Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits Miami December 7-10 2021

Miami is a fairly ordinary American city, with a down town characterized by skyscrapers, offices and traffic. The city is an important financial and trade center, and is one of the cities with the most banks in the entire United States.

The main reason tourists visit Miami is because they are going on a cruise. The city is the world's largest cruise port and many of the cruise lines have their  headquarters here.

But what about the beaches, the Art Deco facades, and the little cafes? 

They are located in Miami Beach, a small town on a long sandbank facing the sea a few kilometers east of Miami. In the strait between the cities, several artificial small islands have been built, where you will find some of the most expensive homes in the entire United States.

Miami was founded in 1896, when the Florida East Coast Railway was built. The small railway town grew strongly in the 1920s. The population increased from just a few thousand at the turn of the century, to 250,000 in 1950. Now 470,000 people live there.

Almost 70 percent of the inhabitants speak Spanish. After the Cuba revolution in 1959, many Cubans moved to Miami, and the Cuban exiles have their own neighborhood, Little Havana. 

Normal maximum temperature in December: 24,5 ℃
Normal precipitation in December: 57 mm

Arriving Miami

Miami, USA

People looking for an unusual sailing trip, are welcome to join Statsraad Lehmkuhl on some of the One Ocean Expedition stages. But for most of the trip, various institutions man the ship. Between Cuba and the United States, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research is on board.

Finishing carrying their luggage on board, the marine researchers went straight to work. The rest of the day students from high schools in Havana were invited to visit, to learn about sea level rise, and join the researchers taking samples of the seawater.

Cuba has many stately buildings, and Hotel Nacional is one of them.

 The hotel was built in 1930, when Havana was a popular destination for wealthy Americans

. On day two in Havana, the curved entrance was not entered by party-happy tourists, but by scientists.

The Cuban Centro Investigaciones Pesqueras, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, and the Norwegian Embassy organized the seminar «Sustainability, environment and governance for the future of the ocean». The researchers shared knowledge about fish farming and oceanography, and the students who are responsible for the field course for schoolchildren on board the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, told about their experiences.

– We got off to a good start on the cruise with the seminar at Hotel Nacional. I was filled with happiness when the seminar started, we have been working towards this for two and a half years, said Geir Lasse Taranger, who is the Institute of Marine Research's cruise leader.

Norway is a world leader in fish farming, and the Institute of Marine Research has helped Cubans build a facility for the production of fish fry.

– This is an important project because Cuba lacks proteins, and focuses on aquaculture. The Institute of Marine Research has collaborated with Cuban institutions for many years, and has previously had success with breeding the species cobia. We now have a good production facility for fry up and running, ending the circle, says Torstein Harboe, who is leading the project for the Institute of Marine Research.

In the video below, you can come along visiting the production facility.

On November 28, the moorings were lifted, and the Statsraad Lehmkuhl set course for Nassau in the Bahamas. The theme for this stage is how to move more of the world's food production from land to sea in the years to come, in a sustainable way.

The region Statsraad Lehmkuhl sails in has a special focus, so researchers from the Bahamas, Cuba and Colombia are also on board.

– An important fact that was emphasized at the seminar at Hotel Nacional is how interconnected the Caribbean island states are with the ocean currents that connect them. Cooperation across nations is absolutely necessary, says cruise leader Taranger.

Everyone who sails with the Statsraad Lehmkuhl is part of one of three watch teams that go sea watch, four hours at a time. The participants from the Institute of Marine Research as well. But in addition to being sailors, they also have professional tasks. Geir Lasse Taranger explains:

– One team will hold workshops on the integrated ecosystem, i.e. the big picture. The second team will look at the environmental effects of doing seafood production in the region, and the third team will focus mostly on the possibilities: What can we succeed in doing in the short and in the long term.

Cruise leader Taranger sees Statsraad Lehmkuhl as the perfect venue for the Institute of Marine Research.

– The fact that we are offline, sleeping in hammocks next to each other and have to solve common challenges associated with sailing, he explains. I hope and believe that the cruise will have a lasting effect, both for the relationship between us colleagues and on a personal level.

