Friday, March 13th, 2009
We sailed off the hook this morning which was a fine bit of coordination IMHO.
The anchorage is surrounded by reefs with a relatively narrow entrance passage. The ship was head to
wind and the wind was coming in from the NE directly towards the entrance. So we had to spin the ship
around inside the anchorage using the sails once the anchor was off the bottom. It went without a hitch
and pretty smoothly. I was on the fo'c'sle head assisting with catting the anchor as we set all our sails
except the gaff topsail.
Very cool!
I understand that we will be doing a tacking exercise which should be very interesting as we have not
tacked the ship since I have been aboard. This will get us back into seaman mode in a big way. as you can
imagine it’s important to put aside “beachcomber mode” as quickly as possible when we get under way
More later…
The tack went pretty well. Tacking a square rigger is much more complicated than tacking any fore and aft
rigged vessels as bringing the wind across the bows will throw the square sails aback which puts a lot of
strain on the masts. Also unlike a fore and aft rigged vessel if you “miss stays”, ie stall out going into the
wind without enough way on to get across, the ship will start to go backwards which can damage the
rudder and steering gear.
The key to a successful tack in a square rigger is timing, all the steps must be done briskly and in the right
order to make everything work. My station was on the fo'c'sle head to help bringing the jibs across to the
other side.
The procedure for doing the tack is fairly simple really but it takes coordination. First the head sail sheets
are cast off allowing them to flog, this removes their resistance to the turn. Then the helm is put over and
the spanker sheeted to windward to help the ship turn up into the wind. Then the order to “raise tacks and
sheets” is given. This means to pull the mainsail halfway up to the yard. Next the order to “mainsail haul”
is given and the main mast yards are braced around to the new tack. The timing on this is tricky as it has
to be done just as the ship comes across the wind but before all the sails on the mainmast come aback.
When done right the order is given just as the windward side comes aback and the leeward side is still
blanketed by the sails on the fore mast, this helps the yards come around faster. Apparently if the whole
mast goes aback it can be very difficult to swing the yards around. Once the main mast yards are set the
order to “let go and haul” is given and the yards on the foremast are swung around onto the new tack.
Then the head sails are passed and sheeted home on the new tack. The main sail is reset and we are away!
With the whole crew on deck we did it pretty well and had no trouble. We never got close to “missing
stays”. Very cool.
Being on the focsle head when the jibs are flogging is a awesome but frightening thing. Each sheet has a
block on it that flings around madly, hence the reason they are know as widow makers, plus the sails make
a deep low frequency booming that rattles my whole body. It takes a lot of force to pull the sheets across
to get them set on the new tack as well.
The whole procedure takes only a few minutes or so when done right but if you miss stays it could be a lot
longer process.
I case you’re interested, the alternative to tacking is to “wear ship” which is to turn keeping the wind
behind the sails. This is much easier because it is only necessary to brace the yards around as she turns. It
takes much more sea room however and puts the ship farther to leeward of where she started the turn so is
not a good option if in a narrow channel or where loosing ground to leeward isn’t an option.
We have done that maneuver, wearing, several times while I have been aboard but this was the first tack.
We arrived back at Carriacou around 3:30 or so and anchored off of paradise beach as the anchorage at
Hillsborough still had too big a swell running.
My watch mates and I jumped on the first shore going skiff. One of the new trainees and I walked into
Hillsburough to get some money and then spent the evening on the beach at a great little bar/restaurant
called the Hardwood. They have “dangerously yummy” rum punches there :-) It was a fabulous evening
under a bright full moon on a magnificent beach.
Ahhhh… Paradise Beach indeed!
Thanks for reading.
KJ
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