A busy Ocean Week for Statsraad Lehmkuhl

"It's been very hectic, but also fun. We have had all kinds of events on board,
three-course dinner, conferences, lectures and lessons, breakfast meetings and mingle events.  During an open ship-event, we had nearly 5.000 visitors in one day," says the ship´s sergeant, Therese Andersson.

«For me, the the biggest happening was to meet His Majesty King Harald. I was allowed to put in the chair for him at the royal dinner. He seemed to be enjoying himself on board," says Andersson.

Kaylee Floden had the honor of waiting on H.M. the King during the Royal dinner.

"I had to be sure to say "Your Royal Highness" every time I served, and he was to have food and drink first", Kaylee says.

Kaylee wasn't nervous.

"He was very friendly. He is an important person, but he's just a person, too. I can imagine that it must get tiring if there is too much much fuzz around him”, she says.

On Monday, the stage was set again for a royal visit when His Majesty Crown Prince Haakon of Norway came to lunch on board. 

He arrived with Norway´s Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, who was accompanied by no fewer than five ministers.

- «Statsraad Lehmkuhl is a fantastic representative for Bergen. I know Bergen is proud and it belongs to Bergen, but it is also something that the whole of Norway is proud of», says Prime Minister Støre.

«The circumnavigation has literally shown the flag for Norway, not just the ship, but also the people on board, the sailors and the topics that have been discussed here. I strongly believe in that».

The Crown Prince, the Prime Minister and the ministers had lunch served in the captain's lounge, while the more than 200 conference participants were served lunch on the big deck, in bright sunshine.

The theme of all the events during the One Ocean Week was sustainability and taking care of the ocean.

Some of the events took place at the Stastaraaden Bar, right next to the ship.

But the strike caused a bit of a headache.

- I was a little nervous when the beer tanks ran out on Wednesday night. We had to rig a mobile unite, and it went quite well. But I'm glad the strike has now been called off. It will be nice to get the tanks filled up again, says Sæthre.

During a break in the program, 12 barrels of precious drops were unloaded from the ship. The barrels of rum and whiskey have been stored in the keel in the ship's underroom throughout the circumnavigation.

- "To have whisky and rum that has been on all the world's oceans, for 60,000 nautical miles over 20 months, is absolutely fantastic," says distiller Stig Bareksten.

"What I'm most excited about is whether all the barrels are full. We drained a bottle right after the ship came in, and then I had to go way down because there had been a leak. But the taste was really good, absolutely fantastic," he said.

On Thursday evening, Sergeant Andersson and the rest of the crew are busy with the week's very last event on the ship´s main deck.

- To be completely honest, it's kind of nice that it´s almost over," she smiles.

«We have sailed for 4 weeks from Puerto Rico in pretty bad weather, and then it was straight on to the One Ocean Week. It's been a little tough, but also really nice. Especially the arrival to Bergen. To see all the people who had turned up at Bryggen, was an indescribable sight» Therese says.

On Saturday, there is be a crew change on Lehmkuhl, and the crew who sailed the final leg of One Ocean Expedition can get som well-deserved weeks off.

On Tuesday 26 Arpil this year's sailing season kicks off with the Shanty voyage headed for the Shetland Folk Festival.