Atlantic Rollers

Atlantic Rollers

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Underway to Dakar Senegal Wed Dec 31,08

Wed Dec 31,08

My night watch last night had some excitement to liven things up. I was on helm and we were sailing on
the port tack around 1:30pm with all square sails set, spanker and inner and outer jibs. Then the wind
dropped away to almost nothing. In another minute it came back from the opposite tack ,blowing and
gusting much stronger than it had been. The rest of the watch took in the spanker and royals while I tried
to keep the ship steady. It was tough, it took a lot of turns to get her to respond then when she did she
would take off so I had to correct fast. Exciting and frightening at the same time.

After the sails were adjusted and I finally got her back on course I was relieved at helm by Bruce.

Adrenaline works wonders for ones reflexes and man did I have lots of that! It was hard keeping track of where the wheel was relative to midships. It takes 8 full turns to go from midships to hard over so one has
to always be counting the turns to be able to get her straight once she starts to turn. I’m still learning how
to handle this beautiful ship, and it is still scary to have control of all 200 tons of her like that.

The rest of the watch was uneventful, thankfully.

There will be a Marlinspike of sorts tonight to celebrate New Years Eve and hopefully we will have our
ball drop ready. It is grey and cloudy at the moment so not sure what it will be like tonight.

More later…

It’s later and I’m getting ready to catch a few hours sleep before the action starts around 10:00pm.
We are definitely in the tropics now, we have steady NE Tradewinds blowing and I saw my first school of
flying fish this afternoon while I was aloft on the foremast. Trade Winds, Flying Fish and a landfall in
West Africa possibly as early as tomorrow, what a way to start 2009!

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to all.

May 2009 be a good one for you and your loved ones.
Bright Blessings
KJ

P.S. The Ball dropped right on schedule last night!

We ended up with a low windage version because rather than wrap it in tinfoil we used garlands and
Christmas lights around it as well. Everybody came on deck about 10:30. Munchies and popcorn was
set out. I supplied a nut cake I got in Switzerland, thanks to Ursula and Francois.

At 30 seconds to midnight the countdown started and the ball was dropped down to the hatch cover. At
the stroke of twelve shouts of Happy New Year rose up and the ships horn blasted out into the tropical
night. There followed dancing and revelry until 1:30am when we set the sails and carried on.

Last night was the first nightwatch that I didn’t have to wear a coat until I went on lookout. A sign of
things to come I hope.

Happy New Year!

I hope 2009 is a good one.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Here are pictures of our New Years Eve festivities on the main hatch.

2014 Postscript
One thing I did not mention above but that sticks in my memory was the sight of a cargo ship all lit up steaming past us just after midnight. I've always wondered what they thought of us, if they even saw us.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Underway to Dakar Senegal Dec 30,08

Tuesday Dec 30,08

Word from Paul, the 2nd mate, is that we will likely get into Dakar on the 2nd of January. Odd to think
that the first decade of the 21st century is nearly over. We still don’t have any flying cars! Blah. I guess
the old saying ‘the future isn’t what it used to be” applies.

My little laptop is working really well. It does everything I need it to do onboard and will be doing more as
I figure it out. The 3 hour battery life is not conducive to much experimentation but as long as I can keep
a good charge I take 20% and play around :-)  Thanks again to Mark and his gang at Tremar Computer
Solutions!

Yesterday I spent an hour up on the foreyard adding a second siezing to the stirrups that support the
footropes.

Watch last night was uneventful, the haze that typifies this area blocks all but the highest stars and there
was not as much phosphoresence in the sea so there wasn’t much to look at. At least my cold has run it’s
course and my back is slowly getting better.

Since our watch will be the ones to ring in the New Year tomorrow night, Paul has devised a plan to create
a big ball to drop at the critical time! Construction will begin shortly. I’ll let you know the progress later.

Later…

We got a good start on the ball it is a wire sphere about 2′ in diameter with two 100 watt light bulbs inside!

We will also have a spotlight with 2009 on it to shine on the mainsail at the critical time. Should be an
interesting evening tomorrow if we can get it all done.

Afternoon watch was uneventful, spent it working on the port head, which is finally back together and
fully operational. It was dismantled in Las Palmas and with only one head available for the salon crew to
use for number 2s… well you can imagine how welcome the rebuilt one will be :-)

One more day in 2008 to go.

I hope your New Years plans go well.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Monday, December 29, 2014

Underway to Dakar Senegal Monday Dec 29,08


We are sailing due South just West of the border between Western Sahara and Mauritania in Africa.

Yesterday morning I awoke to the sound of our “iron topsail” firing up. The winds had dropped to almost
nothing. By the time my watch started at noon however the wind had begun to blow from the NE instead
of the NW and the order was given to set all the squrae sails and the engine was shut down shortly
thereafter. Corey, who was on helm at the time, says the Captain had come up to the quarterdeck just
before, looked up into the sky and said “the start of a real wind”. By the time of my night watch at
midnight we were sailing along at 5 knots under a steady force 4 from the NE! Still going this morning.

During my night watch last night it was overcast so the brightest lights were in the sea itself. We sailed
through bands of some creature that lit up very brightly as we passed. There must of been millions of
them, they were bright enough to cast a faint shadow. They were mostly round so the consensus was that
they were jellyfish but some of them were cylindrical so they might have been squid.

Dolphins were cruising around the ship and playing in the bow wave most of the watch. When they charged into a group of these creatures there was a bright flash as maybe 20 or so would fire up at once. It was like
green fireworks under the surface of the sea. Beautiful and strange indeed.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Sunday, December 28, 2014

On Projects and Procedures Dec 28,08

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Been pondering a couple of things lately, usually while on lookout. The seas are pretty empty here off the
coast of Africa maybe one ship every other watch. The two things are what project to work on in my off
watches and the way “procedure” is detailed on board.

The reason for the concern about project is that nearly everyone is working on something or other. Today
was Sunday so there was no shipwork but everyone was sewing, doing ropework or woodwork or
practicing their instruments etc. Now to be honest they have all been doing this for 6 months, actually
nearly 8, whereas I have been aboard for just under 2 months. So what to work on? The contenders for me
is fancy ropework on my telescope, to give it a more nautical flair and also to give it a bit of protection,
and some kind of navigation instrument like a chip log or an astrolab or something. The latter seems likely
to be a bad idea if only because I would be on my own and it wouldn’t really be “sailors” work.

As for procedures, they are not really written down, the orders are however, nor are they fixed. The
procedures for doing the various tasks that keep this amazing machine running are organic. They have
grown along with the ship. Their roots are centuries old but then specifics are as linked to this ship as
much as my speech pattern and mannerisms are linked to me.

Learning them is more akin to learning to walk than learning math or any other subject for that matter.
They are a combination of physical actions coupled with knowledge of what is to be accomplished and the
order in which those things need to be accomplished. We don’t have specific duties for sail handling, for
example, people just lay out to do what needs to be done when the order is given. For me still unsure of
what is happening I end up at the back of the line “tailing on”. When an order comes and I am the first or
nearest to the line I should be taking the lead but my uncertainty makes be hesitate and I almost get run
over as the more experienced people get on with it. This is in no way a bad thing and know it won’t be
long until I can keep up but it is still a bit frightening when lots of things are happening at once.

Frightening and exciting at the same time. This is the way seamen have learned their trade for centuries.
Is it better than modern “school” methods? I don’t know. I do know that the seamen of yesteryear, experts
at their trade, knew no other way to learn or teach the way of their ship so it certainly does work.

Time will tell.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Underway to Dakar Senegal Dec 27

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Note: This was originally posted as one long post covering the passage from La Gomera to Dakar Senegal.
I have split it up to post daily.

The weather hasn’t changed all that much except that the wind died today so we had to motor for most of
the day. In the ten hours our engine was on we covered more distance than the preceeding 3 days
combined!

Mary Joyce, one of the trainees was putting messages in bottles and throwing them overboard today. Each
one has a note with the latitude and longitude of our current position and a description of who we are and
where we are heading plus her email and contact info. She also puts one of the ship’s business cards in.
She says one of the bottles she put over off the coast of Spain was found and they publiished the note in
the local paper. It got a good response with lots of emails when she hit shore.

We are now sailing again with all square sail set so it should be a nice quiet evening.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Friday, December 26, 2014

Boxing Day 2008 underway to Dakaar Senegal

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

So it’s Boxing Day, a holiday celebrated by about 50% of the people on board apparently. I’m on galley
duty which is sweet because I didn’t have to get up for my night watch.

