Finally, Some REAL Sailing.

          I’ve sailed a good number of times in my life, and as I’ve grown more comfortable and confident on the water, my favorite times sailing are in heavier wind situations or when the chance of danger is a little higher.  Don’t get me wrong, any day on a sailboat is a good day, even in the doldrums, but when your skills are challenged and the chance of catastrophe seems to be just over the next wave, things get a little more fun. We had had a pretty calm season weather wise, minus some big waves one day, most sailing days were rather mild and relaxing.  So much so, that I had my spot on deck where I would go nap while sailing.  However, the last few days of our program didn’t allow much opportunity for naps…

Saturday we were dropping our last speaker, Luke Thomas, off at a port called Agios Konstantinos.  We dropped anchor and came stern-to with two lines off the back.  The dock is kind of exposed, meaning that a change in the wind could push the boat into the concrete; not a good scenario.  Sure enough the winds picked up, and started pushing us right into the dock. Theo, a couple of the guys and myself, were right near the stern so we were able to quickly cast off and pull up the gangplank, allowing the boat to swing on the anchor and clear the dock.  Once off the dock (and of course half of our boat was still on-shore getting groceries) we tried a few times to reset the anchor and come stern-to again, but the wind was too strong.  I had to hop in the RIB and head to the dock to pick up everyone and bring them back to the ship.  The winds were strong, which made coming along side a little tricky.  On my last run coming back to the boat, I was lining up the RIB when all of sudden we slammed into the Encounter’s hull.  Turned out that our anchor was slipping (probably from trying to reset it too many times and from the wind gusts) and essentially the RIB and boat were moving toward each other, which makes parking a little tough.  Nothing too bad, but I did have to hop out quick and pull the anchor while we began to set sail. With ¾ of our sails up we finally got the boat around and running away from the dock (and the wind), with a few unannounced gibes thrown in just for good measure.  After about 45 mins the wind died quite a bit and we were able to smoothly motor to our anchorage. 

            We dropped two anchors that night along with a stern line, in anticipation of strong winds, and had 24 hr watch, meaning I got to sleep from midnight on, while everyone else was on watch in shifts until the morning.  In honor of our last Sunday on the boat we had brunch (instead of breakfast and lunch, sadly not in addition to, despite my requests).  After brunch we got ready to hoist sails and set off.  Theo had mentioned that the winds were supposed to be strong today (meaning I was stoked to sail) but in our protected little cove it didn’t seem too bad.  Once anchors were up and the main, fore and staysail were set, we starting hitting more of the breeze as we prepared to get the jib up.  One of the students was out on the bow sprit ready to release the leash when Theo had to tack quickly.  Being out on the bow sprit is scary to some people even when were anchored, but out on the bow sprit in heavy winds going through a tack is a whole different story.  Fortunately our guy out there is a cowboy (literally, he’s in the Canadian rodeo), so I wasn’t too worried, although the look on his face was priceless as we were tacking, a great combination of confusion and fear. The tack also allowed us to realize that the wind was too strong to have all four sails up, so we leashed the jib down nice and tight and got back on deck. 

            The wind was blowing around 20kt then, and with just three sails provided plenty of heel.  It’s always a fun experience to walk around on deck when the leeward rail is just about in the water.  The wind kept creeping up, getting to around a sustained 25kt with gusts up to 30.  At this point, Theo decided to drop the foresail, which is not as easy as it sounds in 25kt winds.  All hands were on deck helping to fold the sail in, as I basically tried to pull the parrel beads (think of them as a mast sleeve) down by hand.  At least that was the attempt, although in all reality the sail only came down when the gusts were light enough that the sail wasn’t tight on the rigging.   With our boat now with only 50% sail, Theo turned to run from the wind, and things calmed down a bit, or at least appeared to.  When you sail in the same direction as the wind, things seem calm, because you are essentially racing the wind, meaning the apparent wind is not as strong as the true wind (google it).  The boat is also more level on a run, and you can surf down waves, meaning you can get some great speed (we maxed at a little over 10 kts I think, boat record is 11).

