Dawnbreaker - The Farewell Blog ....
Dawnbreaker
Lars Alfredson
Thu 15 Apr 2021 22:55
Updated 16.00 GMT 14.04.21
Dear Blog followers ……
In the words of Shirley Bassey …..
“The party's over,
It's time to call it a day ☹
They've burst your Pretty balloon
And taken the moon away …… “
….. and they took Dawnbreaker out of the water and chocked her up on Anti - Hurricane supports in a boatyard in Grenada.
I write this on my way back home - an adventure for itself .....
I also used the time to start to allow my body to recover from the most fantastic test of physical stamina that “Dawnbreaker” had given me. As I write this closing blog now, 2 weeks to the day since I left that beautiful boat, she is still with me / in me, reminding me of the Adventure we had been on.
# The sole of my left foot is still bruised and very painful to walk on – caused by hours of trying to stand upright as DB ploughed relentlessly through the oceans at angles of up to 35 degrees and almost always 20 degrees.
# My waist line is a constant reminder of all the wonderful meals prepared by Kenneth and my extra serves/supper on Night Watch, the Capt. Lars “Beer O’clock” ritual, and our need to make sure that no opened bottle of wine was left un emptied after evening meal.
# My friends are avoiding me because they have had a surfeit of my “Adventure Stories”
# Every time I close my eyes to sleep my mind races back to the memories of
Cape Town : Chasing Sea Lions, Climbing Table Top Mountain, Buying “Black Market Booze”, The huge Sun Fish we saw as we leftCape Town – Namibia : Being violently sea sick for 3 days
Namibia : Wonderful welcome at Walvis Bay, Banana Lady (ask the others), Our Desert Road Trip, climbing Dune 7 and stalking the Pink Flamingoes.
Namibia – St Helena : Sea sick again, but only for 2 days, 8 hour night watches and crossing the Meridian Line.
St Helena: The imposing cliff faces, the beautiful Long Tailed Terns, Spinner Dolphins putting on a show, Meeting solo sailor Niklas, Kenneth’s argument on the Radio with Port Control and Angry Fisherman and having a giant (2 metre wide) Manta ray swimming behind us as we left.
St. Helena – Ascension: Not being sea sick and getting message that we had been granted our “Transit Visas”.
Ascension Island: Meeting Sgt Cyndi, falling into shark infested waters, the hospitality of everyone, the untouched beauty of Green Mountain, NAAFI Meat Pies and teaching my Scandinavian Ship Mates how to play “Skittles”.
Ascension Island – Brazil: Eating NAAFI Meat Pies, Goose Wing Sailing and discovering Aimee Mann on the DB laptop music list.
Cabadello, Brazil – Ciapirinhas (ooh my poor head), sitting in a toilet that didn’t move in all directions, the most fantastic Fish Bisque which was cooked for us specially for our Last Night supper and being intercepted/boarded/detained and subsequently charged and fined by 13 heavily armed agents of Law and Order in Brazil for “Illegally leaving a country which we hadn’t legally entered”.
Brazil – French Guiana: Avoiding 100’s of bloody fishing boats by both day and night, Crossing the Equator and being baptized as a “Shellback”.
French Guiana: Impressing Kenneth (not) with my skill at speaking French, the most fantastic day trip into the rainforests, our totally illegal stop off in Suriname, observing a drunken parrot who had been eating fermented fruit and dancing with a village elders wife on her 80th birthday.
French Guiana – Grenada: Witnessing a pod of Dolphins leaping out of the water and playing chicken with our bow, spectacular sunsets and warmer nights.
Grenada: The overwhelming feeling of sadness that I felt because our adventure was over, How beautiful Dawnbreaker looked as she was hoisted out of the water, how even when on the hard in the boatyard I still felt as though the boat was moving and just how much cleaning and tidying we had to do.
So there my friends – my final words about the “Trip”
It would be remiss of me if I didn’t yet again take an opportunity to thank Capt. Lars for allowing me this privileged opportunity, Kenneth, the best damned “One Pan Cook” I have ever met, for his generosity and friendship and finally to “Dawnbreaker” herself for keeping me safe and taking me on the finest adventure I have ever had.
