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27th of November, 2009

...and so it begins.  It may not (make that ¨will not¨) unfold as envisioned but that is the beauty of it.

To follow the ship and/or read the logbook updates check out: http://www.barkeuropa.com/en/traceship/8-follow_the_sail_ship and http://www.barkeuropa.com/en/logbook/6-logbook_of_barque_europa

18th of December, 2009

I have returned.  I am experiencing a very odd sensation right now...even though I am on land my world is going up and down with the waves...the beer from last night is probably not helping either.  I have close to 10 hours of video of Antarctica.  Over the next week I will sort through the footage and throw a few clips up on the website.  For now, here are a few thoughts from Antarctica when I was not filming...

82 of 84 hours in a 6 ½ by 2 ½ by 3 foot cube called bunk 8f...I am not a seaman.

The Drake Passage for me started with a group update by the captain, Eric, on our first day. We were all packed into the deck house at 8pm and Eric was explaining how it had been too calm to get sufficient sailing speed when I started to feel nauseas (all times approximates as I wasn't exactly keeping track)...

8:21 Okay Eric is almost finished, but he better hurry up

8:22 Oh dear here it comes...that was close "excuse me, excuse me", must get out of here

8:23 ...

8:24 God I must clean up this mess before I lay down

11:50 Time to get up for blue watch...I do not feel too bad

11:51 Stand up, flung across the cabin and slam into James's bed...holy shit we are bouncing around a lot

11:53 Lisa for the wake-up call advises only 5 of 12 made it through white watch

11:54 Where is that bag? "Sorry boys, I need to lay down for a bit"

12:00 The boys have headed up on watch

12:01 ...

12:02 Thank God I found that bag.

That is a brief recap of my first sea night on Europa. Even though it was by far the roughest, the next 3 nights and days were more of the same...me making an attempt to do the watch followed by realizing it was not possible. I didn't much like being a sea pansy from both a physical enjoyment and a pride perspective but what can you do but flip back in forth from one side, to your back, to your other side, all the while trying to event an interesting daydream or remember that last dream...in an arranged marriage to a women from India (?), a guy trying to mug us but we had our own knives and got away and then we watched the Holsteins come off the ship in Halifax from Holland(?); in a Brad Pitt and Angelina Joelie movie, we were picking up nails that turned into bullets when we put them in guns so we could shoot the bad guys, who have now morphed into Germans from WWII but on the farm where I grew up...we need "runners" to send a message..."I will go"...I am captured up by Smit's place the next farm over going through a tunnel...I am about to be executed but I escape (that was the short version)...when you have nothing to do but grasp onto an alternative reality you re-live the little details over and over again. Note: Ian, it was good you didn't come.

I went down on Saturday night and I arose Wednesday morning to join the living above sea level (my bunk is below sea level). Antarctica...square icebergs, jagged rocks, words cannot describe. I live in the Arctic. I have seen cold and the resulting landscape...this is...this is somehow different, not eroded by the passage of time. How can the colours of white, grey and black combine for such beauty? Note: Paul and Simon, you should have come.

On this first glorious day in Antarctica we visit the penguinos. On the spot, anthropomorphizing of penguins I think is one of the most amazing things I have done. It was even fun back at the cabin in Iqaluit where the discussion of having a pet penguin named cedric provided an entire evening of entertainment. The discussion actually led to my mission being to bring back a penguin named cedric. As great as it would be to accomplish this mission, the best I can do is bring back a pile of penguin footage that we can combine with something Corey and/or Rob supply and make our own script. God, if only the cedric cabin crew or the Aug 09 road trip crew had of been here...we would have had a day that would have been replayed for the rest of our lives. Note: Cathy R., you should have come.

I should describe the boat in detail as that is what makes this trip rather odd (besides the wearing of only sandals on Antarctica) but I won't. That will be the job of "Ex", the camera. Ex has captured some wicked shots but so has Planet Earth. The story that I have to tell is that of the Europa Antarctica Experience and a few of its members in this environment. I started with 56(?) potential cast members on board. Since this trip is my trip I am by default one of the main characters (I am slowly getting accustomed to this fact). Ex the camera is "another" (often referred to as the beast when lifted with case out of the zodiac). The general flavour of the other trainee voyage crew members and the regular crew can best be described by their reaction to my next segment of the journey, hitchhiking through Patagonia. Not one of them has suggested I am crazy but rather react as if hitchhiking is a sensible next step for Kelvin.  Actually a few of the crew have provided advice on how best to hitchhike in Patagonia.  There are several people I would have liked to profile on board but that is too much for an audience to digest so I have limited it to 2 crew and myself for the documentary.  I will have a few more final thoughts on Antarctica later...

Later...19th of December, 2009

As mentioned, Antarctica was an amazing place.  To do it on the Europa is the only way I would experience it despite the fact that the Drake Passage kicked my ass both ways and somehow continues to give me some lingering effects.  Being on a tall ship made me feel close to this barren yet rich environment.  It made things less predicactable, less predicatable in a good way.

To suggest that we were one big happy family is using the term family a little too losely but it definitely felt like we were in it together.  We are all now slowly going our separate ways and returning to our lives.  These lives include making a hard decision as to whether or not to continue a heartless 9 to 5, finding work at the fin del mundo before putting another 12,000km on one´s bicycle, continuing a 3 year plus a day journey at least 50km away from home as a Free-Journeymen that travels on foot or hitchhikes, often sleep outdoors and only take with them what they can carry in their rucksack, pondering what to do next after being made redundant, completing an around the world year long trip, laying in a hotel in Ushuaia until the insurance company can figure out how to get you back to England after your fall while dancing out on deck that caused a double hairline fracture of the pelvis (it was only partially my fault and here is his version of the trip www.tallships-antarctica-2009.blogspot.com), and remaining on board to make final preparations for the next big happy family.  For me I have few days before my cousin Aaron arrives and we attempt to hitchhike a few thousand kilometers North over Christmas.  While you are having your Christmas dinner I may find myself in some not so typical Christmas situation but I would not have it any other way.  A special thanks to the Europa Ant1 2009 fellow travellers and sincere best wishes to all.

PS.  Mom, Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet visited us on the ship so you don´t have to worry about sending me a chocolate letter K or any of the other dutch treats this year.