            Even though things seemed calmer on the run, the winds were actually picking up, now to around 30 sustained with 35kt gusts.  We entered into a large bay, with hopes of finding a smaller cove that would offer some shelter from the wind.  However, the winds kept up, and gusts started coming from all directions, well into the upper 30s.  Theo had to be on his game, since every gust had to be anticipated and the boat steered appropriately.  Otherwise, a gust could come from a poor angle and knocked our sails around, or capsize us. We decided to head up to a potential cove, but had to tack into it.  With about six people trying to pull the main sail sheet across, the winds proved to powerful, and we couldn’t get the boat around.  Not exactly a great time to lose maneuverability heading into the wind.  Fortunately Theo was able to jibe us around and head for another potential cove.  

            On the way the winds continued to grow, and Theo gave the command to drop the remaining two sails. I headed up to the fore deck to get the stay sail halyard ready when I heard a super loud pop, and looked up to see that the stay sail had ripped clear off the boom.  The halyard was lose in my hand, but the sail wasn’t budging down at all.  Fortunately the sheet holding the sail decided to rip when we were on a reach, meaning that the metal clew of the sail was violently flapping well clear of the deck.  If the sheet had ripped a few moments later when the boat was into the wind, it would have been a different scenario.  Pretty soon, realizing that the only way to get the sail down was to climb out onto the middle of the bow sprit and pull it down by hand, Theo calmly told us over the loud speaker to do just that.  So I ventured off onto the bow sprit in a boat with a freshly ripped sail line, in 30 + kt wind, and heavy seas.  I didn’t really have time to think about it, or regret not having my life jacket and harness on, but crawled out there, white-knuckled the stay and started pulling.  Another guy came behind (our cowboy, thanks Luke!)  to help fold it in and after a minute or so we had it down and secured.  I crawled back onto deck, heart pounding with adrenaline, happy to not be in the sea, stoked for the action, and somewhat justified in my role as deckhand, since I actually had to fix something broken.  Apparently the bow sprit (which typically sits about 12 ft above the water), was just a foot or so above going into the sea while we were out on it.  My biggest fear was that no one had taken a picture of me out there, which sadly is the case, so my testimony will have to suffice. 

Once the sails were down we motored for another hour or so until we finally found a small cove that provided great protection from the wind and anchored for the night.  Quite an adventurous day!  Minus a busted stay sail sheet (fortunately the sail stayed somewhat intact, minus a few seams coming apart) a slightly roped burn hand on one of the students from the failed tack, and plenty of sea spray getting everyone thoroughly soaked, we survived and had a blast, a great end of season sail that most probably wouldn’t have imagined going through seven weeks earlier.  Theo put things in perspective, saying that the same stay sail sheet had ripped once before, and that he had sailed in heavier winds (50kts!) but I still hold onto that day, and my potentially mildly exaggerated descriptions, as being one of my most enjoyable days at sea.  And to think it all started with brunch!

Always wear a safety harness,

-BG

The Last Lecturer (of Bible school at least)

            A few days (weeks) late on updating the blog (what’s new?), for which I apologize.  I’m currently in Korce, Albania, which is definitely not Greece, and I’m definitely not on a sailboat anymore.  But those details can come later. For now I’d like to share about the last week or so on board the Encounter. 

            After our speaker Mike left we had a free day, which allowed us the opportunity to rent cars and head up to ancient Delphi, a few hours from our anchorage.  It was an optional outing, so not everyone went, which meant those of us that did go had a little more freedom to do whatever we wanted.  That meant blasting European radio (which happens to all be techno for some reason), stopping whenever we wanted for ice cream (twice for me) and driving as fast as we wanted (just kidding, we drove really slow cause they were rentals).  Delphi is tucked up in the mountains next to a ski village, which I didn’t know Greece had.  It was quite a change going from the blue ocean to a ski town surrounded by rugged hills.  Ancient Delphi itself was pretty magnificent as well, maybe not as well known as the sites in ancient Athens, but I thought a more diverse collection of ruins and a really great museum.  After nerding out for a few hours looking at all the naked statues, we headed into the town for lunch and to walk around.    

The next day the students and Theo took the cars and headed to ancient Corinth, but I was left on the boat to make sure pirates didn’t attack, or something like that.  Fortunately I scared any would be buccaneers away, and managed to successfully ferry the students to and from the boat and the dock in the RIB while only nearly crashing once (the RIBs got a super sensitive throttle, and it was not my fault that the other boat I ran into was so close to the dock). 

