Hello!
Thanks for your support! We are incredibly happy about the help we received from you after our last emergency call. We’re not out of the woods yet, but things are moving forward again.
Today we have a special mailing for you: a letter from Thesi. Thesi has been a Sea Punk for years, has already supported us at Rise Above, picked up Sea Punk I 2022 from Poland and coordinated the project and rebuilding in Greifswald. She took a great part in preparing our operational concept – and this August Thesi took over coordination on the ship. She was actually supposed to go to Sicily for this – then suddenly she went to Malta. Why and what did she experience there? Read for yourself.
Four weeks in Valletta in the shipyard – the journey was quite an experience – we were actually supposed to go to Sicily, but then: a hole in the hull of the Sea Punk I and the next available shipyard is several hundred kilometers and a ferry ride away on another island : in Malta. So I set off for Valletta with our van. A perfectly normal white VW T5, but it causes a lot of excitement with the authorities during the trip. Why – I have no idea. Maybe because I booked it as a “private van”, not a company car. In any case, in Malta in the end there are five security guards and a dog who examine me closely – but at some point they let me continue, even with our shipyard folding bike, the toolbox and the 10 liter bucket of paint that I have with me.
In Valletta I get to know the crew and the tasks ahead.
The ship is in the dry dock – meaning there is no cooling water on the outer skin of the Sea Punk I. It also means: sleeping under deck at 35 degrees – let’s put it this way: it gets creative how people align the different fans.
What are we actually doing here? It’s about the hull of the ship… it’s just scribbled all over with measurement results written on it with chalk. The Sea Punk I had an ultrasonic measurement – this measurement is used to determine the thickness of the steel plates, and they are even allowed to become thinner for a certain percentage.
When I arrive, the two steel plates of the keel just in front of the propeller have already been removed. Ergo: there is sunlight in the engine room. Things you do not see very often.. So here was the hole. At the lowest point of the ship. This cannot be reached from the inside by hand. We go into the engine room and remove the floor panels, and here we go another 1.60 m further down into a tapered (narrowing) area that is filled with pipes. This is where everything happened when water suddenly entered the hull through the hole a few weeks ago. It takes a few days and conversations for me to understand how close we were to a disaster, but I’m glad to know what happened and how we can move forward.
Close friends come to visit me on the ship – that’s really nice. Having a swim and then off to the Gugar Bar. Malta is a really strange place. One superyacht next to the other – Jurassic World film set – tourism – fireworks every day – and then run-down houses and street prostitutes in front of the industrial port.
Our crew of volunteers is growing and growing – the first rust repairs are underway – nail gun, grinder, slag hammer.
The first four cabins are being dismantled – we have to ensure that the insulation and furniture cannot catch fire when the metal work on the hull starts, as cutting torches and flex cause a lot of heat and sparks that can quickly turn into flames. We can see right next to us how bad a fire like this can get on a ship. The 60 m long ship lying there burned for a week. Embers have repeatedly ignited themselves.
Of course, all of this also means that we can no longer sleep below deck in the cabins on board and we have to move – our accommodation and its condition leves us really stunned. Among other things, we experience a small cable fire, two burst pipes, rain dripping through the ceiling, and animals coming to visit us. It’s a disaster! Despite discussions, the landlord doesn’t want to give us a discount. Unfortunately, he has the upper hand because it’s the summer holidays, Malta is completely booked and there is no comparable, affordable accommodation that we can reach by foot. So: close your eyes and keep going, but it’s also costing us all a lot of nerves.
Back to the shipyard: The bilge is completely closed and the first large metal plates (approx. 1.40*50cm) around our scuppers are removed. The first time wind and sunlight below deck. The shipyard is well equipped. There are enough people assigned to fire stations and fire hoses to intervene if necessary.
Bigger and smaller incidents happen – that’s part of it. We know this, we solve it.
There is a lot of turmoil in the association itself, the number of active, committed members is too low. The same hands always go up when it comes to taking on tasks. Something that many associations know. The frustration is huge.
The isolation is removed in the cabins – all the personal protective equipment that goes on a single person (overalls, protective mask, glasses,…gloves) goes on. From second one, the climate in these overalls changes dramatically – so the work continues, soaked in sweat.
Let’s come to the Plimsoll line – do you know it? Every ship has this marking. This loading line is the waterline that indicates the legal limit to which a ship may be loaded. And it has to be welded on – and replaced.
The RHIB – somehow always a problem child. The anti-slip clutch took a hit during a maneuver in the last use. A lot of uncertainty at first when the machine couldn’t be extended – but in the end it wasn’t so bad: the spare part is already there, plus another one as a backup.
Now the cabins have to be put back together, a huge task! Our volunteers are very highly trained and can sometimes achieve what seems impossible.
And then suddenly four weeks are over and it’s time for me to go back home again. It hurts a little, every time. A few tears flow when saying goodbye. Bye Sea Punk I…keep on going! And hopefully some water again under the keel.
Love & Rage,
Thesi