We Embraced the Square Sails
Morgenster Exchange@sea, July 2024
by Trainees and Mentors
22nd of July
Blue Watch, 16:00-20:00
Under motor
Rainy/cloudy, windy (4B)
Kazlijn and Levente
Climbing the mast was an experience. We got to know the boat from a different perspective. There was a lot of wind in the mast for example. We all stepped a bit our of our comfort zones. We also learned to make a half hitch. Then we changed the rigging to the starboard side and learned to use the different braces.
Red Watch, 20:00-00:00
Motor + sail
Cloudy, windy, wavey
Max ad Kathlijn
We went on sea and set the sails. Yard sails 2, 3, 4 on foremast and mainmast, and jib sails 1 and 3. Kathelyn went in the mainmast all by herself in pitch darkness. WHAT A BADASS!
23rd of July
White Watch, 00:00 – 04:00
Under sails
Cloudy but clearing up, windy, wavey
Emilie nad Ruth
We set sail at 2 in the afternoon and left Antwerpen. We have all tried to climb the masts (super fun!) On our shift we have continued our journey north with the moon behind us. A lot of people are seasick but we’re happy to be here. I love Morgenster.
Currently we’re having toasties while writing (so excuse us if it’s greasy). We’re using the same sails.
(White watch is the best one, Alex said it!)
Blue Watch, 04:00 – 08:00
Engine off, sailing
Cloudy / drizzly
Written by Emma van der Zant & Kyro
Today we embraced the square sails because the winds changed direction, and took in one of the front sails becuase it didn’t take enough wind. No special programme. Many people were sleepy, dizzy and seasick.
White Watch, 12:00-16:00
We had lunch. We had happy hour. We wanted to collect a plastic sample but were too fast so we lowered the topgallant and the royal. We deployed the manta trawl and collected for 30 minutes. Once we were done we redid the topgallant and the royal fore course. Nice sailing, 7 knots.
25th of July
Red Watch, 08:00-12:00
Written by Emma F.
All hands on deck!
We left the harbour of Terschelling. We set many sails. Lothar was steering. Noelle introduced us to the knots.
Quote of the watch: „I look like my mother while steering the ship.” – Lothar, Head Mentor
Blue Watch
We are currently at sea, we had some nice winds so sailing was nice. We are having some strong waves and a bit of rain. We learned about the sails and their positions depending on the wind, as well as some knots and about the lights at night.
Red Watch
Written by Marte
We were so far from land that we had a 360° view of the ocean.
Safety precaution: watch out always when opening doors so you don’t hit always someone in the eyebrow always.
We shared some secrets but they are secret so we won’t tell.
White Watch
Written by mentors Maria & Alex
Left Terschelling harbour around 9 am. Hoisted all the sails; last trainees got climbing course and Noelle explained the different ropes. We had lunch on deck: soup and salad. Happy hour with helicopter dance learned from the crew. Gathering in saloon to think about national dinner, handed out trainee logbooks, introducing the murder game.
Maarten from The Ocean Movement (TOM) did a quiz on plastic pollution.
4 pm snack, some fruits fell on deck but trainees acted like seagulls.
All the people who did not have to be up on deck slept in the saloon or cabins.
White watch started at 12. We saw the plankton which is glowing.
Bart gave navigation charts training and explained how to fill in ship’s logbook.
Games: whispering story, story where everyone tells a sentence, 2 truths and 1 lie.
Trainees taught each other how to steer.
No one was seasick!
At 2 we had Noelle’s sandwiches (toasties).
26th of July
Blue Watch 04:00-08:00
Written by Vivien & Emma F.
Under sails
Cia started singing in German „Nasenspitze.” Had lovely toasties at 5:30. Still discussing German translations. Quiet shift so far.
Red Watch, 08:00-12:00
Written by: Mathea & Chelsea
Forbidden word of the day: „always.” If you say it, you have to do pushups so there is plenty of exercise!
We have a guest – a small little stint bird.
We put up all the jibs and the stay sail and spanker, and after that we played some black stories. Then it was time for sail training.
During the sailing exercise we were interrupted by whales! A northern bottlenose, we’re 99% sure.
After the whale we pissed off everyone with the intercom and Lothar did a lot of pushups, singing a beautiful song.
Total pushup count: around 48.
White Watch, 12:00-16:00
Written by: Emilie and Stella
We have been sailing this whole watch. It’s been sunny and windy, so we were very happy. We were a little sad that we missed the whale, but when we got lunch we were happy again (credits to Natalia). We had a happy hour, and after that we had a dance party.
We started working on the presentations of our countries.
We took down the sails so that we could put out the manta trawl.
Blue Watch, 16:00-20:00
Written by Vivien
First we had some biscuits while sitting in the sun. After that, we set the forcourse and gallant. We also saw another sailing vessel!
Red Watch, 20:00-00:00
Emelie, Jonah
We saw a beautiful sunset. We did a photoshoot. No good pictures. Only Lothar was beautiful. He does not need a sunset.
Many many people climbed the mast (very cool). Kyro did a show, he was great. And Levente was playing the violin like he was born with it.
27th of July
Blue Watch, 04:00-08:00
At sea, under sails, engine off.
Beautiful sunrise, few clouds.
Emma Fox, Kyro
Woke up 20 minutes early. Yet we were too late. We had a fun, productive watch. And we shared a lot of stories.
Highlight of the day: we were on a collision course with a fishing boat so we had to redirect the ship.
