Xenial - Day 23 - Vääänta

Vääänta! Vääänta! Waaaait! Waaaait!

The familiar call, the most popular by far when we maneuver, could be heard again today onboard Xenial! Apparently it's not only popular onboard this boat, it is widely used in the Swedish Navy and Military. So all the veterans we have on board with all their various titles and ranks, love using it. It's the official motto of the sailing committee. Sailing committee that was back in action today, after days of cooking under the tropical sun.

Väääänta - Captain Ulrik called from half way up the rolled foresail. He was being hoisted up the cover of the broken foresail. The cover had been hoisted with one of our halyards, and Ulrik was on a mission to get it back, so we could use it to hoist something far more interesting!

Spinnaaakerfallet - CJ called from the front back to Major Gustaf in the cockpit. Up went the gennaker on our newly baptized spinnaker halyard.

Släpp!!! - Janne called when we broached during dinner. The gennaker sheet was quickly released before our pasta could go flying everywhere.

Yes, my Swedish vocabulary is growing, and it's very niche. But most importantly, we flew a foresail again today! We had been unable to do so in the past few days as the waves were too high for Ulrik to go up and retrieve a halyard, and the winds too strong to sail with a gennaker. It was only for a few hours at the end of the day, but I cannot describe to you how excited everyone was. We were sailing properly again! Unfortunately the gennaker had to come down to sail safely through the night - we are now in an area with risk of local squalls, which bring sudden rains, high winds and occasionally thunderstorms. However I can assure you that the whole sailing and trimming committee will be up tomorrow at the break of dawn to hoist our gennaker once more.

Vänta! We are back in the game!

Over and out,
Mavi