Sea Dragon was in her right element tacking in strong head winds and the crew experienced some real sailing. We set some Baltic Sea Expedition records; strongest wind, highest waves, fastest speed, number of people puking, number of pukes by a person, largest puke by a person. The crew was despite this in a good spirit during the whole week and sailing into Stockholm again was a calm and wonderful finish of leg 3.
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Rough weather
After the sampling we headed south to reach the next position. However, the weather turned worse during the day; first heavy rain, and later big waves. Despite that the windy weather made the sampling impossible and made several people seasick, this weather gave us a great chance to see this boat using its full potential, as the boat was heeling over.
Read MoreSea Dragon anchoring in Norra Kvarken
It was a beautiful Swedish sunny Saturday the 9th of August when the crew for leg 3 of this Baltic Sea Expedition gathered in the harbour of Sandhamn in the archipelago of Stockholm. We were all excited when approaching this magnificent sailing boat, the Sea Dragon, that was about to be our home for the next seven days. The aim of this trip is to set sail for the northern parts of the Gulf of Bottnia in the Baltic Sea and take samples of the water along the way.
Read MoreThe Media Team
We are fortunate to have a film team on board consisting of the wonderful Metta and Joakim. They like to chat and take pictures a lot. I concluded this morning that it is a dream come true to wake up at 4am to a film lens and questions about the research. The sunrise was also great. Yesterday Folke Rydén met up to film us from another boat while we were doing authentic sailing and research on board.
Read MoreCompact living on Sea Dragon
Although the research and plastic pollution is my main focus on this trip I would like you give my opinion on the interior design. This boat is a Mecca for all fans of compact living. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, would go green from envy if he saw all the great storage solutions onboard. So. I want to show you the best bits of this gorgeous, boho-chic and somewhat retro 72-ft home.
Read MoreStepping back aboard Sea Dragon after 5 weeks on shore
It was good to get sailing again, up the coast a few miles from Gothenburg towards a rocky cove near Marstrand, effortless motion in the flat water as the afternoon sea breeze built, followed by a swim in the oddly warm sea.
Read MoreGetting Ready
Here on board Sea Dragon, the last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. We returned from a very successful trip with The Ocean Cleanup on Saturday, and on Monday we head back out to sea with BAMZ, the punchily-acronymed Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo. In the intervening time, we are getting the boat ready for our voyage to Iceland with The 5 Gyres Institute.
Read MoreFrom Scattered Bolts to A Cohesive Unit
We’ve got a mix of 13 crew members from all over, including the UK, Holland, United States, Brazil, Sweden, and one person all the way from Bermuda! We spent the larger part of the morning assembling our multi-level trawl, which is paramount in collecting any plastic debris. It collects debris at various levels to create a depth profile of plastics within the gyre.
Read MoreRace to Bermuda
We’ve finally got some breeze again after a few interminable days of motorboating towards Bermuda and have had a glorious day sailing upwind, doing 8, sometimes 9 or 10 knots through the waves.
Read MoreThe Here and Now
Here, I follow each movement of the ship that appears in the distance with much excitement, and I greet every seabird like a long lost friend. It didn’t matter how I would make it to Bermuda, what would happen tomorrow, or even how I would survive those first four hours.
Read MoreeXXpedition Round Britain gets off to an amazing start!
eXXpedition Round Britain is a three-part mission aboard S/V Sea Dragon, circumnavigating Great Britain in August/September 2017
Read MoreWho’s on First Watch
Captain Eric says he almost caught us a tuna, but everyone was in such a coma from the intense labor of daily life on a sailing yacht that we did not hear his cries for help, and the fish got away right at the moment of truth.
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