The Story behind “S/Y Morning Song and its owner”

My name is Stig Nilsen I work at present as a Captain of the Serenade of the Seas for Royal Caribbean cruise line. I went to sea when I was 16 years old and started my career as a commercial fisherman/whaler in the Arctic Ocean. In 1976 at the age of 23 I bought my own brand new fishing boat 50 feet long specially equipped for Long lining and Danish Seining. The Long lining was done in the Fall/Winter months of Lofoten and of North Cape. Grueling work in almost complete darkness with frequent storms and a constant threat of over icing .My biggest claim to fame during these times was a record catch of 22000 kg of Cod fish in 12 hrs. This catch was done at the night of June 28 1979 Its to the best of my knowledge the biggest catch landed by a 50 foot boat  .In 1980 it was again  time for change and I went back to the Nautical academy to study. A long story, short many moons, and ships later; I am now serving on the beautiful Serenade of the Seas cruising the Caribbean in the winter and Alaska in the summer

Now to the lady known as the “Morning Song“a beautiful name for a beautiful boat

"S/Y Morning Song" is a Hans Christian 43 traditional. She was built in 1984 and has received a lot of TLC since then. Engine was changed 2002 and new generator in 2005.The first owner was a British naval officer, his wife was a musician and the boat was built with a piano in the salon. When Mr. Macowski the second owner took over he removed the piano which was given back to the original owners. In 2005 Richard and Paula White bought the "Song” and sailed her across the Atlantic. Just after Christmas 2007 the Morning Song was anchored of the Frangipani hotel in Bequia. That was the first time I saw her, she was then dark green. At the time I was on vacation in a chartered sailboat

The story of the Morning Song and my interest for Hans Christian boats goes back nearly 10 years. Me and my lovely Joanna had vacation in Fort Lauderdale and we where looking for a boat to buy/live on. We found a Hans Christian 43 that we fell in love with. However this did not work out and we sort of shelved the plans. In the spring of 2000 we bought the Swedish minesweeper HMS Gaasten that we have lived on ever since. Fast forward to April 2008 I had been in Jolly Hbr Antigua for lunch using the Serenades rescue boat. Leaving Jolly hbr in the afternoon I saw the characteristic shear line of a Hans Christian at a dock on the North Finger. I told my friends in the boat lets make a detour I will show you how my dream sailboat looks like. A couple of minutes later we approached the flag blue hull of a true classic. And law and behold there was a "for sale sign on it”. The same afternoon I gave Richard White and Paula a call and we set the wheels in motion for a deal. May 8 me and Joanna and little Oliver signed of the "Serenade of the Seas” in San Francisco and flew back to Antigua. We arrived late afternoon and the first night onboard was spent sipping rum and watching a huge full moon rising over the dark hills of Antigua .On May 12 we officially changed Command with Champagne toasts and a hearty dinner made in the cozy galley. A few days later we sailed of to Nevis where we spent a few days then headed for St.Marteen where we stayed for nearly 3 weeks. And as usual with older boats she first chose to show her displeasure with her new owners by malfunctioning of various equipment so the stay in St.Marteen became a marathon of repairs and upgrades. Some of the electrical installations was not up to Joannas standards so she set forth buying her own electrical tool box and started rewiring and changing out various light fixtures etc with new LED lights. On June 17 after a night of headwinds we where back in Antigua , we hauled out in Jolly Hbr and she was put in storage for the Hurricane season. Long deliberation followed where to leave the boat for the next season. However the preferred course of action was to sail her across to Norway. My exelent Staff Capt saw the opportunity for a quick promotion and offered to sail her to the Azores together with Miia, his lovely wife. The plan now is that I will join again in Horta around June first and we will make a dash for it directly to Aalesund Norway where crew change will take place. Johan flies home to Sweden and me Joanna and Oliver will do the trip up to Bodo where she will be tied up alongside the Gaasten. Our blog will tell the story of the crossing and her future adventures in the Arctic which for sure will bring her to the magnificent cold shores of Bear Island and Spitsbergen. This summer its however our goal the spend a few nights at anchor in our favorite out island hideaway of "Vettoyhavn" located more or less exactly at 67 deg. North   where the Song will experience the midnight sun for the first time. deed a long haul from Jolly Hbr. We look forward to it.

Regards