Boarded by the Institute of Marine Research

On the way from Cuba to the Bahamas, Statsraad Lehmkuhl sails through seawater that holds 33 degrees C. In a few months, the same water will heat the coast of Norway.

It is here, between Cuba and Florida, that the warm water that makes the climate in Norway mild and nice, flows into the Atlantic ocean.

In the image below, you can see the Gulf Stream meandering forward. It flows like a river from the Gulf of Mexico and north towards Europe, moving more water than all the rivers on the planet, combined.

The speed is not impressive, only 6 kilometers per hour, fast enough to help Statsraad Lehmkuhl onwards.

– We arrive in the Bahamas tomorrow morning after some nice days at sea, less motoring than expected and upwind sailing all the time, being ‘pushed’ in the right direction by a very helpful Gulf Stream, writes captain Jens Joachim Hiorth in his log on the first of December.

Without the heat from the Gulf Stream, Norway would have the same cold climate as Greenland, Alaska and northern Canada.

The hot water is not pushed to the north, it is sucked. The engine is cold and salty water in the North Atlantic. When the seawater freezes to ice here, the remaining water becomes saltier. Salty and cold water are heavy, and sink just like the piston in a pump. Hot water is sucked northwards on the surface, and pushes cold water southwards down in the depths.

Wind and tides also create currents, but all the deep ocean currents are created like the Gulf Stream, due to differences in salinity and temperature.

The engine that drives the Gulf Stream does one more important job. The sinking water removes CO2 from the atmosphere. In the last 100 years, the ocean has taken up a quarter of all the CO2 that we humans have emitted.

The water in the surface absorbs CO2 all over the globe, but it is only in two areas that this CO2-rich water sinks into the depths: around Antarctica, and in the North Atlantic. It can take hundreds of years before this water reappears on the surface.

Riding on the Gulf Stream

Climate change is already taking its toll in Jamaica.

An hour’s drive from Port Royal, where Statsraad Lehmkuhl has her berth in Jamaica, is Hellshire beach - or what’s left of the once great and lively recreational area.

– My first memory of a beach is Hellshire. When I think of beaches I think of Hellshire, says Deron Maitland, student at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, and participant in the field course taking place on Statsraad Lehmkuhl.

– We used to go to Hellshire when I was a kid to swim, have a picnic and enjoy ourselves. I used to run on the beach and my father used to come running after me, because he knew I wasn’t a strong swimmer.

These days Hellshire isn’t much of a place to go running. Over the course of the last 15 years, 33 meters of the beach has been consumed by the ocean. The erosion is a result of sea level rise and deterioration on the coast line’s natural defence - the coral reefs - caused by rising ocean temperatures and pollution. 

Major hurricanes in 2004 and 2007 have also contributed significantly to the erosion.

Today there isn’t much of a sandy beach left on Hellshire. 

The waves are going all the way up onto the restaurants servering local delicacies like lobster, corn and fried fish. Thirty-something people are swimming and enjoying themselves as we visit the beach on a Tuesday afternoon, and frankly, the space wouldn’t fit many more at this point.

We visit the beach together with voyage crew Silje Kjeldsvik. In addition to being the founder and board leader of the 

, Silje is lecturing at UiB’s field course on board Statsraad Lehmkuhl.

The About tomorrow foundation is a non for profit organization working to mobilize businesses, academic communities and politicians to take climate action.

– My day off in Jamaica is being spent visiting a beach where we truly can see the consequences of climate change. It is important to document and communicate the changes that are happening, she says.

– I believe showing examples of the changes happening will help getting people onboard in the green transformation.

Her testimony from Hellshire will be shared via the About tomorrow foundation as well as in the curriculum of a coming course in sustainable development at the University of Bergen that Silje is involved with.

– Jamaica accounts for a very little part of the global carbon emissions, but the people living on the island will be significantly affected by the consequences of climate change, comments Kjeldsvik.