Dear Blog followers ……
In the words of Shirley Bassey …..
“The party's over,
It's time to call it a day ☹
They've burst your Pretty balloon
And taken the moon away …… “
….. and they took Dawnbreaker out of the water and chocked her up on Anti - Hurricane supports in a boatyard in Grenada.
I write this on my way back home - an adventure for itself .....
I also used the time to start to allow my body to recover from the most fantastic test of physical stamina that “Dawnbreaker” had given me. As I write this closing blog now, 2 weeks to the day since I left that beautiful boat, she is still with me / in me, reminding me of the Adventure we had been on.
# The sole of my left foot is still bruised and very painful to walk on – caused by hours of trying to stand upright as DB ploughed relentlessly through the oceans at angles of up to 35 degrees and almost always 20 degrees.
# My waist line is a constant reminder of all the wonderful meals prepared by Kenneth and my extra serves/supper on Night Watch, the Capt. Lars “Beer O’clock” ritual, and our need to make sure that no opened bottle of wine was left un emptied after evening meal.
# My friends are avoiding me because they have had a surfeit of my “Adventure Stories”
# Every time I close my eyes to sleep my mind races back to the memories of
Cape Town : Chasing Sea Lions, Climbing Table Top Mountain, Buying “Black Market Booze”, The huge Sun Fish we saw as we leftCape Town – Namibia : Being violently sea sick for 3 days
Namibia : Wonderful welcome at Walvis Bay, Banana Lady (ask the others), Our Desert Road Trip, climbing Dune 7 and stalking the Pink Flamingoes.
Namibia – St Helena : Sea sick again, but only for 2 days, 8 hour night watches and crossing the Meridian Line.
St Helena: The imposing cliff faces, the beautiful Long Tailed Terns, Spinner Dolphins putting on a show, Meeting solo sailor Niklas, Kenneth’s argument on the Radio with Port Control and Angry Fisherman and having a giant (2 metre wide) Manta ray swimming behind us as we left.
St. Helena – Ascension: Not being sea sick and getting message that we had been granted our “Transit Visas”.
Ascension Island: Meeting Sgt Cyndi, falling into shark infested waters, the hospitality of everyone, the untouched beauty of Green Mountain, NAAFI Meat Pies and teaching my Scandinavian Ship Mates how to play “Skittles”.
Ascension Island – Brazil: Eating NAAFI Meat Pies, Goose Wing Sailing and discovering Aimee Mann on the DB laptop music list.
Cabadello, Brazil – Ciapirinhas (ooh my poor head), sitting in a toilet that didn’t move in all directions, the most fantastic Fish Bisque which was cooked for us specially for our Last Night supper and being intercepted/boarded/detained and subsequently charged and fined by 13 heavily armed agents of Law and Order in Brazil for “Illegally leaving a country which we hadn’t legally entered”.
Brazil – French Guiana: Avoiding 100’s of bloody fishing boats by both day and night, Crossing the Equator and being baptized as a “Shellback”.
French Guiana: Impressing Kenneth (not) with my skill at speaking French, the most fantastic day trip into the rainforests, our totally illegal stop off in Suriname, observing a drunken parrot who had been eating fermented fruit and dancing with a village elders wife on her 80th birthday.
French Guiana – Grenada: Witnessing a pod of Dolphins leaping out of the water and playing chicken with our bow, spectacular sunsets and warmer nights.
Grenada: The overwhelming feeling of sadness that I felt because our adventure was over, How beautiful Dawnbreaker looked as she was hoisted out of the water, how even when on the hard in the boatyard I still felt as though the boat was moving and just how much cleaning and tidying we had to do.
So there my friends – my final words about the “Trip”
It would be remiss of me if I didn’t yet again take an opportunity to thank Capt. Lars for allowing me this privileged opportunity, Kenneth, the best damned “One Pan Cook” I have ever met, for his generosity and friendship and finally to “Dawnbreaker” herself for keeping me safe and taking me on the finest adventure I have ever had.
To anyone who is thinking -- "Should Ido such thing?"
YES!!!!!!