The little Christmas Tree is still on the hatch and the decorations are still sparkling in the light but we are
back to normal ship routine today. There is a change in the weather coming. This morning we still had the
same light winds and long slow swell from the NW but awe also had high Cirrus clouds, Mare’s Tails alsso
coming from that direction. by midafternoon the wind has dropped almost entirely and the sky is covered with a haze that makes it look quite “brassy” it’s bright but you cannot see the Sun.

Hmmm. Hopefully we will get a fairer wind out of whatever is coming because at this rate it will take 20
days to get to Senegal!

Thanks for reading.
KJ
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Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas Day 2008

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Merry Christmas! Last night we hung a “clean” sock outside our bunks and in the morning each one had
some trinkets in it from a sack into which we each put some little goodies. I got a book “Baumgartner’s
Bombay” by Anitabr Desai and a brass keyfob in the shape of a porthole. I now have the only bunk
in the salon with a porthole

Today was a fabulous sunny day with very light winds. We drifted along off the coast of Africa
taking our time and enjoying the day.

Around 3:00 this afternoon the Captain ordered the ship hove to and swim call was ordered. The crew
took eager advantage and piled into the calm deep blue sea. I was ordered into the maintop as shark
watch. This was cool as the water was so clear that from up there it looked like the crew were flying and
swooping in the air.

There followed a great present opening that took nearly an hour. I got all kinds of great goodies,
chocolates, a nice cuban cigar (thanks Kolin), some licorice ropes and a DVD with all his pics from the
first leg of the trip from David and a number of other goodies including a replica “piece of eight” used in
the Pirate Master show that was filmed on board the Picton Castle.

For dinner we had roast suckling pig which was barbecued during the day plus a prodigious amount of
cookies, cakes and pie. Yummy!

As the sun set a group of people sat on the hatch with guitar, boran, fiddle, penny whistle and several
drums acquired in Moroco, playing and improvising complex music. It was awesome!

A long slow smoke of my pipe in the twilight while the music played was a lovely end to a beautiful day.

I hope you all had a great Christmas with your loved ones.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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===================================
2014 Postscript

Here are pictures from our Christmas off the coast of Africa
These were not uploaded till January in 2009 when we reached Senegal. 

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas Eve Dec 24,08

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Last night the wind dropped to an almost flat calm.  We were ghosting along barely keeping steerage way. The sky was ablaze with stars. It’s odd to see Polaris so low in the sky.

There are starting to be new stars to the South that I have never seen before.

Lookout was really cool. The calm suface of the sea has alot of flashes and sparkles from small sea
creatures. Occaisionally there are diffuse bursts of light that are coming from deeper down. There is an
almost constant haze that masks the horizon so the sea just seems to turn into starry sky without a break.
Today is Christmas Eve and all morning there has been a beehive of activity with present wrapping and
decorating. The ship looks quite fancy in her Christmas sparkly bits :-)  There is Christmas music
playing from someones Ipod on the welldeck and the there is a bright blue cloudless sunny sky above and
a calm deep blue sea below!

When I get off watch this afternoon there will be a Fancy Dress Marlinspike and tomorrow we have
present opening and Christmas dinner.

If the Thanksgiving dinner was any indication it should be great.

More later



It’s later, I just came off the afternoon 12-4 watch. Spent most of it stringing popcorn on thread. We also
calculated the speed of the ship by timing the passage of a piece of paper or popcorn a it drited along
beside the ship, the formula to calculate the speed in knots is 36/time for the object to drift 60.8 ft.

For the record we were sailing along at 2 knots.

When it was my trick on the helm I was instructed to sail her ‘full and by” rather than a specific compass
course. Sailing “full and by” means to sail as close to the wind as we can. The helmsman keeps his eyes on
the windward leach of the main royal sail, the highest and smallest square sail. It is braced in a little
sharper to the wind so it luffs first allowing the helmsman to correct by falling off slightly.



We had a very nice marlinspike with champagne punch and a prodigious amount of cookies baked by the
various watches late at night. After dinner which was a simple penne and sauce, we hung around talking
till the sun started to set below the horizon. As I watched the sun set Isaw the fabled Green Flash! An
awesome way to end the day of Christmas Eve.

Thanks for reading
KJ

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Underway to Senegal Dec 23,08

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Saw dolphins frolicking at the bows last night while I was on lookout.

There was no moon so it was really dark and they appeared as ghostly phosphorescent swoops and curls
around the bows. Everywhere the sea breaks it glows in afaint greenish light.

I seem to have caught a cold, blah, plus with my sore back standing is a pain so lookout and helm were not
real fun.

My new watch is a good crowd. I learned how to fill in the log while underway lastnight from the 2nd Mate Paul who is our watch officer.

The afternoon watch was really nice and warm. The weather was great, steady winds and bright sunshine.
There was a small hawk flying around and the debate was whether it was lost or migrating or what. That
was the only thing other than us on the sea all day. The sea is a wonderful dark blue.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and Kolin, the Bosun, says there is no shipwork so it should be a good day too :-)

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Monday, December 22, 2014

Underway to Senegal Dec 22,08

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

This morning dawned hazy and calm.

I discovered that I have caught a cold despite all my precautions so now I’m stuck at sea for 10 days with
astuffed up head. I also threw my back out working in an odd position on Saaturdy and it hurt a bunch to
straighten up this morning. Blah.

We heaved up the port anchor this morning and found it fouled by thestarboard anchor chain. The ship
has been swinging as the wind grew light. A bight of chain was drapped over the stock of the anchor and
had to be lifted in such a way that it would fall away on its own. Took manning all five capstan bars to get
it don but once free we were able to hoist itaboard and get it “catted” ie lashed to the cathead which is a
stout bar that sticks diagonally off the focsle deck for that purpose.

Once the crew that had gone ashore this morning returned, with Veronica our new AB and Mate, we
hoisted up the starboard anchor and motored away from Gomera. We have started our 10 day sail down
the coast of Africa to Senegal.

They have reorganized the wtches, I’m now on the 12-4 watch which means I’ll get to do more ship work
during the day, oh goody more sanding and painting.  Bruce tells me the biggest problem with 12-4 is that
breakfast and lunch break up the off watch making it difficult to get enough sleep. I’ll have to watch that.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Sunday, December 21, 2014

Gomera Dec 21,08

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

Happy Yule, Winter Solstice to you all!

Went ashore on the first skiff run this morning.

The town we are anchored at is Valle Gran Rey. It is a nice town clustered at the base of the cliffs. A deep
valley runs up into the center of the island. There are a lot of Germans in town. Some of the other crew
mentioned they were mostly “hippies”. My kind of place :-)

Spent the day driving around this very rugged island. The island is basically the eroded remnant of a large
shield volcano. The valleys are steep and very deep. The vistas are spectacular and far off in the North we
could see the peak of Tenerife showing above the haze on the sea.

There is a National Park that covers most of the plataeu at the top of the island. This is a forest called a
“laurelsilva”. It is a forest that exists because of the fog that builds up over the top of the mountains. It is
an evergreen forest very cool and green. A marked contrast to the arid bluffs near the shore. The forest
collects wate from the fog and allows it to flow into the ground where it emerges as springs far down on
the valley walls.

The trade winds also bring storms that dump large amounts of rain in very short periods of time which the
islanders collect in lots of reservoirs and pools for use when it is dry. According to the locals the rain the
other day was the first they’ve had in a while. Heh.

We went to a small black sand beach in a town called Alojera. I sat on a wave worn chunk of lava
drinking wine and eating a chicken salad baguette. For desert I had a chocolate filled cruoissant and some
coconut cookies… In sunshine to boot.

Strange to think that this is the shortest day of the year and that the Sun has begun his ages old journey
north again.

May the rising Sun bring health and happiness to you all.
May the growing light guide you in the cold of winter.
May “that which is greater than the all” bring you safe through all of Winter’s trials.

Bright Blessings and…
Thanks for reading.
KJ

The pics are here.

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-----------------
2014 Postscript

Later that evening after dinner I went and found a little Internet/Gaming Cafe and logged onto the Internet.
In my living room back in Calgary my family was having a Yule dinner.
With my eldest daughter's EEEpc setup so its camera could see the room, I was able to join the fun!
I could see and hear them, but they could only hear me as the cafe computer didn't have a webcam.
Was a lovely way to celebrate and made this poor, slightly homesick sailor very happy indeed.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Underway to Gomera Dec 18,08

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

We left La Palmas around 10:00am this morning and have been sailing all day South around the island of
Gran Canaria heading for a small island called Gomera. There we will be anchored off a nice beach
apparently so I hope the weather continues to improve.