On Monday we picked up our next and final speaker, Luke Thomas, who works at Torchbearers Sweden, is the son of the current Torchbearers director and the grandson of the guy who founded Torchbearers, so his credentials checked out.  His lectures looked at different times when God asked questions in the Bible, and how those exchanges revealed the heart of God and His character.  It was a different style of lecture then we had been used to, but incredibly enlightening and enjoyable. 

During the week Luke was on board, the weather was pretty nasty out (cold and lots of rain), so we spent about 3 days straight holed up in the doghouse, trying to keep our sanity.  Lots of card games were played, many a nap was taken, and a few different personas were debut from some of the students (and myself) to keep the mood light.  When the weather finally cleared, the wind also let up, and we took a nice motor to our next destination.  We caught three fish that day, which gave me plenty of practice in deheading and gutting, and also gave us the chance to eat fish for breakfast the next day, further boosting the notion that I am a man and will one day provide food for my family (which my wife will graciously cook - just kidding).  Luke Thomas also happened to bring his bagpipes, which I attempted to play without any real knowledge of how difficult they are.  Props to those Scottish lads.  The fact that they wear a skirt is made up for ten fold in their possessing the strength and lung capacity required to play the bagpipes. Fortunately Luke shared his talents on the ‘pipes, creating a perfect trifecta of things I like: sailboats, passing pretty scenery in foreign countries, and bagpipe music.  It felt like I was sailing past Ireland.  So that was our last lecturer, meaning the Kingfisher project was soon coming to an end.  Stay tuned (or refresh your browser) to check out my next post on some adventure filled final days!

 Blessings,

-BG

                                          A fish I caught.  Didn't end up eating this one.  

                                                          (thanks to Angelina Gonzales for the pic)

All that Glitters...

 October 19th

            This past week we have slowly been making our way south.  Sunday the 14^th  we arrived in port to pick up our next speaker.  After a couple hours of waiting Theo finally remembered that the speaker wasn’t coming until the next day.  However, his forgetfulness allowed us to have a free day on Monday, and we just so happened to be about 30km from the Thermopylae, the site where the battle of the 300 Spartans took place against the millions of Persian soldiers.  The guys and I (along with one girl we brought along to take photos – I mean wanted to come) were super excited to visit, even though we were told that the monument was rather un-impressive.  Regardless, we managed to find a bus to the town, walk around in the rain for a bit and finally get directions from some locals on where the monument was.  The language barrier was pretty significant but we kept saying “Leonidas” and making a spear throwing motion until we were pointed down the road a ways.  When we finally saw the statue of Leonidas and the monument to the 300 in the distance, we could hardly hide our excitement as we ran and screamed like giddy school girls.  Pretty soon after we had climbed up onto the monument and removed our shirts to pose next to the fully naked Leonidas (he did have a helmet, shield and spear… or two).   After doing our best 300 impersonations (we all had just done 1000 pushups) we went up to Kolonos hill where some of the battle took place.  There was also an awesome hot spring that ran right along the hill.  The five of us were literally the only people around, so we had to walk to a gas station and have them call a taxi for us to get back to the boat.  The taxi was a little pricey, but it was a Mercedes Benz, probably the nicest taxi I’ve ever been in (and they wonder why the Greek economy sucks).

            The speaker this past week (and my cabin mate) has been an American guy named Mike Gunn, who is currently church planting while coaching American football in Istanbul, Turkey.  The first day Mike was telling me about how he planted a church in Seattle a while back with his friend Mark.  Turns out his friend is Mark Driscoll, and the church is Mars Hill, easily in the top five of influential evangelical churches in the world currently.  Through his involvement in Mars Hill, Mike got involved in Acts 29 international, which he directed for a while before more recently starting his own church plant organization.  It’s kinda funny talking with Mike (who also was almost a professional football player and has been to Everest base camp several times) cause he says things about the conversations he has had with Bill Bright, or Matt Chandler, or the conference he was at with Piper, all men who are rock stars in the Christian world. 

            Mike is also an incredible Bible teacher, as he has taken us through 1 and 2 Corinthians.  All of his teaching is on the Gospel and it’s implication.  He also does a great job of explaining Christianity and culture (he is working on a book about the Gospel and culture) and the Biblical model of moving from the Garden to the eventual city in the new Earth, and how Christians are to cultivate culture along the way; not abstain from the world but be influential in it, contextualizing the Gospel without changing it.  He has also been incredibly wise from an apologetics perspective, in both defending the Bible and attacking false worldviews.  It is always affirming when I have thoughts or beliefs on a certain topic that are verbalized more eloquently by smarter men.

