By Chris Wrigley

Saturday 26th February

Day one; staff assembled outside the training wing at 2200hrs, all present and accounted for.  The two mini buses were loaded and away we went 2220hrs.

There was a feeling of déjà vu for some of the staff; this for me was my fourth trip. Thankfully the trip was uneventful and we arrived some 12hrs later, and moved straight into the hotel and got some serious shut eye.

Monday 28th

After a good nights sleep, we awakened to the entire area covered in a thick sheet of ice.

Baz and Rob, along with Manfred and WO2 Steve Brown (Wksps Manager) reported to Hallberg - Rassy to begin the mundane task of going over every boat checking that all was well. The rest of the team then reported, and the first task was to chip away the ice to get the vehicles down to the boats. After some considerable time, a member of the HR staff finished his smoke then jumped into a tractor complete with shovel and finished the job off with a very large grin.

Then it was all hands to the pumps to load the three boats that were going to be our homes for the rest of the exercise.

The work went well, and by 1600hrs it was time to call it a day due to the fact it was dam cold. The crews retired to their prospective boats to cook a well deserved evening meal, then early to bed.

Tuesday 1st March

Reveille 0630hrs a quick brew and then we were straight back into the day’s tasks. The boys carried on were they finished off yesterday.  Then at 1100hrs we stopped for brunch, this worked well and we managed to achieve a lot more rather than having breakfast first.

During the day the wind changed direction, and came from the south, and with it came a lot of ice, complete with ice bergs. The channel just outside the harbour started to fill up rather quickly, which forced a pilot vessel to reduce his speed rapidly, then he turned round and left. Later that day we heard that the Stena Line ferry from Kiel had hit ice some 18 miles from Goteborg which made him some 90minutes late. So far the thermometer has not risen above zero, and the sea temp has been a steady 2 degrees with some 25-30 cms thickness of ice. Will we get out of the harbour, is the question on everyone’s mind.

Wednesday 2nd

Same procedure, but the main work was just about finished. Fitting of back boards on pushpits, main sails bent on and just about all the fleets inventory was on board hopefully in its right place. Contrary to belief , the staff here have worked dam hard in what can only be called arduous conditions.

But wait a minute, something’s not quite right.  This is the eighth fleet, but on the mainsail covers it was not quite right, number seven. Take them all off and back to the HR rep and get another number sewn on, and chop chop.

Tonight’s perfect dinner is produced by Steve Brown. Quick text home to his wife on how to make fish pie, few hours later he disappears, wonder where, only to phone home and get the correct procedure with the ingredients one thinks.  Let’s hope it turns out okay. Result will be published.

Well what can be said, the evening meal was an absolute success, although he didn’t score a perfect ten due to advice from an outside source.  Thanks must go to his lovely wife Siàn. What would we do without mobile phones?  A few bottles of Chianti and the evening was perfect.

Thursday 3rd

Reveille same again and straight back into it. There was one strange phenomenon this day, something bright in the sky causing everyone to squint.  Someone said it’s a thing called the sun which is a strange star some 149.6 million kms away; that produces heat when seen for long periods of time, and with it comes a thing called blue sky. So when everyone had acclimatised to the intense brightness and eyes adjusted, work continued.

Today was mainly dominated by whipping and splicing. Some 90 eye splices, and some 250 whippings. With the low temperature and having to work without gloves due to the intricate work, all you heard around the harbour was cursing every time a needle went through either a finger or the palm of the hand; one colleague, Dave looked like he had been in a fight with a clowder of cats. Probably the most important job today, well for our boat, was to get the ST 100 modified for this particular type of vessel. What is one of those I hear you say? Well it’s a very valuable piece of equipment that does not need supplying with hot beverages and takes the strain out of steering. Referred to normally as an Autohelm. So my crew would like to thank Manfred for taking the time and liaising with his contacts at HR for the modification, we owe you big time. The team worked that little bit longer to finish off, even with the temp dropping, just so that phase of the work was completed. Nice one boys.

Friday 4th

Today’s work was detailed off. My job was to confirm that all water heaters were working, and tanks flushed through.  Others, Andy and Shaun fuel the fleet. Mike making sure there was a neat finishing to all the rope work.  Scouse and Dave were going through the boats inventory to make sure all was present and accounted for. Toby! What was he doing? Oh taking pictures.  After brunch, we then collected the head sails. The sails bags were given to Manfred and with his sewing machine which was set up in the back of the truck, started to name the bags with the fleet names.

The last thing to do for the day was to give the boats a good wash down then erect the boom tents and do an area clean. Once again the boys had done sterling work which they should be proud of, nice one.

Saturday 5th

Today the boys where given a late start. Just little things to do, a wipe through below decks, and collect the head sail bags from Manfred. But wait, Manfred who was working from the back of the truck was not happy.  What was wrong? He was not facing into the sun, so turn it round.  Got to keep Manfred sweet. After about two hours he was finished, so the sails could be repacked and into the sail lockers.

