Nashachata II - Welcome home!

     After all paperwork has been completed and after roughly eight days’ voyage from Shetland on 13th October 2011 we reached Conrad Yacht Club quay in Górki Zachodnie. Due to the yacht’s dimensions we had to circle around for a while until we found a long enough space. We raised a toast for a miraculous salvation and then had a busy day cleaning the yacht and moving equipment to a container. Then Captain’s Evening in the Old City of Gdańsk. On Friday further unloading and in the late afternoon we moved the yacht to NCŻ quay, where the welcome party was being organized. Again, we had just enough space at the quay but Zbyszek safely parked there. Friends were arriving from all over Poland so we had guests on board all the time. And it went on like that from Thursday to Saturday ;-)
     On Saturday, early in the morning, a large group from Kraków brutally woke the crew up from a well deserved sleep and performed the yacht check as well as demanding morning coffee. After a warm welcome and the liquid part of breakfast we checked in to the hotel and had a proper breakfast.
     Everyone interested in a mini-cruise was assigned to a group and in this way Zbyszek spent another day off the coast. All the others either walked by the seaside collecting pieces of amber, got ready for the official part of the afternoon Welcome Party (learning lyrics to the welcome hymn and practising the unfurling and winding back of a banner), or simply enjoyed the wonderful weather.
     At 5pm the party was started by Zbyszek, who gave a speech. Then a fresh shipowner received a pennant from Cape Horn Fraternity. It was officially handed over by Bohdan Sienkiewicz, Cape Horn Fraternity Chapter Member. Captain and crew were given some welcome presents. A group of Conceptsailing fans sang a specially written worship hymn in honour of Nashachata II. Commemorative photos were taken against a background of a banner prepared by friends from Kraków specially for this occasion. The formal part was ended and everyone was invited for food.
     The evening, night and dawn was full of sea stories and shanties spontaneously performed by the guests. From the observation deck on the roof of the hotel we were able to admire first a picturesque sunset, then a starry sky, and the most persistent waited for the sunrise over the Baltic sea.
     On Sunday Nashachata II sailed to Conrad Yacht Club, where she is waiting for the “Barbórka” cruise at the beginning of December.