Ashore in Lunenburg NS

You can start from the beginning of my latest adventure here.

If you would like to start at the very beginning of my previous passage across the Atlantic Ocean back in 2008 please head over to here.

For information on how to join in the adventure and sail on The Picton Castle yourself check out her web page:
http://www.picton-castle.com/

It has been 11 years since I first joined the Picton castle in Mallorca to start my adventures.
I have tried to capture something of why I did that and what it has meant for me here:
The Call of the Sea 

Thu Sept 1 2016

The BBQ was delicious, with charcoal cooked chicken, shrimp on skewers, ribs, salads and ice cold beer!

Went for a wander on the waterfront afterwards and then tried to watch the "races" but rapidly ran out of steam so came back to the BnB and crashed.

Woke up about 6:00am this morning really confused about where I was because:

A) The bed wasn't moving.
B) As far as I could reach I couldn't touch anything.
C) I could hear crickets chirping rather than water swishing against the hull.

Then I remembered I was in a beautiful BnB in Lunenburg having signed off the ship yesterday afternoon :-)

Had a lovely breakfast here at Greybeard's. The recomendations by my shipmates were bang on. Fruit animals, smoked salmon quiche, carrot cake, orange juice and lightly spiced coffee. Mmmmmm...

Bob and Rosanna do a fantastic job.

After breakfast I realized that tomorrow  (Fri) I would need to find someplace to stay so I jumped back on my little laptop, and the lovely and  fast wifi, and spent the next two hours trying to find a berth! The Labour Day long weekend is abad time to try to find accomodations in a high tourist area like Lunenburg.

It is now 10:00 am and I've got it settled. Whew :-)

I will be staying at the Kiwi Kaboodle hostel in Mahone Bay for Friday and Saturday night. Kiwi Kaboodle also runs a shuttle service that can get me back to the Airport in Halifax on Sunday which is a bonus!

My back and muscles are telling me that I probably should take it easy (aka 'be lazy') so I'm just going to go tour the Fishery Museum and drink cider in a pub somewhere.
:-)

Oh and mess around online of course.

I guess that means this is the final post of my latest trip on The Picton Castle.
I hope you have enjoyed following along on my passage.

Sailing on the Picton castle is a fantastic adventure, even when only for a few weeks.  There are very few times in one's life that working that hard physically can be as rewarding, that standing watch beside strangers can result in connections and friendships that last for years, and that learning a complex system of lines, processes and language, that so indelibly mark you as a seafarer, can mark a point in your life so clearly.

Eight years ago I headed out for my first adventure on this fine ship. Over the last two and a half weeks I've stepped back into a role I really thought was in the past for good.

Would I do it again?

I honestly don't know, and frankly it doesn't matter :-)

'Living in the now' is probably the biggest lesson I take from this short return to sea.

And in the spirit of that lesson I'm going to let tomorrow look after itself :-)

As always...

Thanks for reading.

And Watch below! :-)

KJ

Night Watch (Interlude)

Saturday Aug 27

Our night watch was absolutely fantastic.

As the afternoon progresed the sky got clearer and clearer and the wind became steady from the NW, perfect for our SSE course!

As we came on watch at 8:00pm we were till sailing along under all sails.
First business was taking in the Royals. I know they would have preferrred to leave them up as the conditions were perfect. But our watches are a bit short handed so prudence demands that the Royals come in so we could easily douse the t'gallants if needed.

Once that was done it was plain sailing.  A beautiful warm steady breeze, very reminiscent of the tradewinds, no engine or generator noise just the swish of the sea and the slow creak of the wheel.

When it was fully dark the sky was awash in stars with the Milky Way spanning across the whole sky.  With no lights on deck there was nothing to dim the intensity of the stars. The lights of the towns on the Magdeline Islands were on the Northern horizon. For a few minutes thay had some kind of fireworks display that could just be seen rising from the horizon. Best guess for why was "It's Saturday so why not" :-)

My turn at lookout was amazing. Apart from a band of darkness just above the horizon, caused by the density of the atmosphere at sea level and the temperature difference between the sea and the air, everywhere I looked there were stars.

Being on lookout is one of those times when introspection is impossible to avoid.  One developes a kind of alert but automatic scan of the hoirizon and the sea. My mind then quickly begins to do a kind of checklist wander through things of interest, worries, what ifs, plans, songs, existential musings, self critiques and all sorts of random bits of memory.

Last night, being under full sail in a gentle but steady wind, there was the added beauty of the towering masts and sails rising above me and swaying in front of the stars.

