Returning to Kristiansand (for two days)

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My friends from Kristiansand Katedralskole, Elin and Nicole, came to visit me in Farsund today. They were on a Thelma&Louise-trip, and it was wonderful to see them. I showed them «Ægir», and we walked around Farsund for a while. I showed them «Mormors butikk» and «Joy», the gallery of the skipper’s wife. Apple Sunday was celebrated both in Farsund and in Kristiansand. We had both «tilslørte bondepiker» and «mormors eplekake» in at my parent’s house. My sister-in-law’s dad and his wife were ther with us. My brother Ola and Anna got married in May, and we all spent the weekend in the wonderful surroundings of Hestenesøra.

 

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Friendly Farsund

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Today I met some wonderful people in a charming, little shop called «mormors butikk». Mormor saw me looking at her second hand things, and asked if I wanted a cup of coffee. When I accepted, I was sat down and given cinemon rolls a costumer had brought. Her son was there, and after a while her husband came. We talked about work and life and Redningsselskapet. They told me about a museum close by with an amfibium car that RS used for a while. (Fun fact: in 1958 they drove it by water to Lyngdal (it almost sank on the way!) and then drove it to Oslo for a gathering for RS). I want one of those!! Mormor gave me the coffe cup I drank from, just because I liked it. And three more cups and a milk mug and a suger cup. I will bring the cup on my voyage.

 

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Doing it properly

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So, I will make a proper blog.

I bought the domain a week ago, my new friend Mona in Arenal i managing the page for me. She is the one who has set up the whole thing! And she has offered to publish my blogs from the South Pacific Ocean. We will have connection through satellite, but the connection is not good enough to send films, pictures and other media-files. I will bring an iPad, iPhone 5, a Sony Experia for pictures and a Kindle for the books. That’s it for me and technology.

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Morning thoughts

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I wake up before my collegues. I make a pot of coffee and crawl back to my bunk with a cup of coffee. I love this morning hour where the boat is quiet, and I can hear the city slowly waking up. When there is rain, I can hear it drumming on the deck just one meter above my head. When there is wind, I hear the wavelets playing around the poles of the pier and the bow. Sometimes ducks have breakfast discussions close to my head.
Another way to wake up on a SARboat is the skipper knocking on your door: «TUR. Mann i sjøen». No time to think, body awake, clothes on, on deck in less than a minute. The sunrise can be equally beautiful, the ducks are hanging around, but it looses its importance.
I appeciate that my work lets me see the contrasts in life. I see how fragile humans are, yet we are strong beyond belief when it comes to survival. Some people get stressed on a calm day, and others stay calm while they are sinking.
I also appreciate the gratitude and respect I receive from the people we assist. Even the little jobs, checking a shaking propeller, giving a boost to an empty battery, are important to the person who needs just that service to get on with her plans.
And I love the children who sees the boat from the other side of the dock and pull their parent along to see Elias. They talk and want to get close. When I go out, they hide behind their parent and go all quiet. I talk to the parent and wait for the child to find his/her balance and then we walk around outside on the boat. If they get comfortable, we go inside, and they get to sit in the skipper chair. Yesterday, we had to of those visits, and they were just lovely. One came with his grandfather, the other was on tour with his musician father.
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A week before departure…

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My collegue asked me today: Are you nervous?
I thought about it, and no- the nervousness has passed. There is a tingling feeling in my stommache, but I sleep well at night, and things seem to fall into place.
There are some important equipment that is still in costums, the raft is not even close to being ready to sail, I have not packed my bags- but I am as ready as I will ever be.
I feel strong and confident.
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Gammel og ny kommunikasjon