For a while today we were sailing with all our sails set, save one.That is the first time since I’ve been
aboard. She is a fine sight fully dressed like that I imagine. It’s interesting but as time goes on the rig takes
on a very utilitarian, but still beautiful, look. That is mostly my getting used to it and understanding where
all the lines go and what they do.

Also, except for the first hour or two I haven’t felt very queasy, hopefully that is a good sign.

Not sure what if any Internet access there will be on this small island so not sure when you will get to read
this but hey, that’s life in the “slow lane” :-)

Later…

Just got off our night watch. I had helm for the last hour and watched the rising Sun illuminate the rocky
outline of Tenerife. The volcanoe, active but currently dormant, on Tenerife is 12,000′ high. Along the
south coast are a couple of cinder cones making for a dramatic landscape.

We can see Gomera on the horizon. Mike says we shoulkd be there later today. I saw no lights from there
last night so not sure what that implies for getting Internet access.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Las Palmas Dec 17,08

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

Was on galley duty today which wasn’t too bad really. I also laid in with the rest of my watch working on
getting the ship ready to sail. We are supposed to leave for another island in the canaries tomorrow
morning.

I helped to undo and re-bend on the Main Lower Topsail this morning. This entails going aloft onto the
yard and then cutting the old robands, thin strands of manila rope that lace the sail to the yard. Once the
sail is free the lines holding it to the ends of the yard are tightened up with a block and tackle (called a
“handy billy”). Once the head of the sail is tight and centered on the yard, we lace it back on by using
more robands. It’s odd to think of the ship being pulled along by what amounts to twisted grass.

Hopefully there will be Internet access wherever we endup in the next couple of days but if not oh well
that’s the way the cookie crumbles…

Speaking of cookies, as I typed this Bruce came back from shopping and offered me a chips ahoy cookie.

Synchronicity in action :-)

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Monday, December 15, 2014

Driving across Gran Canary Island Dec 15,08

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Went with John, David and Gary for a jaunt across the island today in a little rent a car. The weather was
really wet and rainy up high. We spent most of the trip in the clouds but it was better than hanging around
the ship watching for chafe on the docklines :-)

Actually while we were out one of the docklines chafed enough to part. When we got back they had
rearranged a bunch of the lines to reduce the chafe.

The pictures of our jaunt are here.

The center of the island is very rugged with steep narrow valleys and very lush vegetation. There is a
national park somewhere up there, we saw the sign in the mist.

When we came back down to the NW corner of the island we saw some amazing surf, it was breaking
20-30′ high!

I also have tomorrow off so I hope the weather is good so I can just sit and drink cappuccinos and surf the
net :-)

Thanks for reading.
KJ

P.S. It appears that we will be leaving Las Palmas on Thursday to go to another island in the Canaries. We
will be leaving for Senegal some time after Dec 21 when our new pro crew member and mate Veronica
will be joining us.

P.P.S It’s Wednesday morning and I’ve had a great 3 hours doing emailing, chatting and hanging around in
a little Cafe on the waterfront. The sun is shining although the sky has a misty watery look to it. The
electronic sign on the promenade says 21C so not too bad for December 16 :-)

Going to do some shopping at the big 7 floor department store they have here. Probably won’t buy
anything but hey It may be the last Big Store(tm) I’ll see for a while.

KJ

P.P.P.S
Check out this late afternoon shot!


Finally a chance to enjoy some sunshine on the beach on a far away island.

Not a snow shovel in sight :-)

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Friday, December 12, 2014

Las Palmas Gran Canarie Dec 12-13,08

Saturday, December 13th, 2008

Yesterday John, Gary and David and I went ashore for a laundry run and to do some Internet stuff and
generally have a look around.

Las Palmas is a very European place very much like Mallorca but newer. Not really too much to see. It
would be really nice if it was sunny and hot but it is actually fairly windy and cool. The German tourists,
hardy sorts them, don’t seem to mind though.

Had a nice dinner in a restaurant called the Happy Cockerel and hit the bunk around 10:00pm.

Went for a wander hunting a Geocache with John this morning.

Found it part way up a cinder cone on the North side of the beach.

So I have done the second thing on my “bucket list” which was to walk on a volcanoe. Number one was to
sail on a square rigger which is currently underway :-)

After finding the cache we walked North down to the little town of Las Colorados. The surf there was
incredible. There was a blow hole that would stream water and spray for a good 10-15 seconds after the
wave passed.

We then walked back along the coast and had coffee and a croissant in a little cafe on the promenade.

An interesting phenomenon here is the use of Santa Claus in decorations. They are all little stuffed Santas
climbing ladders into the apartments. In one narrow street we saw 5 of them! There are also the three
Magi doing the same. They look kinda like looters after a power outage or something.

After picking up my laundry I headed back to the ship and then went over to the Danmark to take a look
around. The Danmark is a bigger ship than the Picton Castle so there is a lot of room aboard as the
available space goes up as the cube of the dimensions. The typical crew is 100, 80 trainees and 20 pro
crew including a chef and a full time baker!

Their decks are holystoned and all brass is highly polished. Being “ship rigged” she has a lot more rigging
and lines around the mizzen mast. She also has 3 wheels, two before the chart house and one on the poop.

There is also a big electrically operated windlass for raising the anchor. Nice.

I’m going to try and head over to the technical museum this afternoon which has a display on ships and
maritime transport.

Looks like we will be here until later next week due to visa issues going to Senegal so I might tag along
with the gang who are planning on renting a car to see more of the island.

Thanks for reading
KJ

Pictures of my rambles in Las Palmas are here.

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Thursday, December 11, 2014

Las Palmas in the Canaries Dec 11,08

Friday, December 12th, 2008

We sailed into the harbour of La Palmas this morning.

There are two other square riggers  here. The  full rigged ship Danmark, she has square sails on all three
masts, from Denmark and the Tenacious which is a barque like us, from England. The Captain
served as Bosun on the Danmark and still calls her the “Finest Sailing Ship Ever”.

According to a book listing all the Tall Ships the Tenacious is designed for handicapped sailors as well as
able bodied ones from ages 17-70.  The tops have guard rails!  I will try and get some pictures of her.

My watch is still on duty today but I have the next two days off so hopefully there will be some good stuff
to share with you all.

Thanks for reading
KJ

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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Underway to the Canaries Dec 10,08

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Since I had galley duty yesterday I didn’t have to stand the normal watch so I took the opportunity to do
what I seem to always do when free here…sleep.

Had my normal 4:00am watch though, which was rough for me this time.  The weather was actually pretty
good. We had fairly warm temperatures with a steady NW Force 5 wind with gusts to force 6.  Steering
was hard as she tends to bounce around in the waves and gusts. I lost track of how to bring her back
steady on her course at one point and the Mate had Ben take over till she was stabilized.  For some reason
I had alot of trouble staying alert for the rest of the watch. Must be the motion which is making me a bit
queasy again.

We will be getting to the Canaries on Thursday afternoon  at this rate.

I saw the North Eastern most island on the horizon this morning.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Monday, December 8, 2014

History Unfolds

I have posted all the entries up to Dec 8, 2008.

Jayne suggested I post the rest as well but schedule them to appear on the equivalent dates to when they originally happened.  That sounds like fun and a great way to re-live my Atlantic Passage.

Even though I tried to write something everyday, when I originally posted these entries to my Wordpress blog they were posted in batches whenever I managed to get ashore and get WiFi. You can see the date they were posted in bold as the first line of each post.  I will be re-posting them daily instead of in those batches.

On a fun note the dates and days of the week in 2008 are the same as in 2014!

Thanks for reading and following along.
KJ

Underway to the Canaries Dec 8,08

Friday, December 12th, 2008

It took until 11:00 to get clearance to leave, then we up anchored and
motored away from Essaouira, there being almost no wind. By mid
afternoon there was a light NW breeze and we started to set sail.  By
the time I went on watch at 4:00pm we had all our square sails set and
most of the fore and aft ones as well.

A pod of dolphins came by for a romp in the bow wave around 2:00pm, they are amazing to watch up
close.  They can swim much faster than we can sail.

We are now sailing along at 5 knots under a partly cloudy but moonlit
sky.  The air is warm and the ship steers beautifully. As the captain
told me when I was on helm “It’s a lovely evening”.

I noticed something interesting tonight. The sea has no smell.  There
is no “sea smell” to speak of at all.  The smell I had always
associated with the sea is actually the smell of the shore. Interesting
that I just noticed that now. Hopefully that means I’m getting more
comfortable with this sea life thing.

The trip to the Canary islands will take 3-4 days and the weather forecast is for fair winds building over
the next couple of days.

