Tuesday 29 May 2014

This morning we said goodbye to the (prospective) mother gull and her eggs and cast off.

The combination of freezing cold and midnight sun is doing strange things to our perception of time. We eat at strange hours and sleep at even stranger hours. The boys don't go to bed any more. We have family conversations in broad daylight at 11 pm...

We had an uneventful crossing to Kokar. We stopped at Kyrkogardson (Cemetary Island) for lunch.

Everything went well until approaching the jetty (a right fit in shallow water) our propeller 'ate a buoy for dinner. One of those bulbous bright orange balloon-like buoys. It made an awful crunching sound and for a moment I was certain that we had run aground.

The boat got tied up at a strange angle in the accident scene and local people went in search of one of the local divers. He arrived after about two hours and went down to investigate. He and the marina manager in a wooden rowing boat have just gone back ashore.

He seems to think that he has been able to pull off the bits of buoy and that the propeller is disentangled now but the only way to find out is to run the engine (which we have not yet done).

Elliott is already asking we will need to pay for the loss of a buoy. I said we will certainly need to pay for the diver's time and specialist equipment. I don't know if the small marina has insurance for the loss of a buoy.

Then Quinn said: well at least you have something to write about today Mum, unless a few days ago when you said you had no idea what to write!

I suppose there is nothing like a bit of drama to spice things up but personally I remain grateful the drama was a buoy and not going aground or a collision with another yacht...

Buoy dramas also make a refreshing change from boy dramas (as we have enough of those!)

And one thing I won't miss AT ALL when we go home is always putting on my winter coat before climbing on deck to eat breakfast or drink a cup of tea that almost turns to ice before I have time to finish it....

And in ancient texts 'wave horse' is a kenning for 'ship'...


Helgi ordered the high sail to be set
His crew did not fail at the meeting of the waves
When Aegir's terrible daughter
Wanted to capsize the stay-bridled wave-horse

Helgi Hundisbani, THE POETIC EDDA

Imelda Almqvist