Red Watch, 08:00-12:00
At sea, sunny
This morning we had a big discussion about sprinkles. In Belgium and the Netherlands they eat it on bread (with butter). But in Norway and Germany they eat it pure. And they find it really strange that we eat it on bread.
The forbidden words of this shift are short forms. Examples: can’t à can not, I’m à I am.
Nutella with butter: 5.
Nutella withouth butter: 12.
Brace! Brace! Brace!!
We made it crazy by playing guitar and singing some songs. Klaas and Kathelijn were giving some guitar lessons and teaching international songs.
We pulled up the Norwegian flag while some Nordic girls were singing the national anthem. It is the most beautiful flag there is! 🇳🇴
We see land! We are planning our revenge on Fanny because she is really stressing us out when we have to wake up. PS. It’s not personal!
The first time we saw land was at 9:43. We are really looking forward to Norway!
White Watch, 12:00-16:00
Written by: Boudyn, Emma B., Evelien
When we came outside we saw land. We enjoyed the sun while taking away the gallant and the royal on both masts.
The lunch was amazing and then we had a happy hour. Afer that there was a music party on deck. Then we went on the bowsprit and took away two of the jibs, after which we played the Titanic at the end of the bowsprit.
Blue Watch, 16:00-20:00
Written by Cia
During our watch Fanny and Rob taught us all the names of the sails and masts again, as well as some navigation. Especially the navigation was really interesting. We learned how to plot or predict where we will be in an hour. We also learned about the bearings and how to determine your position when GPS fails. So we are practicing that tonight, when we will be closer to the Danish coast and we will be able to see lighthouses. We also used a sextant to determine our position on the map.
Good vibes, good shift.
29th of July
Red Watch, 08:00-12:00
Knot time! After we braced the sails and set the forecourse we had little to do so we tied some knots, like bowline, clove hitch, and many more!
Then we did a massage train, which was great for sore shoulders. We also took down the top royal. The sunset was beautiful, pink and orange, and someone claimed that they saw the green light at the very end of the sunset.
30th of July
White Watch, 00:00-04:00
Written by: Boudyn, Evelien, Emma B.
When we woke up, we had to set some sails: the spanker and the two gallants. We braced the jibs 1 and 2, and the forecourse. After that we turned on the engine because otherwise we would sail into an island. At 02:00 we made some delicious toasties! We will stay up for longer than our watch because it will be a really nice sunrise this morning!
It was a good watch 😊
Blue Watch, 04:00-08:00
Written by: Kyro and Emma F.
The time was 04:05 when we took over the watch. Started off slow. Then we had to dodge some fishing boats. Did a lot of steering, we went from 190° to 240°.
The sunrise was beautiful.
Emma and I made a chart of the murder game. We’re missing 3 people. Once we have those, I’m pretty sure we’ve got it.
Then Martin decided to be funny and he rock/paper/scissors match ended wit ha loss of 4:14. Rob was disappointed.
Red Watch, 08:00-12:00
Tuesday
Sunny
The sun is shining and so are you!
Upon taking over the watch, we already could barely see the land anymore. At 10:30 we passed a Viking ship. They did not try to raid us, so that’s good.
Quote of the day: “Never trust anything, always.”
White Watch, 12:00-16:00
Written by Emilie
We had a fun watch; we are lunch and had amazing cinnamon buns! Happy hour was happy, but we first took down the sails – fun!
We had two country presentations: Belgium and France. After that, we anchored in the middle of the ocean and we swam! That was super fun! We had a rope and we jumped from the bowsprit! Some people also went out in the dinghy.
Word of the day: YOLO.
Blue Watch, 16:00-20:00
Written by Martin
Beautiful moments. The sea is so beautiful and I love my watch. I want to help in the kitchen, but I can’t because of my allergies.
Red Watch, 20:00-24:00
Sea state: 1
Heading: 200°
Speed: 7.1 knots
Written by Marthe and Klaas
We passed by some ugly buildings around 20:20 and we needed to speed up to get away from a Danish fishboat following us. Then we thought we heard talk about a submarine, which turned out to be fake news but we played Yellow Submarine by The Beatles anyway. That started a chain of The Beatles songs. We went by motor the entire time. We saw a buoy changing colour from ed to green to red to green to red to green to red to green.
There once was a pirate looking for his treasure. He buried it on an island and marked it on his map. He forgot what he put in the chest.
When he dug up the chest and opened it, he remembered what it was. It was a banana, a golden coin and a statue of a bird made out of wood. The pirate was disappointed. The end.
The moral of the story: the real treasure is the friends we made along the way.
31st of July
Red Watch, 08:00-12:00
We started the morning with a lot of Christmas mood because Leon put on “All I want for Christmas.” During that, Chelsea started a union to get toasties!
We played some cards and Jojoe always lost, even though we tried to help him. There was no wind so we barely went forward. 2.3 knots was our speed!
A Norwegian pickup line: Hey honey, do you have a band aid? Because I hurt myself falling for you!
White Watch, 03:55 am
By Ronja
At first, we put all of the sails up waiting for the wind. We climbed the masts to see the stars and even saw shooting stars. Then we turned off the engine.
We also did a splicing workshop in the coffee shop and ate delicious toasties. Also, some of us are staying awake to watch the sunrise!
Noelle just did a speech to say we had a super last night watch. We almost cried. So saddd! Love the Morgenster crew. <3
The night was bright,
There was no cloud in sight.
All the stars were there.
We could even see the big bear.
- Klaus
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