I have galley duty tomorrow so I don’t have to stand our night watch tonight which is sweet. Plus we are
sailing on the starboard tack so the ship heals to port. Now since my bunk is on the port side I will be held
into my bunk instead of risking being thrown out as she rolls.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

P.S.  Just finished the breakfast dishes and thought I would write this down before I forget it.  Last night
about 3:00am I woke up to an odd sound. It was like a long drawn out squeak but very quiet.  At first I
thought it was something moving with the rolling of the ship but after a while it was obviously coming
from the water.  My bunk is below the water line so sounds in the water are pretty clear.  I think perhaps it
was whales.

Have to keep an eye out today and see if they can be seen.

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Essaouira Dec 7,08

Friday, December 12th, 2008

After an excellent nights sleep in a non-rocking bed I got up and had along leisurely shower in a
non-rocking shower and then an excellent continental breakfast sitting at a non-rocking table.

Did I mention that the Hotel was non-rocking :-)

The big plan for today was to go camel riding in the afternoon.  I spent a couple of hours surfing the net
and looking for hints on how to extend the battery life on my laptop then wandered off to the boat landing
where everyone was meeting.

Essaouira is so friendly and clean by comparison to Marrakech that it wa almost like walking at home.

The camel riding was really cool. There were 5 of us, Ryan, John, Gunner, Gary and me.  It cost 150 DH
for an hour and we headed down the beach towards the sand dunes and ruined fort to the South.  It was
facinating and very hard on the thighs. A  camel is a lot wider than a horse so by the end of the hour I was
really ready to get off even though that hurt too.

After that we just wandered around eating and wasting time till the 7:00pm skiff run.  Time well spent in
this fascinating place.

Tomorrow we leave for the Canaries which should take 4-5 days depending on the weather.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Here are some pictures from my adventures today!

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Marrakech Dec 6,08

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

Today dawned bright and sunny with a light breeze from the NE.

I went ashore with the first skiff run at 8:00 and headed to what is becoming the official Picton Castle
hotel here,the Dar Naciria.

Once I had a hotel room, John, WT, Gary and I got a Taxi and headed to the fabled city of Marrakech.

The trip took 3 hours by taxi. The driver was very pleasant and his Mercedes cab handled the sometimes
rough road without any complaints.

Driving once we got into Marrakech is a nightmare. Nearly every road is two lanes wide but has 3 or more
lanes of traffic on it. I don’t think I’ve ever been in so many near miss collisions in my life!

Our driver dropped us off just outside the main market square and in we went to take a look at one of the
most famous markets in the world.

The main square was busy with a lot of tourists so we went to a restaurant for a “quick” lunch that took
an hour and a half then dived into the narrow crowded lanes that make up the market area of Marrakech.
Frankly I was not impressed, the vendors mostly had the same kind of stuff as at Essaouira just more of it
and it was not only more expensive but the vendors themselves were much pushier and less willing to
bargain.

The streets are even narrower than Essaouira and in addition to large amounts of people there are mopeds,
scooters, donkey carts and even the odd delivery vehicle all charging along at relatively high and smoky
speeds. Blah. The air is full of smoke from all the vehicles and the braziers cooking bits of meat etc. I’m
still coughing and it’s 12 hours later!

We spent about 5 hours in that maze which was plenty.

We then called our cabbie and headed back to the now familiar and friendly Essaouira.

Tomorrow I’m going to take it easy and just wander around and relax.

The pics of my road trip to Marrakech are here.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Essaouira Dec4-5, 08

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

Had a nice day sanding and painting the outside the Galley.

The Captain has decided that in order for everybody to get the most out of our stay here they will let each
watch go ashore for two days at a time.

I’m stuck on board till Saturday which is OK.  Haven’t decided what I’m going to do on my two days, I
might just get a hotel room and veg out, and surf the net all day

The wind controlled angle of the ship is making  it tough to get an Internet connection which is a bit
frustrating but hey, it’s Africa getting Internet at all is pretty damn cool!

More later.

It’s later

Spent the day working on the galley.

Everybody is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the other watch who have the last two day off.  Hopefully
they will have some good info on things to do and if it is worth it to go to Marrakech.

The weather was beautiful today fairly warm with a light wind from the NE. Hopefully it will stay warm
tomorrow and Sunday as well.

Thanks for reading

KJ

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Dec 2-3 08 Essaouira Morocco

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Spend Tuesday scrubbing the rust stains off the white paint with a very powerful solution called “Green
Knight”.  It is very cold and the wind is strong from the NE so we were secure at our anchor.
Today I’m heading ashore to check out the town. Sounds really interesting and exotic. I’ll try to post some
pictures and updates after I get back.

Later…

I’m sitting in the lobby of a nice little hotel (with WiFi), The Dar Naciria, after having spend the morning
and afternoon in the old city. This is a fabulously exotic tangle of narrow streets and little shops selling
everything: clothes, leather goods, fruit, spices, meats, wood crafts, metal work, cameras, watches,
musical instruments and antiques all with a glad attitude and very friendly air of hospitality!

It’s great to get ashore after that passage, although it is still cold the sun is shining in a watery blue sky.

We had lunch in a restaurant that was probably 15′ wide and 20′ long.  The food was fabulous and cheap
and the people walking by were probably the most varied in dress I have ever seen.  The traditional male
garb here can best be described as “Jawa Classic”   That and the ubiquitous bluejeans are about it for
men but women have an amazing variety of clothes in all colors from traditional, almost burkah like,
gowns to fairly modern outfits.

The kids, well kids are kids and seem to have stepped out of Zellers, which is a bit jarring.

I’ll try to upload some pics.

Thanks for reading.

KJ

Pictures of the passage and my rambles in the old town are here.

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Heading South to Essaouira Monday December 1,08

Monday, December 1st, 2008

This morning dawned bright and sunny with the sea settling down to a steady groudswell from the North
West.

Had a really good breakfast this morning, nothing fancy but it sure
tasted good, amazing what a couple of days of bad weather does for the appetite. The diesel galley stove
refused to light during the gale so today is the first day that it has worked since the day after
Thanksgiving.

Working in the galley, our watch cleans it after supper each day, when they were trying to light the stove
really did a number on my stomach. Enclosed spaces, diesel fumes and big seas are a bad combination.

This morning all is well and I was famished by the time I heard those delightful words “Watch below”

We should be in Essaouira Morocco by this evening. The Captain will then decide if we can anchor or if
we will have to stand off till the swell subsides.

With luck I will be able to let everything dry out, including me, before I have to go on watch again this
evening.

We arrived in Essaouria around 3:00 this afternoon after motoring in as the wind had dropped away to
almost nothing. Still pretty big swell running though. This is a pretty exposed anchorage but it looks like
we should be OK as long as the wind doesn’t pick up from the West.

Lots of fortifications here, mostly built by the Portuguese I believe.

Should be a cool place to explore.

Thanks for reading
KJ

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Sunday Nov 30,08

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Finally the weather has moderated a bit and we are heading back to the South. This means that if all goes well we should reach our destination in Morocco tomorrow evening.

After last night's squall things were more reasonable on watch today.

I only bashed myself a couple of times and only gashed myself once.  I think I will have very few body
parts that haven’t been bruised or lacerated at least once by the time I get home.

Even when the seas have moderated they can still throw a surprise twist into your day.  Mid afternoon
today while I was off watch  I went to the head, but it was  busy so decided to stand and wait on deck. I
was just in front of the Fore mast fife rail enjoying the sunshine  when I heard a sort of thumping crash
and the ship shuddered.  “This can’t be good” thought I and  what seemed like a full second later a wall of
water came crashing down across the fo’csle head and drenched me.  The second Mate says the splash
went up to the topsails!   Of course  since I was just going to the head I didn’t have my fowlies on, blah.

But at least the Sun was shining :-)

Thanks for reading.

KJ

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Saturday, December 6, 2014

Gale and Galley Saturday Nov 29,08

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Shortly after I went to bed last night the wind picked up to a force 8-9 Gale. Since we were hove to the
ship began to seriously roll, like 45 degrees or more. All sorts of things rattled and crashed as well as the
seas pounding against the side of the hull.  Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep.

This morning we wore ship to get back underway in a steady force 7 with much larger seas, the captain
says 18-20′. Still rolling, making movement very difficult.  Starting to feel a bit queasy after 12 hours of
this, blah.

Moving food around is difficult and doing the dishes an exercise in acrobatics. I found sitting at the stern
to be the best even though the motion is greater simply because I can wedge myself in and not have to
worry about sliding around.

The nice thing is that the sun is shining at least, there are rainbows in the spray when the rollers come
crashing aboard.

