Letter No 9 sent on 9 Aug 2001 15:43
At 17:00 hrs on Wednesday 8 August, Jessica, Jonathan and I were onboard REGINA to see how she was. A bit lonely and also longing for a sail asking why she has to be tied up in port when we had such great sailing conditions. I had not heard from Karolina for quite some time, and some of you have already called asking if something was wrong with their E-mail system, since they had not received any Mahina-updates lately... This shows at least that my little episodes are being read. Thanks!
Suddenly while onboard REGINA, a much longed for Piiip Piiip announced an SMS from Karolina: “Good, but tired. Shall sleep for 30 min now. Will arrive Ålesund Thursday 04.00-06.00”.

Poor girl! They must be having a tough time with short naps.

Today we also got two postcards from Karolina, which I enclose. She talks about the beauty despite all the rain and asks if we also would like to sail to Lofoten with her. Jessica, Jonathan and I looked at each other and and were not quite sure what to say. Anyway, this question was posted long before the more tougher parts or her sail... I wonder what Karolina thinks now?

More background explanations came this morning, when Karolina called after having safely arrived at Ålesund. The SMS above was sent shortly after they had had another school lesson on board, this time about rigging and sail repair. All pupils tried to keep their eyes open and listen carefully, while Mahina was progressing at open seas towards Ålesund. The movements of Mahina from side to side and forwards and backwards were hardly noticed any longer by her crew. Instead, they all tried to concentrate on Amanda explaining the rigging essentials which were very interesting. However, it was not easy to keep awake, since they all were very tired. (Amanda was the responsible for the rig on the first ever all women crew onboard MAIDEN in the Whitbread around the world race, so she knows what she is talking about...). After this lesson, John wanted to continue the next course about diesel engine maintenance, asking if the crew were OK for this. “Well”, one said, lifting his head that once again had fallen down, “maybe we can take a short break....?”

Karolina, who had to go on her watch half an hour after the end of this lesson, thus took the chance to find some sleep for 30 minutes before going on watch from 18.00 to 20.00.
Shortly after this wonderful nap, she went up into the cockpit for her duties. “Ah, Hello Karolina”, said John, “Look, there we will pass Rørvik. It is a wonderful little village. Let’s just go in there and have a look, turn around and then go on sailing”. “Oh, well, yes...”, Karolina replied having taken over the helm, “But I have never turned our REGINA in such a narrow harbour, Leon usually does this... and our boat is 31 feet and Mahina 46!”. - “In that case you’ve got your chance now!”, was John’s short answer and so Karolina stood at the huge steering wheel onboard Mahina turning her 17 tons in this tiny bay of Rørvik, all with the supervision of John, of course.
“Ahhh, Look there!” John suddenly shouted, “I know this French boat, we met them at Spitsbergen! They were frozen in the ice with their boat. Get the fenders out! Let’s berth next to them and have a little re-union!”. And so, instead of having dinner under sail, it ended up with a little party!
Shortly after, they continued direction Ålesund. Karolina got another short period of rest before going on watch again at midnight. It was all really dark by then. Navigation on her watch was now becoming very challenging. Lights everywhere, fishing-vessels, tankers, coastal tonnage and light houses moving everywhere (except for the light houses, they stood still). Michelle and Karolina, who have this midnight watch together until 02.00 in the morning, had a hard time identifying all lights. Coming closer to land, also villages and towns turned up giving false lights, making it even more difficult. At 02.00 her watch ended, but they were now getting closer to Ålesund and John asked if Karolina would like to prolong her watch, since a landfall in dark always is difficult and Karolina had already some experience from her watch with identifying lights. Fortunately, they have now come so far south that their electronic charts on the PC has coverage so this is now also being used as a navigational tool.

So Karolina ended up staying awake sailing another hours until they moored at 03.00 at Ålesund’s harbour. She can’t recall having fallen to sleep but her dreams were all about “keep to starboard!”, “watch that light!”, “what is this over there?”, “keep track of him here!” etc.		 "At noon on Tuesday we stopped at Bronnyosund for lunch, fuel and a town visit before continuing on, gliding into Alesund, 62.28N, 06.09E, at 0300 on Wednesday. After tying to the empty fuel dock in Brodundet, the old inner fishing harbor that resembles Venice, we caught a much-needed five hours of sleep before exploring the vibrant town. Apparently though we had arrived during a social lull, as the locals whom we chatted with kept sadly reminding us we had missed the Cutty Sark Tall Ship's visit by a few weeksabut, they eagerly urged us to stay for the Norwegian Gourmet Festival being held soon."
Capt John Neal
Ålesund after Karolina climbing a hill
Today on Thursday in the forenoon, Karolina was exploring Ålesund on her own. They plan to set sail again at 16.00 today, i.e. at this very moment after just 13 hours in port. This time, they will pass the Sea of Stad, which is the northern corner of the Westcoast of Norway. One of the most dangerous places in Norway. I have given them forecasts hour by hour for Stad regarding wind speed, wind direction, wave height, wave direction and wave length. They have now picked 22:00 - 23:00 tonight to pass this corner, since chances of severe cross seas at that time are within safe limits. I actually also called DNMI (det Norske Meterologiska Institut) in Bergen and ended up talking with the meteorologist on watch responsible for the forecast for Stad and Western Norway. When I said I had my wife passing Stad tonight in a sailing boat, he immediately gave me a very personal and long meteorological description of the current situation, the forecast for 23.00 tonight and for the following days on their route. It was fantastic to get this personal advice, just like in the big races! Kind Norwegians!

Forecasts look good for tonight, by the way, with a maximum wave height of 3 meters, which is very little for these waters. However, later on Sunday and Monday, they will get another gale with southwestern Winds. We will see how they cope with that.

Last time they passed one of these dangerous areas in Norway with the big warning crosses on the chart, they were very lucky, too. Sunshine and fair winds moved them over the Sea of Bug with no bigger waves than they had got used to. So the Sea of Stad will certainly also be OK for them.
Finally, Karolina’s telephone call from Ålesund ended with the words “Thank you, Leon, that I may be here for these 3 weeks sailing adventure!”.

Well, maybe she still is willing to sail to Lofoten with us at some other time?		 "By the way, Karolina has been a huge help in securing weather information several times a day, from her husband Leon, over the messaging feature on her Nokia GSM phone and has had continuous coverage, even 20 miles offshore. Leon, also a keen sailor and no doubt a concerned husband, has been ringing the forecasters in Denmark and Norway as well as checking their weather websites. www.dmi.dk and dnmi.no and relaying the info to us."
Capt John Neal
Next E-mail