            Adventures this week have included working out with Mike, de-heading and gutting a tuna fish on deck that Theo caught, fishing off the pier, exploring an abandoned fishing village, hiking through the bush up to some cliffs and climbing a bit, and shark baiting.  Shark baiting is when Theo lets out a long mooring line from midship and drags people behind the boat while motoring along.  At first there were a bunch of people on the line and Theo went kinda slow.  Then the girls quit after a few tows and it was just me and a few other guys left in the water.  My hands were already tired from holding onto the line and from working out earlier, but my pride wouldn’t allow me to quit.  Theo pretty much cranked the engine all the way up as I struggled to hold on without drowning.  I lasted a few minutes (probably more like 30 secs) at full speed before my hands cramped and I let go.  Apparently my face and arm waving made it appear that I was panicked as I was being dragged to my watery grave, but the truth is that I was totally in control and simply let go of the rope first out of humility so that the other guys on the rope wouldn’t have to.

 Another awesome “is this real life” experience happened the other night under the stars.  One of the students was brushing his teeth on deck when he noticed that when he spit in the sea it seemed to light up.  After further investigation, and confirmation from Theo, we found that we were in a particularly rich area of bio-luminescent micro-organisms, that glowed milky white when disturb.  Even though it was past curfew and kinda cold out, pretty much everyone, including myself, dove in and swam in the water.  Basically any movement resulted in a faint milky glow as seen from a distance, pretty cool considering it was too dark to actually make out anyone swimming.  In the sea though, it literally felt like you were swimming in outer space.  The water was pitch black, but the slightest move resulted in thousands of tiny little creatures glowing like stars all around your body  For sure one of the coolest experiences of this trip so far.  The actual stars were also pretty legit, and I got to see a few shooting stars go all the way across the horizon. 

That’s all for now, I’d like to get a post up sometime about ship life and what I’ve been learning, but we will see what time allows.

God Bless

-BG

Sailing!!!

October 12

A quick update on my whereabouts:  Currently we are anchored back on the island of Skopelos, which kinda feels like home now that I have explored all of the tavernas, found the best gyro shop and hiked all over.  Last Sunday we picked up our second speaker, a dutch man named Eisbert Van Dyke (Eis for short) who currently works as a ski instructor and speaker for the torchbearers school in Austria.  Eis has been teaching at just about every bible school aboard the Encounter since the start, so he was able to share some good sailing stories, along with offering some great insight on the book of Galatians.  Eis is also a fan of fishing, which means our skipper has allowed a trolling line off the stern.  Yesterday Theo caught a decent size tuna, and proceeded to cut off the head and gut the fish on the mid-deck.  I learned that cleaning up fish blood is part of the deckhand’s duty. 

            Monday the weather finally changed from the light winds that had plagued our sailing attempts since early September.  Instead of doldrums, we got a steady 12 knot breeze with some strong gusts (probably averaged about force five-six conditions) from the north east as we headed south from the peninsulas back down to the outer islands.  The wind also brought with it heavy seas, complete with 12-18 ft waves.  For the un-initiated: that type of sea with that type of breeze from that direction equals an incredibly rocky ride.  It probably was some of the worst seas I have experienced, but fortunately the weather was nice otherwise.  The first 4-5 hours felt great.  Then I had to go below deck to secure some loose items in the cabin and my stomach starting feeling a little funky.  For about an hour or two after I was rather happy to just lay down on deck and not think about the roller coaster ride I was on, but then I felt fine and had a blast trimming and dropping the sails in the heavier wind as we reached out destination.  All in all a great day of sailing, although I slept extra well that night as my body still felt the rocking. 