Last word goes to the Bosun Kolin who said “This is what you paid for right?”

Right  :-)

Thanks for reading
KJ

P.S. When I went on night watch at 4:00 I had first lookout. The seas  were too rough to be on the fo’csle
so we had to stand watch on the bridge, which is just in front of the chart house.  About a half hour into
my watch a great black bank of cloud blotted out the stars and the wind began to howl. The gusts were
strong enough to knock me off my feet. The mate says they were easily 50 knots in the gust close to Force
10 steady!  We hove to again to ride it out then wore round and reset the sails at 8:00am.  We are now
sailing South again.  Hopefully that is the last we’ll see of that system.

Posted in On Watch | 1 Comment »
===================================
Postscript 2014
Jayne suggested that I should maybe comment on some of these posts from the perspective of nearly 6 years on. I am reluctant to do that on most of them but in this case I think it might be worthwhile.

This is an interesting post which shows how things in our memories don't always match what actually happened. Ever since I returned from this trip, anytime I'm talking about it people always ask if we had bad weather. The incident described in the P.S. above is the one I relate. What is interesting is that we had gales and "interesting" weather for several days beforehand!

Also there seems to be a post missing here, this is the day AFTER our big American Thanksgiving Dinner during which we were hove to so everybody could enjoy it. In my memory it was that same night that the incident on the bridge related in the P.S. occurred but actually it was the following night! 

Funny thing memory.

Here are a couple of pictures from that time.

Thanksgiving dinner.
By John Gareri

The Morning After



Into the Atlantic Nov 27,08

Monday, December 1st, 2008

The Mediterranean shoved us through the Straits of Gibraltar with a cold squally blast.

It was quite cold on watch last night and about 5:30am it began to rain heavily.  A big front moved
through and dropped the temperature significantly.

I ended up on helm in pitch darkness as the front moved up.  The Mate had John take over on helm as it
arrived, much to my relief.

As a watery dawn broke the wind dropped away and we briefly hove to until the mates were confident in
which direction the wind would come from.  We ended up sailing almost due North for a while.

The ship was really rolling in that brief calm but there was no sign of seasickness and I’m not even queasy
typing this which is cool :-)

No sign of the potential gale yet but there was a big low forming right over us when the wind dropped this
morning.

I think I will dig out my heavy sweater for the night watch this evening.

Later…

Just came off the evening 4-8 watch. Ended up not needing the sweater, which is good I was not looking
forward to using up all my ammo, so to speak, this early in the campaign.

The weather has moderated nicely and the forecast now calls for steady West winds with some showers
for tomorrow.  We are about 100 miles or so out in the Atlantic and the sky has cleared to reveal an
amazing  display of stars.  A bright planet to the west is even  shining on the sea, I think it is Venus.

Tomorrow we ill be heading farther South along the coast of Morocco.

Thanks for reading.

KJ

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all you folks down South!  We will be having our Thanksgiving tomorrow,
Friday, with a turkey dinner all the fixins and lots of pies (7 at last count) with various fillings. Yummy!

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Underway from Gibraltar Wed Nov 26,08

Monday, December 1st, 2008

This morning dawned breezy and cold with some dark cloudy patches.

During the morning we had to put on our immersion suits so we coulkd wax the zippers and check them
for damage. we also tested the lights and inflation devices.

Then we hoisted the anchor and sailed out of Gibraltar Hrbour under Topsails, and T’gallants.

The weather has been deteriorating steadily all day but the wind is almost due West which is too good to
pass up. The temperature ha also been dropping. Apparently there is a massive coldfront moving down the
West coast of Europe bringing unusually cold wreather.  When we went on watch at 4:00 pm this
afternoon I added my longsleeve hoody under my fowl weather gear and boy did I need it. 

We were chased out of the straights by a wicked looking squall line.  The seas were steep and grey, almost
like polished steel.  On lookout ships appeared and disappeared in the rain squalls.  Eventually the Sun
came out and even though it was still rainy,windy and cold we were followed by a lovely double rainbow.

So we are nearly in the Atlantic. Mike (the first mate) says there is the possibility of a big SW gale in the next few days so we are going to head West and get ourselves some sea room.

Could be an interesting couple of days.

Thanks for reading.
KJ   

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Postscript 2014

A great photo of me on lookout going through the straits.

Fueling and back to anchor Tuesday Nov 25

Monday, December 1st, 2008 
(Note this is the dated originally posted)


This morning dawned bright but cold.

Yesterday while we were ashore the on watch had to let go the heavy port anchor to bolster our starboard
one which was already out. Apparently the ship had started to drag her anchor in winds gusting to force 7.

 This meant that this morning we got to hoist BOTH anchors.  This was my first time on the windlass
which was one of those “not too tough but hard on the back” things I’m sure I will be very familiar with in
a month or so.

Once the anchors were up we chugged over to the fueling dock and took on enough fuel to top up our
bunkers. Did I mention that it is clear and cold.

The Mate then announced that these winds had shifted to headwinds and would be leaving tomorrow so it
was back out to anchor. 

During the afternoon I learned how to do serving and tarred all the new servings on the rigginng screws.

There is a lovely three masted topsail schooner anchored beside us. David says they were at the tallships
festival in Bergen which is cool.

I expect it will be very cold on watch tonight as it will be clear and the wind is still force 4-5.

Thanks for reading
KJ

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Gibraltar Monday Nov 24

Monday, November 24th, 2008

Went ashore on the first skiff run this morning and headed out to the Southern end of Gibraltar to Europa
point. Along the way I stopped to look at the Victorian 100 ton gun and Rosia Bay where the Victory was
docked after Trafalgar.

John and I walked along the shore road to Europa Point and nearly got blown off the rock by the very
strong West wind that has been blowing force 5 all morning.

There is a wrecked ship right below the lighthouse that doesn’t look very old. The power of the sea is
evident in te ripped plating and smashed hull. The ship split in half!

The weather has changed, it’s now cloudy and the wind has apparently dropped a bit. Have to go buy a
belt and some other miscellaneous stuff and then have a bite of supper before heading back to the ship.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, will be moving the ship to a fuel dock to get our tanks topped up and then we are
supposed to sail for Morocco.

Maybe more and some pictures later.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

P.S. Pictures are Here!

P.P.S My shipmate John Gareri's pictures of our rambles on Gibraltar are here.

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Gibraltar Nov 22-25

Monday, November 24th, 2008

We  arrived in Gibraltar Friday afternoon about 3:00pm.

I was on lookout when we sailed and motored into the harbour to anchor. That was a bit nerve wracking
keeping track of all the ships, bouys, sailboats , tugs ferries etc.

We split into two watches and luckily my watch had Saturday off.

I rode the skiff into Gibraltar, we are anchored over a mile from the quay we are allowed to land at and
then John and I headed out to see the sights and do some geo caching.  I had never done that before. Geo
caching consists of looking up interesting places that people have recorded the GPS coordinates for and
then listing them on the Internet for others to find. At most places there is a little box or bottle with a
notebook which the finder signs. Often there are other little objects like coins, little stuffies, cards (we
always left a Picton Castle card) fridge magnets etc..

We bagged 5 of the 8 Gibraltar caches! They were in interesting and out of the way places that lead us to
WWI and WWII gun emplacements tunnels and natural features. Pretty cool.

Today we were on watch so it was “make and mend” we washed all our sheets and bedding and “soogied”
out our bunks with bleach and water to kill off any hitch hikers before we head South.

In the afternoon I helped Ben and Susie work on renewing the footropes on the fore lower and upper
topsail yards.  I learned how to do repair serving, winding tarred yarn around the wire to keep water out
and got thouroughly tarry and greasy.  The tar we use is pine tar mixed with turpentine or some other
solvent and ha a really strong smoky smell.

I’m off tomorrow, Monday, so I think I will wander back ashore and maybe go to the museums and do a
little surfing and emailing at a pub somewhere… Not a bad life at Gibraltar so far.

Thanks for reading.
KJ 

Here are some pictures from my wander around Gibraltar

Posted in Ashore | 2 Comments »

2014 Postscript

Me on "The Rock" with our fine ship in the harbour below.
Photo by John Gareri


Rolling along to Gibraltar Nov 20,08

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

The seas really picked up last night and the ships is rolling quite a bit. We are still headed due west with
the wind just starboard of due aft.

I seem to be getting my sea legs I only get queasy while sitting below typing but not standing or lying.

Went aloft on watch lat night to furl and gasket the mainsail and we furled the t’gallants and main t’gallant
staysail.

