June 2005 Author: Lars aka “The white Kenyan” or “Captain Longbones” and to some just “Hornblower” The first attempt at leaving the Faroes was stopped by the Danish coastguard. They warned us that there was a storm coming (40-50 knots of wind). So we decided to ride out the storm in Eidi, a small town in the north. We lost 2 ropes because of the wind, the pressure was just too big. After 48 hours we tried again and this time everything went well. We had good conditions, though we were rather sick inside because of all the onions and garlic. We smell horrible and the farts can’t get out of our wet weather gear – they go straight to the nose. We celebrated the arrival in Eskifjordur and Iceland by having a meal without garlic, haven’t tried that for 40 days – cause Toni loves his garlic. Toni motivated Lars being captain in Iceland, so he is now no longer cabin boy but has become captain of “The Swan”, he’s aiming to be admiral next month.The worst thing about Iceland is the freezing cold, the temperature is showing 2 cm if we guys look down at ur own little thermometer, it’s bad for our manhood; at that point we’re not like the Vikings. With those  temperatures Lars was a little bit skeptical of his jump from the spreader. But he had been talking about it since Norway now so to prove that it wasn’t only hot air coming out of his mouth (there has been leaking enough hot air out from another place of him) he went up the Bosun’s chair and made his jump into the 10ºC hot water. Iceland is beautiful with lovely wild nature – mountains, glaciers, whales, dolphins and of cause the famous clumsy Puffin. But the small towns are often a sad sight, like abandoned old western towns, with waste laying around and a smell of fish. Luckily the people are very nice almost as nice as on the Faroes. And the friendly people have their hot tops – we love those things. On the way to Husavik we crossed the arctic circle but no matter how much and hard we searched we couldn’t find that red dotted line. In Husavik, which is the nicest town on the north and east coast we hired a car for a trip inland. We went to Myvatn and went up the volcano and went down again – it was a boring black hole. We enjoyed the geothermal bath, no we loved it! Next stop on our Tour de Iceland was Dettifoss, accessed by a narrow gravel road – we were driving like it was the Paris Dakar rally and our hired toycar didn’t like it at all. The waterfalls was great, an impressive sight and the noise it makes is incredible. After some good days in Husavik and a boring day on Grimsey, we did as “Village people” sing “Go West life is peaceful there” – but it wasn’t peaceful there at all (damn Village People, what do they know about sailing dressing up like that?). We got caught in Nordurfjordur by bad weather, strong northerly winds and large waves stopped us from going further north and around the NW headland of Iceland to Isafjordur for a couple of days. Thursday July the 21st just outside Sudureyi a terrible thing happened. Suddenly Toni collapsed below, Lars thought he was making fun with Gry, but he soon realized that it was dead seriously and called Gry to wake up Ben and Alan. Toni started turning blue in the face and his breathing was unsteady. We tried getting him over on the side but when he stopped breathing Lars began first aid and Ben called “Mayday” over the VHF. Fortunately Toni started breathing again by himself after the fourth mouth to mouth blow. Gry, Alan and Lars laid him on the side, stopping his tongue from being swallowed and gave him pillows and a blanket. Gry kept talking with him and held his hand. Ben had made contact with the coastguard and a large motor vessel named “Explorer”. A ukrainian doctor came from “Explorer” – took some tests and said that Toni’s state was stable but he had to go to a hospital. As Toni getting back to consciousness again he kept talking about why he was in Iceland and he couldn’t understand that he suddenly had a beard. We all had a good laugh about that in the days to come. 20 minutes later a helicopter from Reykjavik came and Toni and Gry sailed to “Explorer” and got picked up from there by the helicopter. Lars was now really captain. So Ben, Alan and Lars started sailing the 120 nm south towards Reykjavik. We did a short stop in Rifshofn, near the glacier Snaefellsjokull. The guys did real good, we even found out how to fix the engine when it suddenly stopped with no fuel left in port side tank and air in the injectors. Alan “The Lucky” caught three fish on one line – we all know it was beginner’s luck of course. Ben “The Happy” and Lars “The Lazy Long” enjoyed the sun and that it was wind still by going around only in shorts.Friday we were all together again. Toni his usual self again and feeling fresh after a new operation on his heart. So Saturday we went out for a beer and a dance. Crazy things happened at the Irish pub, Lars was told by a Norwegian girl that she maybe was a little bit drunk but she thought he was handsome. As Lars said later she must have been real drunk because I look like a vagabond with my uncombed hair and ugly beard. But with this in mind and his new confidence Lars couldn’t stand giving the old bold live musician a hug after seeing a Icelandic woman doing the same – pure man. And later Lars Travolta was suddenly standing in a circle of people on the dance floor with some people looking scared and some applauding him for his crazy moves. It was a great night out. Wednesday we went for another car trip, seeing Thingvellir, The Geysir and Gullfoss. A great and enjoyable tour which was finished by the famous and nice Blue Lagoon – mmmmh those warm geothermal baths, we’ll miss those things in Greenland. And Lars will miss turning his head after those nice Icelandic girls. Ben left the boat flying back to the UK as we as plan sailed off to Greenland on July the 28th all ready to rumble. Join up for more fun and new stories next month and see the new length of Toni and Lars’ ugly beards. The 22-July-2005 could have been my day of reckoning, if it would not have been for the action of my crew to give me first aid my ashes could be floating around in the North Atlantic. My sincere thanks to my crew Lars, Gry, Ben and Alan for saving my life. A thousand appreciative thanks to the Captain and Crew of the Cruise ship “Arctic Explorer” who came quickly to our help, sending the doctor to check on my heart condition, reviving me from unconsciousness and transferring me to “Arctic Explorer”. To the Reykjavik Rescue Helicopter crew my thanks for a most efficient and professional rescue, lifting me off the “Arctic Explorer” and flying me and Gry to the Reykjavik Hospital. Thanks to the doctors who performed the heart surgery at short notice and the nurses who cared for me. It is great to be alive and I am feeling well. Every day is a present to me, thanks to all those helpful people out in our beautiful world. Toni Strub...