Special Sunday

Ship: Johnny
Date: 07.12.2025
Position: South of the North Atlantic
Geographical position: 16°22,8’N 034°17,3’W
Etmal: 157 nm
Total: 3959 nm

Sundays have a special role in many cultures. Most of them celebrate it as a day of family, prayer and recreation. It is important to have such a day, because normally there is no time in our normal routines to relax and focus on higher things. Sundays are important to us here on board too. That is why I want to explain a typical Sunday on board.

Special watches

In contrast to Sundays at home, you can’t just stop and go to bed, or play or read. Someone has to take care of the ship. Usually the watches (A, B, C) meet on Saturdays and agree who has to do which watch. After deciding, we have to write it down on a paper in the wheelhouse. Today I had watch from eight to twelve in the morning.

Special breakfast

One of the biggest highlights on Sundays is Nutella. On every other day of the week there is no Nutella for breakfast. But every Sunday we are allowed to eat Nutella. That’s why nearly everyone attends breakfast on Sundays.

Today there were two other special details at breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, which is a rare dish on board because we don’t have a lot of eggs here. The second special detail were the chocolate cereals we had today. I am sure nobody left the table hungry!

Special time

Another tradition we have is the silent hour. Every Sunday we have an hour in which no one is allowed to talk or play. Everybody sticks to themselves and relaxes, reads, writes or just chills.

Today we had to use this time to do a self-reflection. Therefore we had a few questions about ourselves which we should answer. The answers will be useful for the feedback talks the teachers want to do during our Atlantic crossing.

This silent hour is a good time to calm down and reflect on all the things that happened. For me it is also a good time for praying and thanksgiving.

Special meeting

Every Sunday there is our students’ assembly. We come together and talk about certain questions and problems and try to solve them. The prefects (Kara and I) host these meetings. We collect everything anyone wants to say and make an order in which we then discuss the topics.

Doing this, we can participate in the decisions that are being made on board. Today, for example, we talked about our event team and about who has to do the green plan on Sundays.

Special evening

Tonight our event team organised a gaming round. We met at 07:30 in the mess room and started playing all sorts of games. Additionally, we were allowed to enjoy a lot of snacks and soft drinks. There was a lot of laughter, music and of course losers and winners. This was a wonderful ending to this special day.

Tomorrow we will go back into our routine of watches and school. Although this routine is better than anything at home, we all enjoyed a quiet and relaxing Sunday.

Special event

Even on Sundays there are certain tasks that have to be done. Today we put some cloth on the sails we won’t need for our Atlantic crossing (Großsegel, Schonersegel, Baumfock).

It was hard work because it was a lot of material that had to be moved and tied. I for my part was very happy as soon as this task was accomplished.

Special singing

Birte started a chorus today. She is a music teacher and wants to bring music on board. A group of people met on the Vordeck and we sang „An Tagen wie diesen“ after warming up our voices. It was very fun to sing together and to finally reach a very good result.

Special poems

Today we started our “Eventskalender”. This calendar is part of the lost and found. When you lose something and you want to get it back, you have to do a service for the community. This service is an event.

Some have to bake cakes or cookies, some have to sing, and some have to write a poem. Today there was finally time to start the poems. Melanie and I read our poems before teatime and before dinner. Here is mine:

Ein unweihnachtliches Weihnachtsgedicht

Wär dies ein gewöhnlich Weihnachtsgedicht,
Sprich es von Schnee und leisen Flocken
Von Teig, der gut nach Zimten riecht
Von prall gefüllten Weihnachtssocken

Wär dies ein gewöhnlich Weihnachtsgedicht
Gäbs Schneemannrollen, Schlittenfahrt
Gäbs Tannenbaum und Kerzenlicht
Ein Nikolaus mit Rauschebart

Wär dies ein gewöhnlich Weihnachtsgedicht
Wärn Glocken hier mit hellem Klang
Wärn Lichterketten dort in Sicht
Und weihnachtlicher Festgesang

Doch wär ein gewöhnlich Weihnachtsgedicht
Bei heller Sonne, blauem Meer
Wohl eher was die Stimmung bricht
Abstrakte Worte – im Innern leer

Was wär es mehr als Nostalgie
Ein trauger Schatten alter Zeit
Auf See da ists anders eher wie
Ein abgemagert Tannbaumkleid

Dies ist nun kein gewöhnlich Weihnachtsgedicht
Doch gewöhnlich ist die Reise nicht
Von Scheveningen bis Panama
Weihnachten bleibt immer da,

Wo zwei oder drei zusammen sind
Und fröhlich feiern wie ein Kind
So lasst uns freuen, lasst uns lachen
Hier und da ein Späßchen machen
Backen wir Kekse, singen wir Lieder
Bald schon kommt das Christkind wieder

I hope you liked it! Happy second Advent to everyone!