Steering with the wind due aft and a following sea is interesting, the waves lift the stern and shove it one
way or the other which has to be taken into account when correcting the course. There is spoke or two of
play on the linkage which makes it even more interesting.

We are sailing long at a great pace 6-8 knots, the mate says we hit 8.5 knots last night and probably
averaged about 7.

Sleeping when the ship is rolling like this is a compromise between lying comfortably, like I normally do
on my side, and trying to avoid rolling around in the bunk. I found that lying flat on my back with one of
those blowup neck pillows to keep my head from rolling worked well.

Today is my first stint on galley duty, with Bruce and Corey, so I don’t have to stand regular watch for 24
hours. Carrying food around when the ship is rolling is fun, sort of.

Not having to stand watch means I can watch the sea for a bit.

Waves are interesting, they appear to be solid and independant things but in reality they are transient
artifacts of the interaction of the sea with winds and other waves. Like a life which is moved along by the
winds of time and influenced by the passage of other people, I hope they are enjoying their time as much
as I do.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

P.S. Here are some pictures from the passage.

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Underway Wed Nov 19 08

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

Just got off watch and had a bite of breakfast.

My patch kicked in while I was sleeping and I felt really good when I got up at 3:30am to go on watch.  I
have to come up with a routine to speed up that getting up part I was the last member of the watch to get
on deck.

Our watch was pretty exciting we had lots of sail handling and a fast moving thunderstorm squall just
before the end of the watch that forced us to take in the mainsail and the main t’gallant staysail in the
pouring rain. Pretty exciting for  a new sailor like me.

I also stood my first turn as lookout, I can see how that could be really cold, luckily the wind was fairly
warm today.

Standing alone for an hour up on the foredeck scanning the horizon for ship’s lights, etc is very conducive
to introspection. But do you think I can remember anything to write here? Not a chance

Typing on this little laptop makes me queasy so I think I will end this note here.

Thanks for reading
KJ


P.S.  After 4 hours of sound sleep in my bunk and a bite of lunch I feel much better. We are sailing along
at more than 5 knots in a steady force 5 breeze from right aft.  We are sailing under foresail, both topsails
and t’gallant on the foremast and  topsails and  t’gallant  on the  mainmast.  We have the  fore topmast
staysail and the two jibs flying as well.  It’s glorious!  The sea is a rich deep blue with intensely white
horses scattered across it all the way to the horizon.

The mountains of Spain are just visible to the North.

Lovely.

KJ

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Underway Tues Nov 18,08

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

I had a watch from 1:30 to 2:45 lastnight which was great because it allowed me to sleep for a few hours
before getting up.

After breakfast we did sail handling drills and I went aloft to both loose and furl the upper and lower
topsails on the foremast.

Then we got ready and steamed out of Mallorca harbour and out to Sea.

After drills for mn overboard, fire and abandon ship the watches stood down and we are chugging steadily

Westward.

Hopfully we will get to set sail soon.

We did set sail just before I cme on watch at four.

I had an interesting first watch at sea.

Just after we came on watcg a squall came in from the North and we had to brace the yards around to
handle the wind shift after the squall line passed I went aloft onto the Fore Yard with Nicky to release the
Foresail so it could be set just as it began to rain.

After we set the foresail I began to feel really queasy, ginger, saltns and lots of water kept  things under control but eventually I had to use one of my seasickness patches.

My turn came to be the hemsman at 6:00pm just as it was getting dark.

Steering is an interesting process.  We steer by the compass so the mate gives me the course and I have to
keep this little orange line (the lubbers line) aligned with the compass point that represents the course.

The steering is odd to me. The ship responds to the helm fairly slowly so it is easy to over steer.  John
recommended I put one full turn of the wheel on at a time and then wait to see how the ship responds,
then when she begin to turn take the turn off.  This work really well.

After I finished my hour on the helm I went to do a ship check with Nicky.  This entails going into every
compartment and looking for leaks, overflows, fires or anything coming loose.

Once our watch wa relieved “I hit the rack” queasy stomach and all.

KJ

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Of Capstans and Topmasts Monday Nov 17,08

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

Today we raised the Mizzen Topmast back into place.

As I suspected I ended up working on the capstan on the foredeck.  This was OK because there were lots
of pauses in th raising process which gave me a good opportunity to see the whole process. This is a good
bit of “sailorizing” that many people even those who sail on a square rigger more regularly will never see.
It also helpd that I had become aquainted with the intricacies of this spar while varnishing about 2/3rds of
it’s length the other day.  It looks pretty “shiny” up there in the late afternoon Sun, if I do say so me self.

Did a bunch of “slushing” on the shrouds and stays for this part of the mizzen mast.  This is literally taking
a handful of grease mixed with tar and liberally spreading it on the wire that makes up the rigging.  I took
this opportunity to remove my rings as they might have gone flying on their own once my hands were
greasy. I think I will keep them off for the duration.  My luck I will now get a sunburn on the ring bands :-)

The plan is to leave for Gibraltar tomorrow morning some time.  Hopefully we will have wind and be able
to sail. For me, even if we have to use our “iron topsail” and chug out of the harbour of Mallorca, it means
the real start of my passage on the Picton Castle.  It also means I have no idea when this post will actually
make it online :-)

I’m excited to be less than 24 hours from heading out. Excited and a bit anxious, not because I don’t
know all my lines (I have most of them figured out now) but simply because I don’t really know what to
expect.  I’ll let you all know how I make out once we get ashore again.

Thanks for reading
KJ

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Sunny Sunday in Mallorca

Sunday, November 16th, 2008

Just a musing post on this sunny Sunday morning in Mallorca Spain….

I’m sitting in a very nice cafe just outside the Mediaeval Cathedral here in Mallorca having a cappuccino
and typing into my laptop.  As the bells ring for Sunday Mass I ponder the odd set of things in my life
now… When I’m done here I will wander back across town to get back onboard a sailing ship rigged like
one from the 19th century.  I have traveled halfway around the world on transport that would have been
amazing only 50 years ago, I’ve chatted in realtime across the planet from outside a building that was built
in the middle ages.

There is an odd kind of mental disconnect when I sum all this up.  It’s a kind of temporal confusion.  Odd
but exciting at the same time.

The Mate says we will be leaving on Tuesday for Gibraltar.   That will be my first time at sea, the start of
this passage at last.

Time to go and look around a bit more before I have to embed myself in the ways of our fine ship once
more.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in Musings | 1 Comment »

Mallorca!

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

Here are some pictures from Mallorca!

Mallorca November 2008

And some more from a wander around on Saturday:

A Saturday Ramble in Mallorca

I was driven to a really nice little cafe on the waterfront (thanks Deb!) with free wifi and great coffee!
Also full of Picton Castle crew

I have two full days off now (except for studying lines) and will try to get around and see the sights before
we head out on Tuesday.

They will be putting the mizzen topmast back up today or tomorrow which is a real bit of “sailorizing” and
will be interesting to be in on so I might hang around ship while they do that. Only risk is getting
dragooned into capstan duty

No sea sickness yet even with ship rocking a bit at the dock last night, there was a force 4-5 wind from the
NNE that was kicking up a bit on the harbour. So far so good, I wonder what will happen once we are
outside…

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Friday Nov 14,08

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

Had a great night last night (Thursday) no watch  :-)

When I got up I discovered that we were surrounded by cruise ships!

This huge ship is docked right beside us.  It’ amazing that these things actually sail. They have  WiFi on
board but you have to  give them a room number and pin number of some sort… blah
Photo by David Bellows

I spent the day varnishing the mizzen topmast, the one they took down on Tuesday. We also did a bunch
of training on lines and procedures.

Late in the day we unloaded a huge pile of fresh food and stored it away in preparation for the trip.

Our watch is off for the next two days (Saturday and Sunday) so
hopefully  I’ll be be able to get a chamce to wander around and see some of the city and get a connection
somewhere.

We are officially supposed to sail on the 18th which is Tuesday.  I’m
looking forward to that with a mixture of fear and excitement a you can
imagine.

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Friday, December 5, 2014

An afternoon ashore Nov 13, 08

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

So we finally got to go ashore, by we I mean the four new guys, Nick, Jay, Rich and me only to discover
that the power was off in the city.  So much for getting this posted.

We went wandering around and had avery pleasant afternoon shopping for things like Jay´s rubber boots
and an LED head lamp for me.  After a late afternoon meal of chicken Fajita´s in an American
Kitch(chen) restaurant the power came back and I was able to get online only to discover that the PC in
the Internet cafe won´t read my memory cards so… blah hand tyoig and no pictoires (sic).