It was the last night on which we will be able to sail this fine ship, once through the control lock at Canso it will likely be motoring all the way to Lunenberg.  Knowing that I won't likely get to experience this for long time, if ever again, was bitter sweet.

 How can one fix such a moment in the mind?

My trick on the helm was also great. I was able to steer almost entirely by the stars!
So glad I've managed to get that to work. I can now steer by just standing beside the wheel, like many of my shipmates do, rather than  hunched over the wheel glued to the dimly lit swaying compass card.

The only break in the revery was cleaning part of the galley that hadn't been touched for a very long time. It was inhabited by lots of tiny cockroaches. The only ones I've seen, I guess the Atlantic Crossing was too cold for them.  Mark says that while they were in Toronto they had discovered a spot full of them which they had summarily dispatched but otherwise I've seen nothing but flies.

When "watch below" was called I stayed on deck for 10 minutes more just watching the sails, the stars, and the sea.  This one day and night makes up for all the labour I've done so far.

Is that why people go to sea?  To have those simple things to hang on to when the ship rolls and the ropes are taught and the decks are streaming.

I slept soundly indeed. I didn't even wake up when the engine was started around 4:00am and the 4-8 watch took in all our sails.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

A Tall Ship and a Star to Steer Her By

A Tall Ship and a Star to Steer Her By

That is probably one of the most famous lines from any Sea poem/story.  I always thought it meant using the stars to navigate with. That is, in the sense of figuring out where you are and how to get to where you want to go. Last night I finally figured out what it really means.

One of the things I was told on my previous voyage was to use clouds or objects on the horizon to steer with rather than chasing the pointer on the compass around.  I was never able to make that work.  My second time at helm on this trip, while sailing along Lk Ontarion,  Mark the Aussie AB on our watch told me pointing at the compass "Don't look at this, look at this" indicating with a sweep of his arm the broad expanse of stars and sky.  I still wasn't able to force myself not to look at the compass and try to chase the course around.

Last night however it seems to have clicked. The Fog blanked everything up to about 45 degrees above the horizon but above that the stars were pretty clear. So I found a bright star, in Cassiopea I think, that was lined up between two stays on the main mast when we were on course.  Watching that star I could see when the ship started to fall off her course. Looking down at the compass I could see that the compass heading hadn't changed at all! Then suddenly it would begin to show the course change.

That is the secret! The compass is on the quarter deck right in front of the wheel it will only start to register the turn when the bow has already started going that way.  The apparent motion of the star, or a cloud or point of land, is way faster so correcting the ship course by watching for the shift in these objects corrects the course before the compass has even registered a turn.

The fog this morning was so thick you could actually look at the sun briefly, it was just a bright disk, I used it the same way as a star to figure out how many spokes of the wheel were necessary to make her turn or stop turning.

Sweet.

So "a star to steer her by"  is just that, using a star to keep the ship on course because the relative motion of the ship forward of the compass registers a change in course way faster than the compass does.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Musings on a Life at Sea (interlude)

Wed Aug 24


Eight years ago I flew out to re-join this same ship in Mallorca Spain.  I was in much better shape and I had no real idea what the next 6 months would be like.  This time I have a pretty good idea what is coming, but I am a typical computer techy couch potatoe with soft hands and only a vague memory of how everything works.

So why bother?

Good question that.  I am very much enjoying the trip so far. There has been an immense amount of "hurry up and wait" as is typical of a ship tied to the hard. Seeing the ship cocooned in her movie paint make up, with messy decks and everything adrift  was a bit of a shock. Now a week later, and most things put right and on our way to the open sea,  any ship's natural element, I'm beginning to get back into the swing of life on this fine ship.

I see the ship I sailed in my memory almost like a ghost, a bit of double vision, overlayed on her as she is now. I see my shipmates from 8 years ago in the faces of the young sailors I am working with. Yet each is a new person with different life experiences and views. Some have been sailing since April, a double crossing of the sometimes stormy North Atlantic, others are old crew members from previous voyages and passages, and some have only sailed on the Picton Castle for a few weeks at Tall Ship events etc. But every one of them  WANTS to be here.

While we were docked at Clayton an older lady came up with her young grandson in tow. She asked if she could come aboard since she had sailed with the ship before.  All old crew are welcome to do so, which is cool.  She proudly took her grandson around to see the ship, a ship she obviously felt very strongly about. He was less impressed, I got the feeling it was more of a "let's see what Grandma was on about" thing :-)

But her sparkling eyes and pride in her ship is something I can definitely relate to.