Visiting Hellshire Beach

Natalya Gomez, climate scientist and professor of earth and planetary sciences at McGill University in Montreal and lecturer at the field course, explains why the Caribbean island states are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise.

– The processes of sea level change doesn’t affect evenly everywhere. It’s quite a geographic variability. And it turns out that equatorial regions like the caribbean or pacific island states, small island states, end up getting a higher rate of sea level rise, she says.

According to Gomez, the geographical variations are results of three significant factors. Ice sheets exert a gravitational effect on the water around it. If you melt the ice sheet and reduce its mass that attraction weakens. 

The ice which is melting on Greenland and in Antarktis loses the effect of gravity on the water around it. Hence, the sea level diminishes locally and the landmass is rising, as it is no longer being pushed down.

The water released by the melting ice gives an increased volume in the ocean, however, this is hardly noticeable in the areas in which the ice is actually melting. The rotational force of the planet affects the water which is furthest away from the axis of rotation, around the equator, by pushing it further from the axis, rather than the water which is closer to the axis, in the north and south.

– So as you move further away from the melting ice sheets you get a greater than average sea level rise. This is why you end up seeing a greater than average sea level rise in the Caribbean sea, Gomez explains.

She also urges the world to be more considerate about low lying island nations, prone to sea level rise, in the discussion on climate change.

– You’re talking about a global average temperature rise and temperature targets, but in terms of sea level impacts on these island states, the impact is much more severe at 2 degrees of warming than it would be somewhere else in the world. So the difference between 1,5 and 2 degrees celsius for these island states is a really important one. It means lots of livelihoods, land and even the island in general as a habitable place eventually.

Jamaicas most famous beach is disappearing

Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits Nassau December 2-12 2021.

The Bahamas consists of 700 large and small islands, east of Florida and north of Cuba.

On most of the islands people live scattered, the only real city is Nassau, on the island of New Providence. The city has just over 200,000 inhabitants, and covers the entire eastern part of the small island, plus the surrounding coast. The only natural area left is Lake Killarney in the middle of the island. The shallow lake is lined with mangrove forests, and has a rich bird life, but here too, development interests are pushing.

As on the other islands in the Caribbean, the Tainos people lived in the Bahamas before the Europeans arrived. When the Spaniards came to the islands in 1492, the indigenous people were either killed or enslaved and transported away. From the early 16th century to 1648, the archipelago was virtually deserted. Then English settlers from Bermuda arrived, and in 1670 Nassau was established.

Like the Port Royal in Jamaica, Nassau was a notorious home port for pirates, which the British used as mercenaries in the war against Spain in the 18th century. For several years, there were ten times more pirates than other peoples living there, and in 1706, the pirates proclaimed Nassau an independent pirate state.

The British eventually had enough, and in 1718 they took control of Nassau and made Bermuda a British colony.

During the American Revolutionary War, 1715-83, the British colonies broke away from Britain, forming the United States. Thousands of Britons, who still supported Britain, fled to the Bahamas with their slaves. Nassau grew from being a small town around the harbor to the east, to becoming a major city.

In 1807, the British made the slave trade illegal, and in the years that followed, British warships took control of slave ships en route to the United States. Several thousand slaves were set free and settled on the islands of the Bahamas. Today, 90 percent of the population are descendants of slaves.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the prohibition in the United States made Nassau a popular destination for party-loving Americans, just like Havana.

Nassau is still a popular resort town and cruise port. The archipelago is visited by over 8 million tourists annually, and half of the inhabitants work in the tourism industry.

Normal maximum temperature in December: 26,4 ℃
Normal precipitation in December: 52 mm

Nassau, Bahamas

The Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, has been appointed goodwill ambassador to the One Ocean Expedition.

– We are deeply honoured to welcome on board our Prime Minister and co-chair of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, Jonas Gahr Støre, as goodwill ambassador for the One Ocean Expedition. This inspires and motivates us in our further mission to create awareness of the crucial role of the Ocean for a sustainable future.

Haakon Vatle, General Manager
The Foundation Sailing Ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl

Greetings from our new goodwill ambassador

The night of Friday 19 November 2021, Statsraad Lehmkuhl was the perfect place to watch a special celestial phenomenon, a lunar eclipse.