That’s it! Job done, just got to wait for the return of the sail covers on Monday, and wait for the main party to arrive tomorrow evening.

So tonight some crews are going to hit the town, something to eat, and then party on.

(Those who know Ellős know there is nothing there apart from a pizza bar and a super market) so pizza, then out with the uckers board. 

Sunday 6th

This morning was sitting around and waiting, and waiting. Drinking copious amounts of tea, several games of uckers, reading and generally twiddling thumbs until the main party arrived. The highlight of the day was catching up on some final victualing. Baz got a text from the Comdt saying the main party had left on time.

So we started to discus where we were going to set the beverage area. That sorted, Baz received another text from the Comdt saying ‘in Sweden’, and the time was 1155hrs, so it was time to start boiling water. Unfortunately when we tried boiling two kettles from the same power point for the tea urn, it blew the entire jetty. Once sorted it was gas kettles and pressure cookers to fill a five gallon tea urn.

Eventually the main party arrived at 1600hrs, some nine hours after leaving Kiel.

One of the passengers, Ken Brown, the rep from Elvstrőm sails had a Red Cross parcel from my lovely wife which contained five rhubarb and strawberry crumbles complete with custard, so after looking at the sizes of the dishes I gave the small ones to the other staff boats.  KTC staff would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife Annette again for looking after us.

Staff were detailed off for handing over boats once the skippers had been briefed on the normal, behaviour, keeping the area clean etc.

Once the boats were handed over, it was time for the crew’s to move aboard and be briefed, then get dinner on the go which had been bought previously by Rob our fleet manager, along with some brew and breakfast kit.  He would make someone a good wife.

Monday 7th

Today the skippers got a brief from Baz on the route to be taken back to Kiel. Anholt was to be the first port of choice, but after some ringing around most of the harbours where still iced in.  So Grenaa, on the main land of Jutland looks like the second choice which is some 110 nautical miles, 24 hrs approx.

After the crews had been shopping, they were invited in the afternoon by Hallberg-Rassy for a tour of the factory. Due to the thickness of the ice in the harbour, boats where unable to go for a test sail, so some skippers took the opportunity to take their crews through some drills and skills.

Tuesday 8th

All boats and crews were ready early after the farewell party the night before laid on by the HR management. First we had to wait for the local news paper photographer to do his thing, all crews together then off we went. Pictures were taken of the fleet from a very nice HR 40, which was used as the ice breaker then they took photos as the boats started to hoist sails and generally pose for the camera and look the part.

Once the fleet had got past Hatten light house, it was no surprise that the wind was right on the nose, SW 6 for the next 110 miles. It was not long before crews started feeding the fish.  On our boat, everyone except for the silver fox Mr Baz of course. It was not a nice trip, and after some 30 plus hours and over 150 miles due to beating most of the boats had made it to Grenaa, just the slower ones to wait for.

Wednesday 9th

Reveille was early due to refuelling the fleet at 0700hrs. Some boats were saying they where on fumes.  Well if you run the engine over 2500 rpm you are going to use about 6ltr per hour.  Today was going to be 90 approx, and the wind?  Yes on the beaker again, but a little less wind, but not much less. The forecast said the wind was going West later, so as we rounded Ebbletoft headland, we headed into shore. One to get into flat water, and secondly when it did go round we would be up the beach, out of the current and in relatively flat water.

Several hours later we were down towards Fredricia, north of Middlefahrt. The wind reached 57 knots, and with current going west the sea state also increased. Some of us on our boat were off watch, when Baz shouted for all hands.  Get the main down, but most importantly grab the life raft. No; not to abandon ship, but to stop it from going over the side due to a large wave which almost ripping it from its fitting.  So once hooked on, up I went and god only knows I pulled the raft back onto the coach roof with one hand and re-strapped it down before the next wave hit. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived in Fredricia.  It was then time to radio to find out where the remaining boats were. Two boats had made for Kolby Kas, a port on the west side of the island of Samsø, good choice considering what we had gone through. The last boat to berth by us was some ten hours later. One thinks their navigation was in question.  0600hrs the following morning, we were awoken by MJ one of the skippers to inform us that two of his crew required medical attention. One with a head injury; the other with a back injury.  Baz was right on the ball, phoned and a taxi took them some twenty minutes drive to the nearest hospital in Vejle. Once all the boats had been accounted for, four boats left for Sønderborg. By this time the wind had abated a little, but the best was that it was a fetch all the way down to Als fjord. Once through the bridge at 1645 we moored then sat down for our first hot meal for about three days.

Saturday 12th

For the three KTC staff boats, we left early and went straight back to good old Kiel. The rest of the fleet were told now that they were in local waters they could cover the remaining parts of the competent crew syllabus and be back in Kiel for hand over Wednesday. On the trip there was miner damage.  But with winds we encountered and the quality of the boats, it could have been much worse……..