After 10 months and 19 ports on a tall ship, Sid Conrad is coming home — briefly
Sid Arthur Conrad — son to Malibu City Councilwoman Haylynn Conrad — has been all at sea for the past 10 months — one of 67 high school students from around the world who shipped out on the 210.5-foot tall ship Sorlandet — a beautiful boat that hit points in the UK, Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands, then across to the Caribbean and up to Puerto Rico before returning to Norway by way of the Azores, France, and Denmark. Ten months at sea in fair winds and foul. Sid called from Oslo on June 12 and we conducted an interview in the Clubhouse at Surf Canyon that was joined by Haylynn.
There’s a song from World War II that goes, “How you gonna keep them down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?” So after 10 months at sea, from Norway across the Atlantic to the New World and back, you’re coming back to Malibu and I think it might be hard to sit in a classroom knowing what’s out there. Could inspire daydreaming.
That’s one of the things I’m most worried about — it’s gonna be such a change for me to go back to traditional school so I am trying to avoid that by going to the Island School.
Where is that?
A marine biology school in Eleuthera, the Bahamas.
Sounds like you’re working on a Ph.D. in Ocean Fun. Where are you right now?
I’m in Oslo. The year at sea is over, and we graduated, so I am staying with a friend who was on the boat.
I talk about Norway a lot — a model country for the world: Only 5 million people, $1.76 trillion Sovereign Wealth Fund, 98% renewable grid, probably the first country to outlaw fossil-fuel-powered stinkpots. How do you like the place?
A great question, because I’ve got to know so much about Norwegian culture and Norwegian people without actually spending much time in Norway. I’ve lived with 50-something Norwegians for 10 months. I know almost everything there is to know about Norwegian culture.
There’s someone banging at the Surf Canyon gate. I think it’s your mom. Should I let her in?
Sure, why not?
Haylynn: Hi Sid!
Hi mom.
We’re talking about Norway and having some food.
I know how the Norwegians celebrate their birthdays. They have a really unique, in-depth birthday song that’s really different from our “Happy Birthday to You!”
OK, I found the English translation for that online. “The Norwegian Birthday Song” goes like this:
Hurray for you for celebrating your birthday!
Yes, we congratulate you!
We all stand around you in a ring,
And look, now we’ll march,
Bow, nod, curtsy, we turn around,
Dance for you and hop and skip and jump!
Wishing you from the heart all good things!
And tell me, what more could you want?
Congratulations!
We wave our flags up high! Hurray!
Yes now we’ll really celebrate!
The day is yours, the day is great,
But you’re the best!
Look in the ring who you want to choose!
Dance a little dance with who you want to!
We’ll all turn around together so joyfully,
And one of us shall be the next!
To celebrate!
They do a whole song and dance and they wear a traditional outfit. And it’s fancy, really fancy. Every kid has one and they cost around $15,000.
Haylynn: It’s called a bunad. We are part Norwegian.
Let me look that up: “Bunads are traditional Norwegian national costumes that vary in design and style depending on the region of origin. They are often made of wool, silk, cotton, and silver, and are handmade, making them expensive and treasured items. They cost anywhere from $3,000 to $13,000.”
The itinerary for A+ World Academy went like this; Left Kristiansand, Norway, on Aug. 31, 2024, then Lerwick, UK; Portsmouth, UK; Dublin, Ireland; Vigo, Spain; Madeira, Portugal; Sevilla, Spain; Las Palmas, Spain; Mindelo, Cabo Verde; Saint George’s, Grenada; Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Hamilton, Bermuda; Azores, Portugal; Saint Malo, France; Scheveningen, Netherland; Surprise Port, Skagen, Denmark and then back to Kristiansand, 10 months later.
Sure beats sitting in a stuffy classroom. Which port did you like best?
I really liked them all. They were all really different. But if I had to choose, I’d say the Caribbean Islands: Grenada is beautiful, Saint Martin, all of those places
You left Norway in August and came back in May, so probably didn’t see the Northern Lights, which is a shame.
Yeah, we haven’t seen the Northern Lights yet, but in the beginning of the year we had a lot of bio-organisms lighting up the water. And in the North Sea, the sky was so clear, the stars were beautiful. We had a pod of whales following us, right next to the boat — following us for days. The water was crystal clear and you could see them underwater, and that was really cool.
There were other phenomena that were hard to explain. We would be in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night and there’s no lights and we heard a lot of random noises that we couldn’t explain.
Did you go to any pubs in Ireland? Or were you too young for that and it wasn’t allowed?
Well, you’re not allowed to do that on the boat. There’s no drinking. But we still enjoyed Irish culture. We hung out and listened to music and did some Irish dancing. It was so much fun.
