Around eleven O’clock this morning a crew member warns me that outside two uniformed police men are having a fight and apparently things are getting uglier.
When I step outside I see two small police dinghies moored to our quay where indeed a loud spoken conflict is taking place, a lot of rough language but it is not getting physical yet.
I stand close and observe but are completely ignored by the contestants, apparently they see no reason to pause their fight just for the sake of explaining me what is taking place here. The Clipper crew has in the mean while gathered at the railing wondering what is going on.
The truth comes to light when a little later one of the partaking policemen apologizes to me and explains about what was going on.
The whole conflict was just a play performed by teachers to instruct pupils how to deal with situations where aggressive behaviour is present. The scenario was convincing enough as we were all full under the impression that all we saw was real enough. An introduction to more crisis management scenario courses played near our ship will be communicated to us before they actually take place, that is the comforting promise I get.

Cosmo Wassenaar
Captain Stad Amsterdam