The sky was clear, and out on the Caribbean Sea light from buildings and roads does not cast a dull veil over the sky. The full moon was a perfect circle, shining through masts and rigging.

Here in Norway it was morning and beginning daylight when the partial shadow of the earth touched the edge of the moon. On board the ship it was 1:20 am and pitch dark. At this time the moon had gradually become a little darker for an hour and a half, but now the full shadow of the earth could be seen. The full moon was no longer spherical.

The shadow expanded inward, and at 4 am it covered 99.1 percent of the moon. The eclipse was almost total, and the longest partial eclipse since the 15th century.

Lunar eclipses occur only during a full moon. Then the sun, earth and moon are in line, and the entire lunar disk is lit up. But then, sometimes, for a few hours, the moon slides into the shadow of the earth.

The photo Jesper Rosenmai took from the Statsraad Lehmkuhl show that the moon did not turn black inside the shadow. The thin layer of atmosphere around our globe refracts light, and the red part of the light still hits the moon.

This is the same thing that happens in the morning and in the evening here on earth. The moon is coloured by all the sunrises and sunsets on earth, at the same time.

The moon does not get the same color every time there is an eclipse, how much of the earth's shadow that hits, and the conditions in our atmosphere determine.

The next one takes place on 16 May 2022, and then the eclipse will be total. It occurs when it is night east in the Pacific Ocean, so Statsraad Lehmkuhl gets a perfect view again: The ship is then in the Pacific, on its way from Chile to Tahiti.

Perfect view of the lunar eclipse

Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits Cuba November 24-28 2021.

On 24 November 2021, Statsraad Lehmkuhl entered Havana Bay with singing sailors in the masts.

Arriving in Havana

After Columbus landed on one of the islands in the Bahamas in 1492, he heard about an island further west that the natives called Cuba. Columbus was convinced it had to be Japan, and set sail. So, Cuba was one of the first islands the Spaniards came to after "discovering America".

Cuba was perfectly located as a starting point for the further conquest of America, and in 1515 the Spaniards decided to build a naval base on the south coast. But they soon discovered that port conditions were better on the north coast, and in 1516 the base was moved to a sheltered bay there, and Havana began to take shape.

The Spaniards built fortifications, but this did not prevent pirates from attacking, burning and looting the city several times in the 16th century. In 1607, three large fortifications were completed, and the capital was moved from Santiago de Cuba to Havana. 

The city grew into an important trading city and shipping port for goods on their way from Latin America across the ocean to Spain.

In 1762, during the Seven Years' War, the British conquered the city from the Spaniards. They retained control for almost a year, before the Spaniards took over the city again, in exchange for Florida.

The Cubans tried to break free from Spain throughout the latter half of the 19th century, but remained Spanish until the United States occupied the island in 1898. The United States gave Cuba autonomy in 1902, but retained military control of the island. The country still has a military base in the far southeast of Cuba.

During the Prohibition era in the United States, from 1920 to 1933, Havana became a popular destination. An extensive tourism industry was built, with hotels, nightclubs and casinos, many controlled by the American mafia. The city continued to be a haven for wealthy Americans until the 1950s.

At the same time, the production of sugar and other agricultural goods increased. Cuba is also a major exporter of nickel, and in the 1960s the country was one of the richest in Latin America.

In 1952, Fulgencio Batista seized power in Cuba in a coup. The social unrest in the country increased, and in 1959 a guerrilla movement led by Fidel Castro took power. Cuba was declared communist in 1961, and has been ever since.

The United States has repeatedly tried to remove the Communists from power, and has imposed strict trade restrictions. When the Soviet Union disintegrated in the 1990s, Cuba's main economic supporter fell away and the economy stagnated.

In the last ten years, political changes have been made, and the economy is back on its feet, and tourism is on the rise. Years without maintenance still characterizes parts of Havana, but the city is pleasant, full of life and again a popular destination.