I hope people see that when they come into my office and see the pictures of the Picton Castle on my wall, and listen patiently to my sea stories from 8 years ago.
I already have some new stories to add to my collection.  As we get closer to the sea with every passing hour the old familiar feelings of excitement and panic come back.  The resignation as well, the resignation that any sailor must have to endure the long night watches and the heavy labour of keeping a ship in shape to pass through whatever comes her way.

That is more "living in the now" than I am capable of at home.

Perhaps that is the reason for doing this. She is a hard to work physically, frustratingly complex, and beautifully elegant machine, carrying me through both space and time in a good company of men and women.

This small slice of a "Life at Sea" may be all I can get for now.

But it is enough.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Packed and ready...

Sort of.

Got most of my gear packed up and it all fits in my old seabag!  I made the seabag during the last stretch from Bermuda back to Lunenburg when I was last sailing on the Picton Castle.

My plan is to check the seabag and carry an old cloth backpack on the plane. That will have the absolute bare essentials so that I could still join the ship even if the seabag goes awol.  I am flying Westjet so that isn't really a concern, unlike another "Nationally Named" Carrier I could mention.

The tricky bit of the packing was clothes. It is currently really hot in Toronto where we will be starting but who knows what it will be like after we get out into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. I really only need three sets, work clothes, general and travel clothes, and a nicer set to wear if I have to go ashore, and not look like a ruffian from the docks, heh. All that fits in a very small space.

Biggest amount of space taken so far is my foul weather gear it just doesn't fold up very small. I'm also carrying my old rubber boots just in case of cold water, they'll probably never leave the bottom of my seabag.

So tomorrow afternoon my little adventure starts. It'll be fun to just get on the plane and leave all the FB\News\Social madness behind for a couple of weeks.

Updates as I can wrangle them.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

P.S. The current plan is to get the ship ready to leave on the 21st planning to arrive in Lunenberg Sept 1st or 2nd. Between the time I get there on the 17th and the 21st the ship will be involved in some filming which will be interesting to be in on.

Knots 'n lines and sails oh my!

Four days to go before I fly out to Toronto.

Woke up in a cold sweat this morning.

I was dreaming that I had been ordered to do something on the ship.  Only I had no clue how to do it!

Eight years is a long time, and even though I have been sailing since it has never been on a vessel with all that lovely rope and billowing canvas. The panicky feeling of that dream lasted all through breakfast and I figured I better do something about it. So I got an old shoelace and started doing knots.  All the knots I could remember. Then I looked up the ones I couldn't remember and tried them.

The simple act of doing that was very calming.  Riding the bus downtown I kept doing all the knots, must have looked a little strange, but then this is Calgary, heh.

It's a kind of Sailor's Rosary or something.


Thanks for reading.
KJ

Off to Sea Again

Well.
It has been almost 8 years since I last headed out to Sea on the Picton Castle.
Now I get to go on another passage on this fine Barque.

Two weeks ago I got an email from Maggie, who keeps the administration of the ship moving smoothly, looking for crew to help sail the ship back to Lunenberg.

Thinking about it for all of 4 hours I jumped at the chance!

So on August 16th I'll fly to Toronto to join the Picton Castle for her trip down the St Lawrence and back to Lunenberg.

I've rebuilt my little netbook "EEEbin" with a new OS and have started packing my seabag.

This post will be the start of a new chapter on this blog.

I'll try to write something everyday and, like last time, I'll update when I get a chance.

Wish this old sailor luck in getting my sea legs back!

As always thanks for reading
KJ

Loose ends…

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

So I wasn’t sure I would actually post anything here after I “swallowed the anchor” and got back home.
There are a few things I think that should be included though.

John has posted a fantastic map of our trip on his blog. He had a pocket GPS with him that recorded our
location at noon everyday. He exported all the data into an application that let him generate a map. He
also has exported the data to Google Maps that allow you to zoom into every place we went.

This is, as they say, a COOL THING ™!

You can check out John’s post here:

http://atlanticrounds.blogspot.com/2009/05/daily-waypoints-and-ports-of-call.html

Here is a much reduced version of the map:

It is really odd being back home after all the time away. I am very happy to be back home with my family
and, now that it is warming up a bit (it snowed here last week!), I’m actually enjoying doing yard work
instead of deck wash and rust busting

However it is strange to be here where things are both totally familiar and yet slightly different. I imagine
it as being a bit like experiencing a parallel universe. Not sure how long that feeling will last but it’s still strange nearly 3 weeks from our arrival in Lunenberg.

