Yes, every longer trip should start with the people, crew, team, friends, whoever it is that you are sailing with. I don't want to sound lofty but fact is, every time you are heading for blue water there is a chance you don't come back. No matter how much security, how safe the boat, how clear the instruction. In the Balearic's I used to joke that the biggest risk when going over board is to be run over from a motor boat. And if you have a real bad day it is Dieter Bohlen's boat ... But in the North? How long can somebody survive in 12-15 degrees warm water. Fact is, those who go with you trust you as much as you trust them giving everything in the occasion. So who are they.
First of all, most of my crew members don't talk much. They might talk when drunk yarn a cock-and-bull story or in competition for a beautiful girl or whatever they take for the same. But on board we don't need to, we understand each other without too much words. Just recently my friend Michael, husband and proud father of 2 (or was it 3? or ...) told me his wife was asking what we talk about. Nothing he answered, we don't need to. When on this trip Reinhard came on board he called it "coming home". In 5 years now it never happened that a crew member wanted to end his watch before his time - not that it would matter, but it shows the sense of responsibility in them. Responsibility for the crew but also for Summerwind. The worsted storm I ever experienced when crossing Biscay made my friend Wolfgang donating all of his stomach content to fish living near by but the first thing he was doing after 20 hours of suffering was cooking a meal for the crew. I could continue hours telling story about my crew if it is OK then that I can call them like this, like my crew, isn't it Summerwind's crews. Many of them never being on sea before and now most of them are not curable anymore, aching for the faraway, infected by the very same virus sea going people have since centuries.
About fear and respect
Maybe I could cure them telling the story about the first officer of the Passat on a trip in fall 1957 coming into a storm, more a Hurricane. In the very same storm the sister ship sinks in 170 km strong wind west of Azores and takes 80 seaman. After the storm in Biscay me and my crew mate Harri were reading a brochure from la Rochelle finding the term "La respecto Del La Mare". "That would be a good name for a boat" sad Harri, a very experience sailor. But "La respecto Del La Mare" is not a boat name, it is the credo of every serious seaman.
When I grew up in the room next to mine my parents had a small bar. In there were the photos from the Passat in the 1957 storm. The boat over floated from large waves, storm sails and a crew trying to do there work between lifelines and overcoming mountains of water. Such a storm and the decline of the sister ship, the lost of 80 souls should make a man resigning from his job. Truth is, my father never felled home ashore. Years later as commander of the German sailing vessel Gorch Fock he broke and hold the record for the fastest 24 hours sail and was in the Guinness book of records for years. The proudest moment of Summerwind was when the first mate of the Passat took command. Who are we talking about danger going out to sea and then who are we questioning for one moment "La respecto Del La Mare". Years later Reinhard, Dirk and myself are planning a trip over the gulf of Finland mid November to bring Summerwind to winter place in Tallinn. Weather report is moderate, we are well prepared. After passport control in Helsinki we heaved out all sails were looking forward a cold but smooth trip of 8 hours. Soon wind became storm, a bad one. 200 NM south west a commercial vessel sinked. When trying to ref the rolling Genoa got stuck. Canvas and lines where turned around the fore stay which was banging in the increasingly strong wind. Waves got higher and higher and Summerwind started to surf in the abaft North wind. There were a danger to loose the rig or at least do serious damage when not taking down the Genoa but seldom a decision was easier to make - dam the Genoa nobody leaves the cockpit. With those waves, snow storm and poor visibility and a water temperature just above zero there would have been no chance to survive for anyone going over board. 6 hours later and already protected from the Estonian coast we took down the main at the entrance to Pirita Marina. We had some problems mooring Summerwind with the still banging foresail and scratched the boat badly. But god, the moment the boat was secure and we had a glas of Whiskey in our hands felt so good. Next morning Summerwind looked more like an Igloo, totally covered from snow and ice. A bid unfair was that 2 weeks later we had best autumn weather but honestly, for nothing I would give away what we learned on this trip. What we learned is this: Summerwind is a boat to trust, the crew can handle extraordinary situations and we are able to set the right priorities.
And one last word so you don't get me wrong, I believe in sailing schools and I will continue my sailing education. I'm pretty sure that my choice will be one of the schools on the Isle of Wright or near by - I just trust in and admire British seamanship build up over centuries facing the British Channel and Atlantic weather and waves.
About the North Sea crossing
There is not much to report, we started in Inverness and arrived in Mandal. Smooth weather most of the time. On the last 12 hours when approaching Norway we run into a thunderstorm with North storm which let a Canadian sailor who arrived some hours after us in Mandal to the statement that he never had such a bad storm in his live. But I didn't think so, the peak was about 32 knots and just the waves where very high especially at the beginning of the Skagerak. But it's easy for me to say, I overreacted a little, first reffed and then took all sails down and we went with engine the last 4 hours. It was not pleasant but as the boat was not surfing in the stiff waves there was no real danger and Summerwind's high free board protected us from overcoming water.
The most dangerous occasions happened when leaving Inverness without chart (They didn't had any in the Canal office or the chandlers around) and so I left out Findhorn bay, a place I would have chosen for a stop otherwise. When approaching Mandal after a sleepless night we couldn't find the entrance but once moored and with sun on our head there was this special magic which I believe only sailors understand once they arrived in a save haven after a stormy passage.