Sorry I´ll try to do better in future :-)

Thanks for Reading
KJ

Posted in Off Watch | No Comments »

On Board at last Nov 10,08

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

I joined the ship Tuesday after a very long walk across the seafront of Palma. It seems that the cabbies
won´t go to this dock here just saying ¨Military Military¨over and over again. So I had them drop me at the
cruise ship port and I walked. As i did I saw that they were right there is amilitary base between the city
and the port that the road goes around. Eventually I hauled all my stuff around and onto the pier.

The on watch crew were busy downrigging the mizzen topmast which is quite the operation. (edited to
change the name of the mast proper like!)

Once aboard it was as if I had never left, everybody welcomed me back with open arms and lots of ´noshit
there I was stories¨.

Once that settled down I was assigned a bunk, number 32, upper bunk on the port forward side of the
salon if you´re interested. I then stowed all my stuff and was amazed that the sapce was much larger than I
thought. In fact several people mentioned that they were surprised at how little I brought, now I´m
nevrvous again about what I forgot.

They put me to work rustbusting the shrouds they had unrigged. Just like old times :-)

I stood my first dock watch last night between 3:00am and 5:00am `äll by me onsies, savy´. It was
wonderful and incredibly quiet, so quiet that the squeaks from my shoes on the dew damp deck was loud.

Today we spent the day sanding the inside of the galley preperatory to getting it repainted as well as
studying all the lines and eating really well. Kolin tells me I will be on the 4-8 watch at sea which means I
will be able to see both the sunrise and sunset. I look forward to that.

Tonight I will do another dock watch, 5:00 till 6:00 but this time I will have another crewmember with me.

More later

Thanks for Reading
KJ

Posted in On Watch, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

In Mallorca at last!

Monday, November 10th, 2008

This part was remarkably simple, no canceled flights or lost luggage just a little trouble finding my shuttle
driver at Palma airport.

After a stunningly beautiful drive through Switzerland, over a high snowy pass and down into the
“lowlands” back to the airport, I boarded a Swiss Air flight and took off for the sunny south. It was with
some sadness that I said goodbye to Francois and Ursula as they have been truly wonderful hosts and
friends to this wandering sailor without a ship.

I arrived just as the Sun was setting into the Mediterranean. As we drove into Palma from the airport the
setting sun silhouetted not one but TWO sets of lofty spars. It seems that the Picton Castle has company
at the dock. So at least I know “my ship has come in”.

Tomorrow morning I will try to get me and my stuff over to get on board at last. Doesn’t seem real just
yet. Hopefully I can get squared away without too much trouble and begin trying to remember all 130
working lines on the ship :-)

Next post may be after I’m aboard or I’ll edit this one.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in Ashore, Packing and Preps | 2 Comments »

Switzerland Day 2

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

Today we went up into the high alpine. We walked up to the toe of a glacier at a place called Morteratsch
which is between St Moritz and the Bernina Pass that leads to Italy. It was a beautiful sunny day with very
little wind. The scenery was stunning you can check it out here!

We then drove up the road to the top of the Bernina Pass where the snow is already a meter deep. Then
we went back down and through St Moritz past the lovely lakes and looked down the steep pass that leads
into Italy 1600m below.

It’s been great staying with Francois and Ursula, they are marvelous hosts. Thank you guys it has been
fabulous!

I think Jayne and I will definitely have to come back sometime.

Tomorrow I fly to Palma Mallorca and try to find my ship so I can finally get to sea.

Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

A great day in Switzerland

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

I did manage to get to Zurich eventually.

After flying to Frankfurt first, and then finding that Lufthansa had cancelled my flight to Zurich too, I had
to take another one on which my bags never got loaded… I was picked up by my friend Francois and his
lovely wife Ursula and taken down to the town of Scuol in South Eastern Switzerland. This town is in the
beautiful Engiadina valley and the house we are staying in is 400 years old!

When I got up this morning my bags were waiting outside my room having been delivered from Zurich Post Express by the efficient Zurich Airport Lost and Found :-)

Today Francois and Ursula took me around the town and out to a couple of beautiful little villages up on
the sides of the valley. We also went to two castles one in ruins the other, Tarasp, which has been restored
and had a look around. You can see a few of the pictures on a Google Web Album here.

Tomorrow we are going to go up to the high alpine, weather permitting, should be nice. The valleys here
look very much like valleys in BC but there are houses on the mountain sides in many places and some
villages are perched way up high. The tall Larch trees are all turning colour much like the ones in our
mountains although the colour is more orange than yellow (they look rather like pine beetle killed pines to
me).

It’s hard to imagine that just 3 days from now I will finally be aboard ship getting ready to begin my sailing
trip.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Hiccups on the route

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

So…

I’m posting this from the Terminal in Toronto where I now have to wait for another 3 hours to go to
Frankfurt because Air Canada cancelled my connecting flight to Zurich!

Hmmm…  I thought it was going too smoothly.

At least the checkin agents in Calary didn’t try to send my bags off on that non existent flight.  They were
waiting on the domestic carosel just as if it was planned that way. Odd thing is that they assured me they
would be checked all the way to Zurich.  Blessings for small miracles I guess.

Next post will hopefully be from Switzerland on the weekend.

Thanks for reading
KJ

Posted in Packing and Preps | No Comments »

My Last Night on West Side of the Atlantic

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
So tonight is the last night I will spend on this side of the Atlantic until late May 2009.

I’m mostly packed, the pile was surprisingly small when I started putting it into my duffel bag.  I wonder
what I’m missing?

It’s an odd feeling knowing that after nearly 18 months of planning and worrying I’m almost ready to head
out.  Not exactly anti-climactic or anything but odd nonetheless.

Winter has finally arrived in Calgary with some wet snow on the ground and temps around 0C.  With any
luck after I get to Spain on Monday, where the forecast says it will be partly cloudy and 19C, I won’t see
snow again till next year some time

More soon.
K

My Last Night on West Side of the Atlantic (part two)

Quick crosscheck of the packing discovered a couple of “nice to haves” that were missing so Jayne and I
headed out to pick them up.  We took the long way home via Bragg Creek. A lovely drive through snowy
country in the moonlight.

Once back I repacked the missing items and called my Dad to say bye.

Maggie from the Ship’s Office sent me a map for Palma showing whereabouts the ship is supposed to be
berthed on Monday.  It looks like it’s a mile or so from my hotel but not too bad.  There are a bunch of
Webcams you can check out here.  Perhaps the ship will show up on Monday.

Tomorrow morning bright and early I have to head to the airport and get this show on the road.

Wish me luck.
Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Safety info

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Here is a link to a page on the Picton Castle’s website with everything you ever wanted to know about the
safety equipment and other details about the ship.

An overview of elements that contribute to safety at sea in the Picton Castle

In case you were worried about what I’m getting into :-)
KJ

Posted in News | No Comments »

Of Soap and Sea Water

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

One of the things that people, shipmates and others that have spent time at sea, have mentioned is that
regular soap doesn’t work in sea water. There are several (relatively) expensive concoctions that claim to
be “sea soap” sold in yachting and outdoor stores however most of the people I’ve talkd too swear by Joy
dishwashing soap.

Unfortunately Joy isn’t available anywhere around here so I started doing some research and found that
the common element amongst all these sea water usable soaps is coconut oil.

So off to Safeway I go looking for coconut oil based soaps and lo and behold there are lots! It seems that
the trend to “organic” cleaners has meant that many soap products are now made, and proudly proclaimed
to be at that, using “natural coconut derived” oils.

But would it work in sea water that is the question.

Time for some science said I :-)

Being in the middle of the continent means sea water is a scarce commodity, google to the rescue.  Sea
water is about 35g of salt per Kg of water. So, after whipping up my own personal bit of the great briny, I
tested three different dishwashing soaps, two Organic Earth Friendly ones and one generic lemon based
one. Surprisingly all three worked although of the three the one with the highest level of coconut oil (ie
first on the ingredients list after water) worked the best.

It will be interesting to see how this stuff works on real dirty clothes in real sea water.  At least being
organic and “Earth Friendly” and all it’s unlikely to eat my skin if I use it as shampoo too.
On a “man this is expensive note” I filled my anti-malaria prescription…
$350.00 later !!!

Good thing I’m able to save some money on the soap :-)

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in Packing and Preps | No Comments »

New Toy

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

I’m writing this on a shiny new Asus EEE PC 701.

This lovely little sub notebook will be my link to all of you while I’m on my travels.

It is my one (fantastic) piece of “corporate sponsorship” donated by Tremar Computer Solutions of
Cochrane Alberta. Thank You Guys!