Your mom just nudged me and said “They slept in hammocks.” How much did the ship move? Did you get into anything really rough weather-wise?
According to the crew, we were lucky with weather, but we had some. In the North Atlantic, we had some five meter waves with 60 knots of wind and we were heeling over to like 35 degrees — with only the uppers and the lowers set because it was just so much wind and it was raining, I posted some videos about it. It’s ridiculous.
Were you in the rigging?
On the last sail we had a squall from Stockholm heading back to Kristianstad, we had maybe 20 knots of wind, and we were trying to go really fast because we were a little behind schedule. So we had all sails set. When you have the top-mast sails set, like the royal on top down and the top-mast stay sails, those make the boat heel over. A lot. Because they’re the lever, you know, the longer the stick the more pressure you can get from it. So the higher up the sail, even though it’s less canvas, the more it makes the boat heel over. And we had all the sails set — the rolls and top gallants — and we suddenly had a squall where the wind picked up 30 knots. The boat won’t right itself past 45 degrees heeling over, and we were at like 40 something. And with two of my friends, we went up to stow all of the royals, and it was sketchy. It’s wet, it’s slippery, it’s rainy. It was luckily in the daytime. We used to do it at night time too. You’re so scared.
Did anybody go overboard ever?
We had one girl fall out of the rigging, but she was harnessed and strapped in at the time. So when you climb the rig, you’re not strapped in, except when you’re on the yards, and she was on the yard, and she just slipped off, and her harness caught her.
Did she go back up?
Yeah.
How many people would they have on watch?
Usually on watches, there’s 11 people per watch. So on night watch, always you’re with your 11 people. I was in Watch Four, and we’re actually — just a little shout out — we’re doing an Indonesia surf trip. So that’s gonna be great. And then you’d have Day Watches, where you’d have 11 random people on watch.
Are you up in the rigging on watch or on deck?
It depends what you have to do. Usually we’re bracing and trimming, which is making the sails as efficient as you can by changing the angles. So you’re pulling on ropes for two hours. And sometimes you need to set or stow the sails so you go up into the rig to do that. You go on the rig regularly. It’s pretty common.
Do the Norwegians sing songs when they’re hauling ropes?
The crew taught us some sea shanties. Yeah.
Okay, so then after Dublin…
Vigo, Spain, which was really nice, because up until Dublin, the weather was miserable. We were looking forward to — instead of just going into cities and walking around — just chilling on beaches and going on hikes. Vigo was a short port. All we did was just sit at the beach. The food there was great.
How much time did you spend in each port?
We had surprise ports where we’d spend one day in the port, like that was Terre de Haut in Guadeloupe and St. Martin. And the longest was, we spent two weeks in Scheveningen. Usually you have a short port, which is five days, including departure, arrival and departure day. And then you have a long port, which is seven days, including arrival and departure day.
What was next that was memorable?
Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. We had a Parent Port there, so we’re not legally part of the ship, and our parents come and we all hang out together when we’re free of the ship rules.
Crossing the Atlantic, you went from Canary Islands to where?
We went from Cape Verde to Saint George’s in Grenada, which was the South Atlantic crossing. It was 27 days and it was so much fun. We were with 67 of our best friends, so if you’re bored, you’re doing something wrong. Me and my friends would hacky sack on deck for hours. We had classes — we had a lot of school — so we would do that. We’d fish off the back, and we’d blow bubbles from the rigging. We would just do things to entertain us. It was so much fun.
Twenty seven days to get across?
We were going slow. The trade winds were not that strong. Weather was good, though: it was sunny.
Fun in the sun. Hacky sack on the poop deck. But what about education?
They’re as serious as any other school but some students prioritize it less. A lot of kids, including me, really didn’t prioritize academics this year like at any other normal school. To tell you the truth — I know my mom’s not gonna like me saying this — I didn’t really come on this cruise for school.
Well you could argue you learn a lot more about the world by actually seeing and experiencing the world then reading about it in some stuffy classroom.
So you crossed to the Caribbean and then …
Paramaribo in Suriname and Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe.
Puerto Rico was our first, and only I guess, kind of American experience, because Puerto Rico’s a territory, right? Puerto Rico was so much fun. It was a parent port, and that was amazing.
I think your mom went to Puerto Rico to meet you?
Haylynn: Yes, and we got some waves.
You are aware she was elected to the Malibu City Council while you were away?
I heard something about that, yes. Mom Would Go.
End of Part One. Stay tuned for Part Two.
For more information on A+ World Academy visit aplusworldacademy.com.