Normal maximum temperature in November: 27,7 ℃
Normal precipitation in November: 88,3 mm

Havana, Cuba

Trainee Unni Borge has sailed across the Atlantic with Statsraad Lehmkuhl. In this travelog, she shares her experiences from the 30-day voyage from Las Palmas to the Caribbean.

Ever since I sailed across the Pacific with my family on the S/Y "Vestørn" in 1995, I knew I also had to cross the Atlantic. The dream was to sail over on own keel, but that did not happen. When the opportunity came with Statsraad Lehmkuhl, I knew this was my best chance.

But I had no idea about this when I saw the TV show NRK Sommarbåten on Andenes and Melbu in Vesterålen this summer.

We set out from Las Palmas on October 4 in a calm northwesterly breeze, with little sea traffic. We set sail and the ship glided elegantly through the sea. Almost no one was seasick, and I who had worried about this, for no reason at all! In the first days we had 12 sails up, and received full sailing ship training. When full-rigged, Statsraad Lehmkuhl has 21 sails up. We were divided into three watch teams; red, white and blue, and I got blue watch. Then I work from 08 to 12 in the morning and from 20 to midnight in the evenings.

Eventually, we hit the trade winds and set the course 270 degrees towards the Cape Verde Islands. There were no planned stops between Las Palmas and Curaçao, and we stayed outside the 12 NM limit, so we did not see the islands.

We are 142 people on board: 109 trainees who have bought tickets for the voyage, and the rest crew and volunteers. There are a majority of volunteers from Denmark, as the Danes have their own full-rigged training ship, and the seamen in training need sea service for their further education. Many of the Norwegian seamen in training come from the school ship Gann.

After approximately two weeks of smooth sailing we got strong wind and had to reduce the sailing. We sailed on only the lower top sails for four to five days before we increased again, with more on the main and formast.

The captain hosts a short information session on the front deck every day at 15:15. Here we learn about the distance, speed and course. And also some news from Norway, and preferably especially the weather at home. By the way, it is 29 degrees here, and we have salt water showers on deck every day.…

We are 10 nations on board, and we speak a lot in English. The crew is divided into two banjers, one with room for 70 hammocks and the other has 37. I live on the smallest banjer, and since it also is the cefeteria, we have to rig down our hammocks every morning before we go on duty. Routines such as sleep and food are important. The sun is merciless out here, and one must make sure to get enough fluid and salt. Sunscreen and hats are important.

Everything that is unfamiliar takes some time getting use to. And sleeping in hammocks is probably a little unfamiliar to most people. But if you are tired enough, you sleep well. The hammocks works as a gyro, so you do not notice much of the ship's movements. The hammocks hang tightly, and you can´t be prudish!But after a while, it becomes completely normal to see fellow trainees in their underwear and listen to them snor. It's like being young again and being at camp. 

After a few days we put out the fishing line, but had to be shifted and reinforced as it got worn out when we got when we got the first dorado on the hook. In less than a week we got a dorado of 33 kg, a swordfish of 77 kg, and a tuna of 55 kg.

Oh – help me God to catch a fish so big

that even I, when telling of it afterwards,

The ship produces its own fresh water and we all the water we need on board. Statsraad Lehmkuhl is currently on The One Ocean Expedition, which focuses on sustainability. 2021–2030 is the UNs Decade of Ocean Science and the expedition is a recognized as a part this. There are researchers and stunedt on board from scientific institutions, such as The Institute of Marine Research. Samples are taken regularly, and small buoys are put out for research purposes.

Before I went on board, I received information that there is a radio amateur station on board, and therefore made an agreement with other radio amateurs for a fixed schedule, ie we have an agreed band / frequency and fixed UTC time for communication. Unfortunately, it turned out that the antenna tuner on the radio was removed, and thus we had to look for other solutions. We tried to shorten the antenna to a quarter-wave antenna on the 20 m band, without it working. Luckily, the helmsman was a free radio amateur, and had put in a good word for me so I was able to borrow the ship's radio station on the bridge / cutlery. I met only goodwill and positivity from the helmsman and captain on duty, even though I came there twice a day and to use the radio. The first week was a good signal from Norway and I had several QSOs.

