Blowtorch Crafts

I’m slowly starting to knit again. The last weeks have frankly been hell, with severe lack of sleep and an increasing amount of problems. Now, however, everything seems better. Let’s hope the light at the end of the tunnel is not an incoming train.

I have started a scarf in my knotty alpaca yarn. No pictures yet, I’m sorry…

And I have sailed the Færder regatta, in a total lack of wind. But it was incredibly warm and sunny, and altogether a nice trip:
We were actually able to swim around the boat while sailing…

The water remained calm throughout the night…

On the following morning, we got ourselves into what you might call a tight situation…

Some weeks earlier we sailed the Breidangen regatta, when the conditions were a bit different:

Sailing season has started, and I have the marks to prove it:
On the left is a large scratch on my leg, made before the boat was even in the water. On the right is the back of my knee, and in the middle is my wrist.

Yes indeedy, I took a bath on April 15th. With all my clothes. Twice. The first time, we were in the process og raising the mast, when I took a step backwards onto nothing and fell in the water. It was about 6 degrees, but at least it was sunny. In the process I knocked both my knees, the result can be seen above. I am not able to walk today.

When my clothes had dried, we went sailing. Which was very nice, but I got wet and cold again. And then, I slipped when I tried to jump from the boat to the pier, and fell in the water. I managed to hold on to the pier, but I scratched both my wrists in the process, and got wet from the waist down.

What is it about sailing – really?

A popular saying is that a sailboat is a hole in the water to you throw your money into. Or that sailing is getting from point A to point B and then back to point A, while getting cold and wet.

And true, you often get cold and wet. Usually, you go back to where you started. It is not about sitting in the sun and enjoying the smell of the sea. Sailing is work. You do something all the time. Adjusting the sails just that teeny bit, hopping from side to side, trying to pee while being in a 30 degree angle…

And yet, there is nothing more peaceful or relaxing than sailing. The way you try to master the wind and ride the waves, the smell of salt water, the gulls screaming… There is nothing better.

I truly am crazy about sailing. I understod the vastness of my own craziness last spring. It was the middle of March. I was standing at the outdoor platform, waiting for the train. It was 07:10 a.m. The fog was hanging around my knees, there was just that little drizzle of rain, and about 7 degrees celcius (about 44 F). My hair was getting gradually wetter, moisture seeped into my shoes, and my mascara transferred to my cheeks in that pretty eyelash-pattern.

And all I could think was “I wish I was in my boat.”

I mean. Hello?

—

The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land
They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull;
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull

The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be–
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea

They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep?

Robert Frost