Mike Mate

It took an hour to steam up river, to the old port of Bilbao, in Basque country. We passed the commercial port, then the passenger ferries, security lights turned the night-time river silver. The river grew narrower and shallower. We rode on the edge of the flow, just before high-tide. Boatswain Penny stood bye the anchors on the bow, she noticed ripples in the water, kept thinking ‘there is something there’. We tied up at the maritime museum (close to the Guggenheim). An old Basque man was watching, smoking a cigarette, as we did so – he lingered all the while we put the chaffing gear on the ropes, he scared me. I asked Fernando (2^nd mate from Spain) to talk to him, find out why he was here. The old man replied that he was the proprietor of a nearby Bar, he’d watched us come past and had been amazed to see the dolphin escorting us up the river. “Is it trained” he asked Fernando? I thought nothing more – the man is mad – I told the watch-keeper to keep a watchful eye on him, it was four in the morning and time to turn in. With very little sleep, I arose to greet customs officials and ship-agent at eight. Forty Spanish volunteers arrived on board. At ten, I welcomed the Mayor of Bilbao‘ Mr Iñaki Azkuna’ on board the Rainbow Warrior – her first-ever call in Bilbao. Language was a barrier until there was no need to talk anymore. The fire-brigade caught our attention, they were alerting paddlers to pull over to the side of the river. They were herding a dolphin (with a small zodiac boat) back out to sea. The mayor and I stood on the bow (beside ‘Dave the wooden Dolphin’) and watched a little common dolphin swim past on its way out to sea, the little thing turned when it reached us, swam a few circles beside the boat, looked up at us from the water. ‘Ees a pikinin’, commented the mayor in delight. It’s a miracle I thought.

We had a gale force 7 against us as we entered the locks in Haltenau, the east-side of Kiel Canal. In order to keep the boat stationery I kept the engine on slow ahead into the wind. Summer has arrived in the north and the trees on the side of the canal were all full and green – a pretty transit – and by the time we reached Brunsbuttel, the west-side of Kiel Canal, the wind had abated and birds were chirping evening chorus. We tied up alongside a small coaster discharging a cargo of fertiliser, it was Wednesday 06 May. Next day engine repairmen arrived with spare-parts to the stbd engine. All was assembled and tested on Friday – the governor failed and the engine went into over-speed, there was more damage. Cargo ship sailed and we found a berth alongside. Mood was low – Spain was put off by a week. But the berth we were at was one of those with floating wooden fenders on the waterline, held in position by chains. They made the ship-side accessible. I called the crew together; “lets paint the ship this weekend”, they all agreed.

We painted the port-side on Saturday, a long line of crew on the wooden fenders, in sunshine and to my selection of up-beat music (speakers courtesy of Greenpeace New Zealand). I hung from a stage on the bow and painted in the ship’s name. Then on Sunday we turned the boat to face the other-way, making the stbd-side accessible. We continued to paint, Lisa joined me on the stage and in the evening had a barbeque on the quayside in admiration of our weekend accomplishment. On Monday we learned a further delay of parts and painted the stern from the zodiac. Lisa and me, the doves-of-peace from the stage. On Tuesday we finished painting the hull of the old-lady and now she looks more beautiful then I have ever seen. As the engineers went deeper into the stbd engine they found more to do, until they reached the bolts that hold it to the hull – then they started putting it back together again. Wednesday and Thursday I spent on stage again, this time painting the Totem above the accommodation. As second mate I painted one on the Arctic Sunrise, as Mate I painted the one on the Esperanza, and now as Captain – I have painted that on the Rainbow Warrior. On Friday 15 May, my Dad’s birthday, we sailed out of the Kiel Canal. We caught the Eb on the Elbe, topped 12 knots, south-bound for Spain.