About 3 in the afternoon on Saturday, we hear that we are planning to sail out from Greenport tonight after all to beat the storm out to sea. Up until that point, we aren’t sure if it is going to be tonight or tomorrow morning. So, tonight it is. We are given a time to muster. Any time the words “opp stående” (at least I think that’s correct, I’ve never actually seen them written down) are uttered, it’s time for us to muster with our watch and we always stand in the same place so that we know if someone is missing. There is still a bit of clean up to do and a few of us are told by one of the watch leaders to get off the boat and carry some equipment over to the merch tent and then he says what I thought was “if you need to take your 5, do so”. I take this to mean that we have a second to use the shore bathroom, smoke em if we’ve got em, whatever. I drop stuff off with others and run to the restroom for a last opportunity that doesn’t involve climbing down into the heads. I go quickly and on the way back to the boat don’t see any crew members. I hustle faster. As I get to the dock, I speed up further, asking people to move out of my way and slipping through the crowd quickly. I hear someone say “there they go” and I start to panic. I get to the boat as they are already moving under motor power and leaving the pier. The watch leader who had told us to go do something shouts “get her on the boat!” and 3 people immediately come to my aid. I have no time to panic about actually getting into the ship. I step into the small ledge just under the gunnell, hoist myself up and people grab my hands and pull me over. Just like that, I’m in the ship and with not a moment to spare as we pull away from the dock. Which reminds me…I really need to look on YouTube and see if anyone got video of that. The first mate comes over and shakes his head at me and tells me that no one should ever leave the ship after opp stående or they could get left. I didn’t know…that’s really all I can say here. This auspicious start features prominently in my sleeplessness over the next couple of nights. Hey, remember that one time that I went sailing on a Viking Longship and nearly missed the boat? I can assure you, I teased myself about it publicly on several occasions over the coming weeks. But at least it’s a great story, right?
I’m so very glad you didn’t miss the ship.