Excerpt from the diary a few days ago: «We sit on the ground, and sing shanty. It's dark, but we get light from the full moon and a beautiful starry sky. We sail on the stumps in a light gale - life is nice here and now. " It's nice to be without a mobile, internet, alcohol, TV and everything we usually surround ourselves with. But modern man can not do without satellite to send this travel letter.

Now I´ll sit on the forecastle for a while and enjoy my free watch. Arrival in Curaçao is in ten days. Tomorrow I hope to have the opportunity to climb the rig, up to the upper top sails 12 meters above deck - that is to say, if I dare!

Travelog from the Atlantic Ocean

Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits Port Royal November 13-17 2021.

Port Royal in Jamaica is located at the far end of a narrow headland called the Palisadoes. It protects Kingston bay from the sea, making the bay one of the world's largest and best natural harbors.

The indigenous people called Taino living on the islands of the Caribbean, fished in the bay they called Caguaya, but it is uncertain whether they had settlements here.

Columbus came to Jamaica and Kingston bay in 1494, on his second voyage across the Atlantic. The Spaniards settled on the headland, but it was the British who turned the simple settlement into a city, and named it Port Royal.

They took Jamaica from the Spaniards in 1655, and in 1659 a fort was built to protected the entrance to Kingston bay, homes and warehouses.

In the latter half of the 17th and 18th centuries, Port Royal became the most important home port for pirates ravaging the Caribbean. They served as mercenaries for the British, plundering Spanish merchant ships, and made the city to grow further, until a catastrophe occurred in 1692.

At that time, 6,500 people lived in Port Royal, which had expanded to the sandbanks in the north and west. On June 7, 1692, an earthquake struck Jamaica. The sandbanks disintegrated, and 2/3 of the city simply sank into what was now a mixture of sand and water. The earthquake and the tsunami that followed killed between 1,000 and 3,000 people. In the months after, 2,000 more died of disease.

Sunken buildings can still be seen on the seafloor.

Attempts were made to rebuild parts of the city, but hurricanes and fires made people move to the other side of the bay. Kingston was founded, and is now the largest and most important city in Jamaica.

In 1907 a new earthquake destroyed much of what was left of Port Royal, and today Port Royal is just a shadow of what the city once was. 

A quay for cruise ships was built in 2000, with cafes, shops and a combined museum and underwater aquarium.

Jamaica has been an independent state since 1962, but is still part of the British Commonwealth. The vast majority of the inhabitants are descendants of African slaves, who were brought to the island by Spaniards and Britons to work on sugar plantations. There is also a large proportion of Chinese workers who came to Jamaica when slavery was abolished in 1838.

Today, tourism is the most important industry in Jamaica, in addition to agriculture and mining.

Normal maximum temperature in November: 27,7 ℃
Normal precipitation in November: 87 mm

Port Royal, Jamaica

There is a special twang to the name Caribbean. The name oozes adventure, pirates, palm islands and endless sandy beaches.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl sailed through the Anguilla Canal and into the Caribbean Sea October 27. The day before, the lookout on board could shout out "land in sight" for the first time, three weeks after the ship left 

The first sailing ships to make this trip were the three small ships of Christopher Columbus in 1492. They too set out across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands, but reached land a little further north than Statsraad Lehmkuhl, in the Bahamas.

Columbus was convinced that he had managed to find the sea route to India, and named the islands stretching from Florida to Venezuela the West Indies. The West Indies were in common use well into the 60s, several hundred years after the world knew that India lay a whole continent and a few oceans further west.

We now call the archipelago the Caribbean, and the sea west of the islands and south of the Yucatan Peninsula that juts out from Central America, the Caribbean Sea.

 did their job well this time, and the voyage across the Atlantic took less time than planned. So Statsraad Lehmkuhl spends a few extra days at sea before the ship arrives in 

Statsraad Lehmkuhl is a training ship, and captain Seidl made a plan together with people at 

the Caribbean Sail Training Association, CST.