            Wednesday I had the opportunity to join the students in an exercise of solitude and fasting on a “solo” day.  Basically I got dropped off by myself along some rocks on an uninhabited island around 1pm on Wednesday, with some water, an old sleeping bag, and my Bible for 24 hours alone.  I spent the afternoon hiking around, reading, and trying to find a suitable bed on an island without any level surfaces.  I finally found a small patch of rocks a few feet from the sea that was kinda level and had a nice collection of goat poo and some old Styrofoam pieces that made a pretty good mattress. I was pretty happy with it and hunkered down for the night.  Then the rain started.  At first it was only a few light showers only lasting about 15 minutes.  I fashioned a lean two with some sticks and a trash bag to keep my head dry and hoped my sleeping bag could handle the drizzle.  Then the zipper broke on my sleeping bag and for some reason I made up my mind to fix it at 1 in the morning.  90 minutes later I finally had it working again despite my wet (and at this point freezing cold) fingers.  Later in the night there was a heavier rain storm that pretty much soaked through my bags and all my clothes, leaving me nice and cold.  I got up in the morning and went for a hike to warm up (of course leaving my rain jacket behind) and got caught in a monster down pour that soaked me even more.  When I got back to my camp, I pretty much gave up on trying to be dry, (at least I was a little warmer with the sun out) and tried to read my bible, but ever 20 minutes or so the rain would start again, so it was a pretty futile effort.  I was picked up around noon on Thursday, still wet and cold but overall pretty satisfied with my solo experienced.  I had planned on reading a lot during the time, but the good Lord obviously wanted me to spend my time in prayer and reflection, since the rain prevented any extended reading.  It still was a great experience.  I never once got bored, frustrated, lonely or hungry and almost all of the students had the same experience, despite the rain.

            Tomorrow Eis leaves in the morning and we sail all day to the south (probably to some town I can't pronounce) to pick up our next speaker on Sunday.  Then we will probably spend some time sailing and going on adventures and going to bible class and eating gyros until the end of October when the adventure ends.  I hope all is well back home in the states. Hopefully Nebraska football can rebound and beat Northwestern this weekend.

Peace and Respect

-BG

some students and me rocking the headbands

Adventures

October 6 (sorry I'm posting late, no internet on the high seas) 

Over a week since the last posts and lots of things to share! Time on a boat has a funny way of passing; days seem long and full of activity, but the weeks fly by and I’m left feeling like I left home yesterday.  I won’t go into a detailed list of all the stuff I’ve had the privileged of participating in the past couple weeks but I will share some highlights.  I left last you guys with Mt. Athos looming in the horizon. Well, we’re well past it now and have sailed quite a bit around the middle and eastern peninsulas on the northern Aegean.  I don’t ever really know the names of the places we are, because Greek is a horrible language to try to understand and pronounce, but I do know where we are on the navigation map (most of the time), which counts for something.  So no, I don’t know the name of the town we are currently docked in, or the name of the peninsula we have been sailing around for the past week.

            We picked up our first speaker (and also my roommate) nine days ago.  Hondo Wynn, an American from California who currently lives in Slovenia with his family, was an incredible guy to have aboard.  His lectures were thought provoking, insightful, challenging, and incredibly fun and engaging.  Hearing about his work with a missions organization called Josiah Venture (check it out yo!) in eastern Europe was super encouraging.  Spending time going on daily adventures with him reminded me why Americans are awesome to hang out with, and having one on one conversations about theology, the bible, missions philosophies and what the heck we are supposed to do with this life we have been given was pretty neat.

            To save time here is a list of adventures I went on this past week that will make my mom nervous and my friends jealous.

1) Caught mussels and crabs by hand for bait, rigged up fishing line and hooks, snorkeled and handfished for hours until I caught a fish.   

2) Swam to some islands and hiked around and through a bunch of fancy estates in my swim trunks.  Avoided all guard dogs.

3) Found an old log on an abandoned beach.  Fashioned canoe and traversed the seas on log canoe.

4) Tried windsurfing without enough wind.  Unsuccessfully windsurfed for several hours.

5) Found rock wall on island, rigged up climbing harness and belay system with Hondo.  Climbed rock wall.

6) Ate 3 gyros in one day.  (Highly delicious, minimally dangerous)

7) Spent the whole day alone on board while all the students and Theo travelled to ancient Phillipi.  Didn’t destroy the boat.

8) Swam from the boat to a beach resort and hung out with the nude Europeans. 

Those are just a few of the adventures from the past week or so, with many more to come.  Tomorrow, we leave and sail back around some peninsula to drop off Hondo and pick up our next speaker.  Pray for some good wind!

Until next time

-BG