Adventures With Anders - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 My dad asked my to look up two people when I was here and i left that paper at home somewhere, but I remembered one of the names to be Anders Olsen. My dad described him as a tall fellow who has a charming way of speaking and very intelligent. Donald and I were talking about the logistics of moving boats and whatnot when Donald says there will be 3rd boat arriving today from Stockholm and it turns out to be none other than Anders Olsen. I'm like, you mean the Anders Olsen is coming here, today? The president of the Swedish folkboat association is coming here, today?! About an hour later, right when he said he would be there in rolls Anders Olsen with his boat in tow on a trailer. He was just as my dad described... 195cm tall and weights about 95 kilos (that's like 6'8"\210 pounds) and a gentle, deliberate pace, deep, gravley and kind voice. I introduced myself as Chuck Kaiser's son and he lit up. It turns out, and I remember it all now, he came to SF in '77 or '82 for the SF Cup. He won the SF cup in '82. So, here I am in the middle of nowhere Sweden, my father drops the name of two Swedes and the first one he mentions just lands right where I am. 9 Million people in Sweden and the guy my dad wants me to find comes to me... Amazing. I've stopped marvelling at the small world thing, but this is one worth a'that's cool' recognition. That evening at the family party we chatted about boat stuff and he invited me to breakfast in the morning on his boat that was still on his trailer. So, in the morning (the first one I slept all the way through) he comes and wakes me up @ 8 for breakfast and conversation on Matilda III. During breakfast I remember being nervous and for several reasons. This is a guy my father holds in high regard and that's saying something. And I get it now after spending time with him... he's a genius, yet the most humble man I have ever met. If your not careful he will say something important and you'll miss it so I was riveted to everything he said. He wasn't quick to give up folkboat secrets, but weather he knows it or not I managed to gain access to the information I was looking for. He didn't know how scattered the picture of complete folkboat sailing is for me. He said one thing that stuck with me for the whole trip. "You never want to get too comfortable." He was refering to settling into a routine, getting too used to the way you always do things. He further explained that he found it important to shake things up a bit. He spends 2 months a year as a general practice doctor on the Faroe islands... in January and February. It's like, really cold and nasty that time of year there, but according to Anders it wakes his spirit up and makes him think on his feet. After breakfast we dropped his boat in the water and another named Strataverious owned by Arne Oleson into the water and pulled Donald's boat to clean the hull and replair a little damage. Donald hit a rock on the way over to Ljungskile.



This picture was taken at dinner one evening on Marstrand. He's so tall he almost hits his head on the lights. I thought I was tall. not with Anders around.













This is the damage Donald did to his boat on the way over to Ljungskile. Nothing a little epoxy spakle can't fix... it certainly didn't slow us down.