- It is always nice to see the ship under full sail, and if you can sail past a Caribbean island at the same time, there are not many things that are better, says Seidl.

So on October 27, Statsraad Lehmkuhl set all sails, and plotted a course through the channel between the islands of St. Martin and Anguilla. The weather was perfect, butterflies and seagulls filled the air, and the photographer from CST was in place.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl set out a tender with one more photographer, and sent up a drone. Seidl was pleased.

- Sailing through the Anguilla channel was a good opportunity to get some good photos of our old lady, with the channel’s nice wind and weather conditions and the closeness to shore, he smiled.

The canal feels narrow when you have to maneuver a sailing ship through it, in between small boats and personal watercrafts. The smile was a little stiffer on second mate Kamilla Steenvinkel, who stood at the helm.

- Everything went as planned, but we had extra close dialogue with the lookout watch on the forecastle, she said afterwards.

Well into the Caribbean Sea, she ship was was heaved: The sails are set so that the three masts push it in different directions. The speed slows to a stop, and the ship drifts only slowly sideways.

the students are to fire down their instruments to take samples of the water deep down

. This time it was time for a real bonus. Swimming in the sea!

Everyone who wanted to could jump into the 30 degree warm and delicious water. Not all at once, ten and ten so that the lookouts were sure that everyone was fine, and got safely back on board.

- It was much safer swimming here than on any beach and you don’t get any sand in your swimming suit, Captain Seidl smiled.

Swimming in the Caribbean sea

Into the Caribbean Sea with all sails set

It was no coincidence that Statsraad Lehmkuhl sailed south to the Canary Islands before heading west and across the Atlantic Ocean.

Everyone knows that the weather varies from day to day and from place to place.

But there are large wind patterns that are surprisingly stable throughout the year. The trade winds is one of these systems; the steady wind that blows from east to west at the equator.

The engine that drives the wind systems is the sun. The mechanism is simple, air that heats up expands, becomes lighter, and rises.

The sun is strong at the equator, so here warm air rises all year round, and flows north and south high up in the atmosphere. The rising air is replaced by air drawn in from the north and south.

Due to the earth's rotation, the direction of the incoming wind is diverged. North of the equator the wind blows from the northeast, south of the equator from the southeast. These are the trade winds, the steady and reliable winds that carried the merchant ships across the ocean, full of goods.

Tip: Click here to see how the wind is blowing right now

Above the equator the air is calm, as it is in the center of all low pressure zones. 

This area is called the doldrums, and is just as scary as it sounds. If a sailing ship gets stuck in the doldrums, it risks drifting around with slack sails for weeks.

When air rises, it eventually cools down. Cool air can not hold as much water vapor as warm air. Clouds form, and it starts to rain. This is the reason we find the globe's rainforests along the equator.

Around 30 degrees north and south, the air that rose at the equator sinks down again. Sinking air heats up, there is room for more water vapor, and the clouds disappear. This is where the great deserts of the globe are found.

At 60 degrees north and south is a new zone of rising air. Here, the prevailing wind direction is from west to east, so the sailing routes back to Europe go further north in the Atlantic.

These atmospheric systems regulates the large scale wind patterns on the earth, but sailing ships have to deal with other wind systems too. 

The change of seasons creates its own winds. 

The monsoon is an annual guest in India and the surrounding countries. In summer, the land masses heat up faster than the sea. The air rises, drawing moist air and heavy rainfalls northeast from the Indian Ocean and inland.

In winter, the sea is warmer than land, and cold and dry air blows down from the Himalayas, over India and into the ocean. This time of year the coasts of Southeast Asia and Australia gets rain.

Catching the trade wind

Climate change, democracy and human rights, teaching resources.

 offers dialogue-based democracy and human rights education where they let students get to know their commitment by exploring issues related to discrimination, democracy, war and dehumanization, migration and human trafficking, prejudice and climate change.

Interview with Rafto Prize winner Nnimmo Bassey

The Rafto Foundation

I wouldn’t have been able to participate on my own, and I’m very grateful that Gorm wanted to keep me company, says grandpa Egon.

