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.
Atlantic Rollers
Showing posts with label 2014 Postscript. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014 Postscript. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
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
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
===================================
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.
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
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
===================================
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.
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.
Posted in Ashore | No Comments »
-----------------
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.
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.
Posted in Ashore | No Comments »
-----------------
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.
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
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
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.
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 |
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
Posted in On Watch | No Comments »
Postscript 2014
A great photo of me on lookout going through the straits.
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
Posted in On Watch | No Comments »
Postscript 2014
A great photo of me on lookout going through the straits.
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
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 |
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