really nice and then a lot of us went to bed because of the night watches. – Starboard Watch 4-8.

Day 11 – 2nd of August 2022, Tuesday

I woke up today bright and early for my shift at 4 am. We had a really nice watch, where I saw the sunrise for the first time and ate brownies that Sofia made for us. Unfortunately the waves were very strong and the boat was very rocky, which lead to the mizzen sail breaking, Adrian went up to fix it but then threw up while on watch, and a bunch of other people did it too 🙁

We then arrived in Glommen around 10 am, a small but pretty island. After lunch, we had our last plastic quiz with Maarten and Patty won! We then had a very cool workshop where we learned how to make our own, environmentally-friendly, toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo from scratch. For dinner we had delicious meatballs and potato salad and at 8 pm we set sail for our next location. It was a good day. –Starboard Watch 4-8.

Day 12 – 03rd of August 2022, Wednesday

We woke up in the middle of the night to go on our watch.

We went up the deck, and it was storming like crazy. The crew decided that it was too dangerous to sail, so we docked at Donsö.

In the morning we had a nice breakfast and we tried to do a beach clean-up. Our captain had a migraine, so unfortunately we couldn’t sail that day. It was actually quite nice to have a night off. We played some music and danced all night. – Nina, Midship Watch 12-4.

I woke up at 5:30 and had not been woken up for my shift at 4:00. I panicked until I realised we weren’t moving. We were out of the storm and moored. I went back to sleep and woke up peacefully for breakfast. A calm start to a nice and well-deserved rest day. We took a walk with Maarten and the rest of the group to the top of the mountain. When we got back we ate lunch and me and Paddy were volunteered against our will to sew the sails. After about half-an-hour of figuring it out, we set off at a good pace to finish before Christmas dinner of 2025. The rip was 2,5 meters! We took a short break to get a tour of the sister-ship WestKust. When we got back we measured that it took 1:45 minutes per single stitch. I broke the needle. We were screwed. We gave up and went to shower. When I got back there was already a party full going. We danced all night until we slowly struggled back to bed to wake up at 6am for our nightshifts. – Adrian, Starboard Watch 4-8.

So second stormy night this time. Everyone was optimistic in the beginning, but at 2 the captain decided to go to a harbour. My shift ended at 12, and I was so tired I fell asleep right away and slept through it. When I was helmsman I had to hold on for my life. When I woke up I was very disoriented. We had breakfast and went out for a nice walk to the top. It was very windy with typical Swedish grey weather. In the afternoon the sun came through and we all went out for good coffee, finally! The little sister of Ingo, WestKust was also in the harbour, and we got to have a tour. The ship was very fancy and polished, with a steering room and cosy beds. I’m jealous now. We had sandwiches with smoked fish for dinner, and headed for the shower. At night we played music on deck and danced until midnight. Even the steerman, Andreas came to show his dance moves. It was a good night. – Portside Watch 8-12.

Day 13 – 04th of August 2022, Thursday

Since we were already close to Gothenburg, there was no need to sail during the night yesterday. We did have port watch during the night however, like we always do when we stay in a harbour for the night. We all woke up around 8:00 to get ready for breakfast on deck. After breakfast, it was time to clean up the ship. With the storm and party in the days before, it had become quite a mess. Now it’s all tidy and clean again. We left the island around 10:30. We dropped off the broken mizzen sail so it can be repaired, and second, we refilled the gas tank. We also had some lentil soup with fresh bread for lunch on the way.

In the early afternoon, we arrived in the port of Gothenburg where we will stay for the night. We covered the sails and hung up a tarp on deck to protect the ship from the expected rain. When it actually started, we all sat downstairs in the saloon and did several activities. We wrote letters to our future selves and each other, talked about ways to be more sustainable at home, and presented the environmental regulations and education of our countries. Finally, we went to a shop and sat outside at the port (it had stopped surprisingly soon). – Tamara, Midship Watch 12-4.

This morning we woke up on Donsö with nice weather! We had breakfast and cleaned the boat over and under deck. We then went to Gothenburg to drop of a sail that had to be fixed, had lunch, and then went to an island called Öckerö. It started raining really bad, and there was a yellow storm warning, so we had to cover up the sails. We then wrote letters to ourselves and to other people, that we are going to get at Xmas. It’s a super cute project and I can’t wait for mine to arrive! – Portside Watch 8-12.

Day 14 – 05th of August, Friday

Today was our last day of sailing.  🙁 – Grace, Midship Watch 12-4.