Work is a good example, my office was almost identical to the way it was when I left, there was even the
same items on my to do list on the white board! However the economic situation is such that the company
has had to do some belt tightening so some of the consultants I used to work with are gone. Walking
around in the office leaves me with a similar “Temporal Shadow” feeling like I had in Martinique.

On the plus side they want me to do a “show and tell” on Thursday to give them a feel for how my trip
went which should be fun. So I get to spend the next few days going over my 3000 some odd pictures
trying to put this trip into a 45 minute slide show.

Wish me luck!

I may post more stuff here as I’m not sure I’m exactly finished with my Atlantic Passage just yet. Check
back every now and then and, as always…

Thanks for reading. :-)
KJ

Posted in Ashore, Musings | No Comments »

Post Script 2015

If you would like to start at the beginning of my adventures start here.

The last day… Monday May 25,2009

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Today was very busy, which figures given that it was my last day and all.
Had a nice breakfast at a little bakery/cafe up from the ship and then went aboard for the grand,
traditional, “Crew Photo”.

The crew of the Picton Castle May 25, 2009

 Then we went aloft and loosed all sails so they could dry after yesterdays rain.

Once that was done we started unloading the ship’s “cargo” of tropical wood that will be used for two
new schooners that will be built at the Dory Shop here.

Once the smaller pieces were unloaded we spent about two hours rigging up heavy lines, tackles and
blocks so that we could swing the big pieces over the side.

After lunch we started to haul and heave and slowly maneuvered these massive chunks of wood. First we
had to pull each block forward from it’s position in the port breezeway until it was alongside the hatch.
Then we connected three different tackles and lines to it. There were two yard tackles one on the Fore
Yard and one on the Main and a heavy synthetic line run from the main topgallant mast down through a
block and then forward to the capstan on the foredeck.

There was complete silence enforced on deck so that commands could be clearly heard as we inched each
timber up to the level of the rail and then using the yard tackles and lots of pushing we swung each block
over the side and then down slowly into the water.

Once in the water the blocks were towed over to the Dory Shop using the rescue boat.

While we were doing this a scallop dragger on the other side of our dock was using a noisy diesel powered
crane to hoist bits and pieces of chain and stuff on and off their deck. The contrast was amazing
We then cleaned up the decks and furled the sails.

We mustered midships and the Captain thanked us for our hard work and discussed the “Sea Time”
documents that each of us received. These documents are legal documents that confirm the sea time and
duties we had on board the ship during it’s voyage. Each day and portion of a day at sea is counted and
recorded. In order to qualify for an official seamans designation you must have a minimum of 6 months of
sea time. For higher qualifications the requirements are longer so recording each day is important.

Then came the tough part for me… Saying Good Bye!

The last six months have been a fantastic adventure. At times exhilarating, frightening, awe inspiring,
boring, hot, cold, wet, head knocking, toe stubbing, arms aching, back breaking, calming, moving,
hilarious, sad and any other adjective you could think of frankly.

To have to say good bye to such great shipmates, friends, mentors and companions in adventure was really
tough.

This picture, taken by David on my camera as my daughter and I were climbing into the cab to head to the
airport, is of the ship reflected in the rear window of the cab… Sigh.

Looking back...

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Photos of my last day are here.

Posted in On Watch | No Comments »

On my way back to the ship. Mar 6-7,09

Friday, March 6th, 2009

After a great week at home in Calgary, I’m on my way back to Grenada to join the ship for the next 2 1/2
months of  WARM sailing through the islands of the Caribbean.

I should arrive back in Grenada on Saturday evening at 7:00pm. This assumes that all my flights and
connection work properly :-)

Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading
KJ

Here are some photos from my trip home

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

More Videos!

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

A nice little compendium of scenes from aboard the ship taken by Spenser’s Grandfather Hal while we
were at anchor at Mindelo.

I was on galley duty setting up the dishes along the rail as you can see

Check it out here.
Three minutes before the mast!

Here is a video I took from the Focsle head just before we got to Fernando de Noronha. That’s Marie on
lookout and you can briefly see David hanging out at the end of the jib boom taking pictures. Notice the
color of the water!

Here are two of the pictures David took while he was out there on the end of the jib boom.

In the Trade Winds
By David Bellows

Bowsprit Cap
By David Bellows

Back home in Calgary for a bit. Mar 1-7,09

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Flew back to Calgary via Barbados, then to Toronto with a 6 hour layover, then on to Calgary.

Quite a contrast between Grenada and Calgary!

 From:

 To: :-/

On the plus side I have a good Internet connection. :-)




Thanks for reading
KJ

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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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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 »

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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/