If you haven’t seen one of these little beauties they are about the size of a trade paperback book. This one
has an 1Ghz Intel (R) mobile processor which is underclocked to 630 Mhz for stability and power reasons.
There is 512 MB of RAM and 4 Gigabytes of solid state hard drive storage. An SD Flash card slot and 3 USB 2.0 ports will allow me to move pictures from my camera easily. It has built in wireless and Ethernet
and even has pretty good sound (actualy better than my usual laptop). It runs a custom Xandros Linux
distubution which is very nicely laid out. The screen is about 7″ across but pretty bright, I can use it
outside as long as the sun isn’t shining directly on the screen.

Here is a picture of one:

Did I mention that this is a COOL THING (TM).
So now in addition to packing and making sure all the myriad details of getting ready to leave are handled
I have to make sure I know how to make this baby do all the things I will need it to do on my travels.
KJ

Posted in Packing and Preps | No Comments »

Transportation Safety Board Report is out!

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

After many delays the final report on the tragic loss of Laura Gainey, who was washed overboard from
the Picton Castle December 6, 2006 has been released.

You can read the full report here:
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/reports/marine/2006/m06f0024/m06f0024.asp

An interesting read and I recommend it if you want to get details of this tragedy.  It also helps to put “life
at sea” into some perspective.

Do the results of this report give me pause?

No, not really.   There are no guarantees in life and CHOOSING to go to sea in a traditional sailing vessel
(or even a modern engine powered one for that matter) has a higher risk than sitting behind a desk all day.

Nobody goes on these vessels without CHOOSING to do so.  Press gangs are long gone.

Like climbing Mt Everest, hang gliding or skydiving or any other edgy activity there is risk.  The risk of
events that cannot be foreseen giving us a smack upside the head to remind us of mortality and our
fragility.  Tragic events such as this, and the various reports and evaluations that always result serve as a
reminder to be prepared as best we can and to always “keep one hand for yourself and one for the ship”.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in News | No Comments »

Another Week down.

Sunday, October 26th, 2008

So another week has blazed by.

Just 12 days till I get on a plane and leave my current life behind.

I get an odd reaction when I sit down long enough to think about that, part fear and part excitement. It’s a
bit like when I was a kid, I’d always get this same odd feeling the last two weeks of August before heading
back to school.

Luckily I haven’t had much time for doing that kind of thinking.

Mark from Tremar Computer Solutions, who along with his team will be looking after my day job for the
next couple of months, started job shadowing me this week. I figured that would be better than hoping my
documentation was good enough that he didn’t get blindsided by anything I forgot. Turns out that was a good call.

There is an amazing number of subtle and odd details in my day to day work. Things that I do
automatically and don’t even think to write down, even when I’m trying to document a process in detail.
Working with Mark this week showed me lots of places where such details were mysteriously absent from
my documentation. Blah.

Yesterday (Saturday) was spent setting up a new mainfloor “utility room” to house our new portable
washer. I also moved a lot of junk around and tried to rationalize the layout of our living room to make
things a bit easier for Jayne while I’m away.

I also started (again) reviewing my lists of stuff. Packing will start in earnest this week. Jayne suggested I
should post a picture of everything laid out before it gets mashed into my duffel bag, just for the record.

Everybody tells me not to take too much stuff and that I can get anything I’m missing through the magic
of plastic money but my mind fixes on “6 months!” and wants me to cover every eventuality. I would end
up looking like an overloaded packhorse if I did that.

One of my clients mentioned he had a friend who went to Australia for a year and took a huge pile of stuff
but came back with a single backpack’s worth. Whenever I have traveled in the past I always took way
more stuff than I ever used or even touched so I’ll just have to be aware of that tendency. I suspect the
contrast between the pile of things to pack and the volume of space in which to pack it will help.

There is one aspect of this trip I hadn’t thought much about before now and that is preparing food for 40
people when my turn on “Galley Duty” coincides with the cook’s day off which is Sunday. So I’m
interested in any recipes for easy things to cook for 40ish people, preferably with simple ingredients or
easily substitutable ones. If you have any suggestions/recipes/ideas feel free to include them in a
comment.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in Packing and Preps | No Comments »

Work Life Home Life

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

An interesting week

This past week I spent mostly doing stuff at my day job while trying not to imagine that the “light at the
end of the tunnel” is actually an oncoming train.

My bright idea was to try to improve the infrastructure at work so that it will be very robust while I’m
away.  I say bright idea because it means making some big changes.  Last weekend we shut the system
down to install a much larger UPS with several hours of potential uptime at current usage.  On Tuesday
we installed a 3 TeraByte NetApp disk array, preparatory to moving all our direct attached data on to it.

Unfortunately the power distribution in the rack couldn’t handle the increased load and blew a breaker.
Anybody who has worked in data centres knows that awful feeling that goes with sudden silence!

Luckily everything came back up without a problem once we added another circuit to the rack.

Then we spent three very long days configuring the storage device and copying all the data and testing
applications and data access.  We completed the job last night relatively early so I have an unexpectedly
“free weekend”

Much thanks for the great work by Paul and Jens from NetApp whose vast experience working on
systems many times our size kept everything moving along.  They also made sure to keep me in on the
process so that I understand what was being done and why.  Not that I will remember much of it 6 months
from now.

Needless to say with all that going on the preparations for my passage and maintenance of the DTI were
on hold.

With three weeks to go before actually getting on a plane  it’s make a list and check it twice time.

If that light I see is actually a train I hope it’s the one from Hogwarts at least

Thanks for reading
KJ

P.S. The photo of the Picton Castle in the Header was taken by my friend John Gareri a couple of weeks
ago. He has been onboard since May.

Check out his blog at http://atlanticrounds.blogspot.com/

Ahoy My Friends


Monday, October 13th, 2008

This is my first entry to the log of my journey aboard the barque Picton Castle.

My trip starts officially on November 12, 2008 in Mallorca Spain and will go until May 23, 2009 when we
arrive in Lunenberg N.S.

So why start posting nearly a month in advance?
Three reasons really:

1) So there is something for good people like you to read before I go.

2) To chronicle some of the stuff I have to do and worries I have to deal with.

3) So I can try to explain, to you and to myself, just why I want to leave my loving wife and daughter, my
job, my day to day life with all its security and solidity, for 6 months on the wet moving deck of a sailing
ship.

The following quote from Samuel Johnson sums up how many people see such a trip:
“No man will go to sea who can contrive to have himself put in jail, for going to sea is being
in jail with the added chance of being drowned.”
Lovely.

So why go?

I have always had a fascination with ships. Any ships, from Roman galleys to Napoleonic-era frigates to
early ironclads, WWI battleships, Cape Horn grain racers and B.C. stern wheelers.

Over the last few years I’ve been fascinated with the complexities and beauty of classic sailing ships.  All
those miles of rigging and acres of canvas moving tons of cargo across the seas of the world, by the power of the winds alone, under the control of surprisingly small groups of skilled men.

For me to be able to “learn the ropes” and actually make such a beautiful thing as a ship work, to cross a
great ocean and experience the life of a seaman in the Age of Sail, is a dream come true.

But other than dreams why…

Perhaps it is only to be able to put flesh on the bones of all the stories and accounts I have read.

Perhaps it is to test my will, and what passes for brawn, against nature in all her awesome power.

Perhaps it is simply to escape my “normal” life, to get outside my head and “off the net.” To be in a place
where I don’t “know the ropes”, where I have to challenge myself. To meet new people, see new places,
and learn new skills.

Perhaps all of the above or none of the above at all.

I’m not sure I really know just yet.

I intend to find out, however, and by the time I get back, perhaps I will be able to say here why I went.

Or not

I do know that John Masefield said it pretty well:
Sea-Fever
I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sails shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking.
I must down to the seas again,for the call of the running tide,
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea gulls crying,
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
 Thanks for reading.
KJ

Back from the Beyond

Well after loosing the blog of my Atlantic Passage to the vagaries of cloud hosting bankruptcies, I have decided to resurrect it here.

I managed to print off PDF copies of all my posts before the blog was destroyed so I will simply be re-posting the entries here so other people can see them.

I will be posting the pieces as I posted them on the trip, typos, bad grammar and all. They will also come up in chunks on the equivalent dates on which I originally posted them.

I hope you enjoy this retrospective passage on the Tall Ship Picton Castle in 2008-2009.

http://atlanticpassage.blogspot.ca/


The Picton Castle
Under full sail in the English Channel 2008
Photo by John Gareri


The Wayback Machine did manage to crawl it a couple of times:
http://web.archive.org/web/20090601212050/http://www.4kconsulting.com/pictoncastle/