I’ve been back at my desk this week and I was away for such a short space of time that you may not have noticed my absence. Well my trip may have been short but it was certainly sweet!
Last week I was fortunate enough to sail away on our flagship, the Rainbow Warrior. Not quite on the high seas but travelling up the east coast of the UK from London to Edinburgh on the North Sea, which was good enough for me. 
Rainbow Warrior leaving LondonI boarded the ship on Tuesday evening, had supper with the crew and then tucked myself up in my bunk for an early night in preparation for the 5.45am wake up call! Emily and I went out on deck to watch the crew casting off and guiding us neatly through the lock, with a little help from Frank and Joe in Ocean Witness. After that, we headed out into the Thames Estuary and I tried not to think “Oh this is fine, I’m not seasick at all”, knowing full well that the forecast was for very strong winds and rough seas, which we’d feel the full force of once we were away from the protection of the estuary.
Sasha in an immersion suit!After a safety induction, during which Sasha beautifully demonstrated how to don an immersion suit in case of a call to abandon ship, we helped with the general daily clean of the ship and then I was sent down to the engine room. Another volunteer and I were to help the engineers with the jobs they don’t normally have time to do. In this case, cleaning and painting part of the engine room. I rather enjoyed it, despite the heat, the noise, the fumes and those ultra-flattering ear defenders!
By bedtime, the ship had started rolling quite a bit so getting into my top bunk wasn’t easy, and staying in it was even harder! No-one got much sleep that night. But the next day the winds were blowing so strongly that we put all four sails up and cut the engines completely. Wind power all the way to Edinburgh - fantastic!
All that wind made for quite choppy waters though and even some of the experienced crew were sick. I'm rather proud of myself for managing not to be ill, although I felt pretty dodgy and wasn’t a great deal of use!
Sunrise through portholeBy nightfall the water was much calmer and I slept like a log. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise on the approach to Edinburgh and felt so serene I wished every morning could be like that. I was asked to go ashore to secure the lines but in the end it wasn’t necessary, so I had a free jolly in the RIB instead, which was very cool!
I spent the rest of that day finishing off my artistry in the engine room and helping to prepare for the open boats. The workshop next to the engine room is now clean and freshly painted white, with a little blue whale for extra interest!
I got the train home to London the next day with a wee hangover, a tired body and a happy heart. All the same, I was a bit sad to leave - being on a Greenpeace ship is a unique experience and there is an extra special vibe on the Warrior which infects the whole crew and makes them a joy to spend time with. I’ll miss them.
We have 2 UK volunteers and 2 UK staff on the ship at the moment: Sasha, Darren, Chris and our very own Richard. I wish the Rainbow Warrior and her crew fair winds and following seas on their voyage to Oslo, Copenhagen and beyond.
Comments