Wed Feb 18,09 Day 11
Had a marvelous experience this morning right at the end of our Night watch.
I went out into the headrig to loose the flying jib. As you know this means I had to go all the way to the
end of the jib boom to release the gaskets that hold the sail down when furled. As I was working I looked
back at the ship and saw the sun rising behind her! What a magnificent picture that was. The sharp white
prow of the ship rising and falling , slicing into the dark blue waves. Above that the masts with their
perfectly set sails, bellied out in the steady trade winds, a soft golden colour in the light of the dawn. The
jibs curving up from the jib boom to the fore mast the black lines of the stays arrow sharp in the clear air
far overhead. A beautiful image that will stay with me for a very long time.
The rest of the watch was otherwise uneventful
We will be having a Celestial Navigation class today which will start to discuss using the stars to take
sights. This should be cool.
More later…
Just got off of our evening watch which was very uneventful. The winds have really calmed down, they sre
still steady but only about Force 3. We are sailing at 4.5 knots under all sails but the tunsls which are
stored in the hold at the moment.
We are currently 550 miles from Grenada with no estimate of arrival since the winds are dropping. Ah the
joys of sailing ships
On the plus side doing celestial navigation using stars instead of the Sun is actually easier but it takes a bit
of advance planning to do it properly. Looking forward to trying it out soon.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
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