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På bussen fra Kristiansand til Farsund.
Jeg har noen timer på bussen. Jeg skal skrive litt dagbok med penn og en liste over mailene som jeg har tenkt å sende fra Stillehavet. Jeg må jo skrive blogginnlegg, men viktigst er å skrive personlige mailer til dem jeg har lovet det. Jeg lovet for eksempel Celine, niesen til skipper Vidar, at jeg skulle sende henne en flaskepost og et brev. Det blir gøy å sende beskjeder både på moderne måter og ved hjelp av gamle metoder.
I Farsund kommer jeg kanskje til å treffe kollega Jarl. Jeg hadde ham som skipper de gangene jeg var om bord Ægir tidligere. Nå har han jobbet i Middelhavet en periode, på redningsskøyta som hjelper med grensepatruljering utenfor Lesbos. De har hjulpet mange mennesker i høst, og han har helt sikkert mange erfaringer å dele med oss andre. Jobben på redningsskøyta i Middelhavet er internutlyst igjen, og jeg har søkt denne gangen også. Det er viktig å bruke evner man har i situasjoner hvor det trengs. Og akkurat nå trengs mine evner der. Det er jo også en god mulighet til å få mengdetrening på grupperedning, så rent redningsteknisk er det en spennende utfordring.

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Sør-vestlandsturné og «soloppgangsoppdrag»

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I dag flyr jeg videre på dette som blir tidenes sør-vestlandsturne. Først en uke på RS 147 i Arendal. Der fikk jeg kjøre kysten fra Søgne til Risør. Så var det verksted på Bømlo med RS 102, og en forhaling opp til Ålesund. I morgen er det RS 100, og vi dekker området fra KrSand til Flekkefjord.
I dag morges hadde vi et soloppgangsoppdrag, som kaptein Vidar med sin vanlige positive holdning kalte det. Vi gikk ut fra Fosnavågen klokka 06:25 for å hjelpe en fisker som hadde kjørt på en herreløs trålpose. Vi slepte ham inn, og like over ni gikk jeg i sjøen. Det var mye som hang på propellen, men jeg tok det stille og rolig, så på haugen med pose fra flere vinkler. Vidar og Eljan sto oppe og flyttet på trålposen etter anvisninger, og plutselig kunne jeg se hvordan det hadde surret seg på. Jeg kuttet vekk tau fra innerst ved propellbladene. Eieren av båten ga utslag på roret fra side til side, og vi dyttet og dro. Plutselig var det løs. Vidar fant frem kranen for å løfte den tunge dyngen i land, og Elian hjalp meg med å få av riggen og spyle utstyret. Alt var ferdig på en halv time. Det var et veldig fint oppdrag i rolig, godt vær.
Jeg gleder meg veldig til å se hvordan det er blitt hjemme i Erling Skakkes vei 7. Jan har virkelig stått på og fått hjelp av foreldrene mine til maling.

 

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Sunrise and updates

KonTikiKari

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Sunday morning: I wake up in the station of RS 147 Inge Steensland in Arenal. I have put my bed in front of the window, and wake up at sunrise every morning. A man paddles by in his kayak, and the birds are drinking dew off the bush by my window. The forecast has told us that it will be another great day.
Torgeir Higraff, the expedition leader, sent me this article a few days ago. I haven’ read the whole thing yet, but is starts saying:
Between 1947 and 2006, nearly forty expeditions set out in recreated maritime drift vessels to demonstrate hypotheses with varying levels of relevance to archaeology and cultural diffusion. This paper divides the motivations of these expeditions into four major categories; examines more closely the expeditions that were based on serious scientific hypotheses; and establishes criteria for ranking the eleven expeditions deemed to have produced archaeologically significant results.
I got a mail from Torgeir today giving some news on the raft. It will be 7,5 m wide and 15 meters on the longest beam. It quite a lot smaller than I expected. But still, close to 100m2 is an acceptable raft size. We will only have one mast which will hopefully enable us to sail closer to the wind than the Tangaroa and the KonTiki.

 

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Lobster lines, iPads and knives

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A few busy days at work. We have had four scuba dives on vessels who got lobster-lines around their propellers, a young couple needed help to have their boat moved around the port of Grimstad, and the pilot has been out a few times to take in vessels to Arendal.
I have ordered an iPad for the Kon-Tiki2 trip. Greenphones in Tvedestrand had just the right kind for me. And it was used and unwanted, which made it even more attractive to me. Now I just need to find a waterproof case for it and download all the apps that I can use with Iridium go. We will be using iridium go on the voyage. I am excited to see how it works. There is satellite coverage all over the world, and the South Pacific should be no exception. Still, I haven’t tested it yet.
Here are some of the tools that I am bringing to Peru for the Kon-Tiki voyage. Knives are important booth for safety and work, so I am bringing quite a few.. Here are some tools that are mainly for rig-work.

 

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