Here is my entry:
We were out on the open sea, aboard the ‘Europa’. The race had been called off. It was sunny, and the crew was living it up. I’ll never forget watching all of them swimming – in the middle of the ocean, or the homemade apple pie we had during coffee break!
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This is actually a true story. I sailed on the "Europa" tall ship in 2005 during the Tall Ship Races. I participated in the part of the race that was from Waterford, Ireland to Cherbourg, France. The race started late (due to no wind), and it was also called off early (also lack of wind). So, all the ships ended up "motoring" (rather than sailing) the rest of the way to Cherbourg. It took a few days.
While we motored along, we kept busy. We practiced taking the sails up and down - even the "stay sails/stun sails". We scraped the deck, we helped file some reports (sorry don't know what they are called), we were visited be a small group of sailors that came over (in a small motor boat) from another tall ship. And one day, they stopped the ship so everyone could go swimming - in the ocean. It was an amazing sunny day. It was beautiful! Frankly, I was too scared to go swimming. I had just seen a documentary about the ocean (and all the dangerous animals in the ocean) a few days prior during the Tall Ship Festival in Waterford, so the idea of swimming in the ocean - where it was basically bottomless - sort of scared me at the time. I wish I could go back in time and swim, but oh well. I still had a great time.
Later that day, during the regular coffee break - they served us fresh apple pie. It was unbelievably good, and an amazing experience eating pie, on a sunny day, aboard a tall ship, in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight. I'll never forget it!
In case you are unfamiliar with the "Europa" or tall ships or the Tall Ship Races, here are some links for you. I really hope you check it out and consider participating in a race or traveling aboard one of the magnificent tall ships that are wandering around our planet. It is an amazing experience!! It's also fun to just attend a tall Ship Festival and take tours of the tall ships.
Links:
Upcoming Tall Ship Races & Events:
(Image of the 'Europa' found using the Creative Commons photo search)