Sailing from Las Palmas to Curaçao are 109 trainees from ten different nations, spanning in age from 14 to 81 years. Amongst these, on the blue watch, we meet Gorm (27) and grandpa Egon (81).

After a life lived on the ocean, particularly in Voldsfjorden, Western Norway, Egon reluctantly sold his sailing boat a couple of years back. As age caught up with him, he wasn’t able to cope with the maintenance work any more. He’s been missing his boat very much.

- Visiting grandpa and grandma in the summertime was synonymous with sailing, tells Gorm, having the chance to sail the Atlantic Ocean together means a tremendous deal to us both.

To sooth Egon’s longing for the sea, his family arranged for him to take part in the One Ocean Expedition.

- I wouldn’t have been able to participate on my own and I’m very grateful that Gorm wanted to keep me company. It’s nice to create some new memories together, we’ve been sailing together for 27 years.

Egon describes that he has been touched by the enthusiasm for sailing amongst the crew and trainees on the ship. He would’ve liked to be able to contribute more with the sailing and on the watches.

- No one expects you to contribute more than you already do, Gorm ensures his grandfather, people are impressed by your participation on a voyage like this.

For Gorm, gathering on the fore castle singing shanties at sunset has been a highlight this far. For Egon, a tour of the chart house with Captain Seidl, sparked both interest and joy.

They are sailing together with Statsraad Lehmkuhl all the way to Havana, Cuba.

- We’re going to celebrate with a cigar when we get there, they agree.

Sailing with grandpa

Sustainable ocean - a writing assignment.

 has developed a writing assignment where the theme is sustainable oceans, with the One Ocean Expedition as a reference.

The target group for the assignment is students in upper secondary and high school, and it is easy for teachers to use.

The ambition of the UN Association of Norway is to develop more teaching programs in the coming months.

- It is positive that One Ocean lasts for a full 20 months. It gives us time to develop good plans and at the same time set up cooperation between the schools over time. We hope that this cooperation will continue, even after the One Ocean Expedition is completed in April 2023, says Gunvor Andresen, regional leader for the UN Association of Norway, South-West.

She is pleased that the voyage around the world makes it possible to have interdisciplinary teaching on topics such as sustainable development, global citizenship and democracy. The class can follow the expedition as a supplement to their classes, without spending much additional time.

- We will not achieve sustainable development if the students are not given the right tools. We want to use the One Ocean Expedition to achieve a deeper understanding of how important the ocean is and what role the global community plays in this context, says Andresen.

The expedition being international and part of the UN's decade for marine research is also positive. It gives teachers the opportunity to take an active role and participate in an international collaboration between schools.

All articles

Miami, USA

Boarded by the Institute of Marine Research

Riding on the Gulf Stream

Jamaicas most famous beach is disappearing

Nassau, Bahamas

Greetings from our new goodwill ambassador

Perfect view of the lunar eclipse

Havana, Cuba

Travelog from the Atlantic Ocean

Port Royal, Jamaica

Into the Caribbean Sea with all sails set

Catching the trade wind

The Rafto Foundation

Sailing with grandpa

The United Nations Association of Norway

... I am bound for south Australia!

A new scientific instrument

Events in the ports

Willemstad, Curaçao

– The ocean has changed

Nellie and Fabian has moved into the lab

Las Palmas, Spain

This is how One Ocean Expedition came to be

– The waves are a challenge

An old tradition

Slow, but nice

Heave to

How to avoid getting seasick

A new partner for Erlend

The first analyzes are ready

This is why sailing is smart

La Coruña, Spain

Lisbon, Portugal

Cádiz, Spain

A lot to learn for a fresh sailor

Sailing south, cycling home

Research using earmuffs and fishing rods

An old dream

A new friendship

Finally - open sea

The students are on board

First night on deck

Arendal - where the adventure begins

Risk assessments - Covid-19

Around Cape Horn – the ultimate adventure for sailors!

Statsraad Lehmkuhl becomes a research vessel

One Ocean Expedition