Scary steering, feeling accomplished.

Wed Aug 31

Our night watch last night was equal parts exciting, terrifying, and satisfying.

As we were motoring towards Rose Bay there was an amazing sunset. I hope the pictures turned out OK (haven't had a chance to look yet).

Once it got dark I started my trick on helm. Just as we started our approach to Rose Bay as luck would have it. I really had to work on my steering to keep the lights I was following in line. We weren't using a compass course just the shore beacons.  Then as we got close the Captain took the con and was giving me helm orders directly. I had never done that before. The orders are directions and turns of the wheel. They are all dependent on knowing where the midships position is. I had no clue when I started getting those orders! Luckily my watchmates were able to check the steering gear and tell me how many turns I had. Once I knew I was already two turns over I could count correctly.

Motoring into a dark bay is frankly terrifying,  that run in was probably one of the scariest things I've done this trip.

Once the anchor was down and the "Finished with the wheel" order was given, I just stood there. I got lots of compliments on the steering though so I guess it wasn't too wavy a route :-)

Since I was off the watch the previous night I had the first anchor watch which was a great way to calm down. The stars were fantastic and the sea was full of sparkling flashes that were almost as bright.

We had a wake up at 6:45 this morning and we were on the capstan hauling up the anchor by shortly after 7:00.  It took 360 push pulls on the capstan bars to get the anchor up. I decided to count to take my mind off the work
 :-)



We sailed off the hook again without the engine running which was awesome.
As the Captain said "There is a special place in hell for Square Rig captains who don't sail when there is a good sailing breeze!"

We sailed back towards Lunenburg until we got abreast of battery point then we fired up the engine and started taking in the sails. The skiff was launched to help with the docking but its motor wouldn't start so they ended up paddling to the wharf while we docked using the engine, the dock lines and muscle power.

Once we were tied up we started taking all the sails off the yards and stowing them in the hold. I spent most of my time out on the head rig lashing up and disconnecting the head sails, then hauling them below to the hold.

Once that was done we had an all hands muster and we got our sea time documents and passports back, plus a nice Picton Castle shirt :-)

I'm going to pack up and then wander off to find my BnB, get settled and then come back for a BBQ at the Dory Shop. It will be nice to sleep in a bed that isn't moving :-)

The gerneral exodus has started, some of the crew are already gone, others are staying on for day or two. I might work tomorrow we'll see.

Later this afternoon will be a BBQ and drinks at the Dory Shop, then it is the Wed races in the harbour in which our Monomoy boat always participates if possble.

I think for sure I will do some tourist stuff before I leave on Sunday.

Managed to get a BnB billet for tonight and tomorrow night then I will have to find somewhere else to stay on Friday and Saturday.

I'm staying at Greybeard's BnB which was highly recommended by some of the crew. The breakfasts are very highly recommended too!

A long shower and clean clothes are first order of business then the BBQ.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Here is a picture of the sunset from last night.

And a couple of the ship tied up at Lunenburg.

Taking her sails down is a bit like a bird molting her flight feathers.
She looks a bit sad without her glorious plummage. Sigh.

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

Passage to Grenada Feb 21,09

Saturday Feb 21,09 Day 14

Had two big squalls roar through on our night watch just as dawn was breaking. One of them I was on
helm for which made for some “fun” steering.

Luckily I had my fowl weather jacket on already so didn’t get too wet.

We should be at the island of Caricou tomorrow morning sometime. That would mean that we should be
able to see their Carnival festivities which will be cool. We will go over to Grenada on Wednesday and
the plan is to stay there for a week and a half or so.

More later…

Just got off the afternoon watch and Veronica confirmed we will be in Carricaou tomorrow morning.
The wind is blowing really hard Force 6-7 with 10-15′ swells. We are sailing under reduced sail to slow
down so we don’t arrive at midnight. There are reefs and rocks around this island so we definitely want to
be there in daylight.

I was on lookout during the daylight and it was fantastic. The ship rose and fell in these big swells with the
wind whistling in the rigging. The sea is bright blue with long serried ranks of whitecaps all the way to the
horizon. It made me want to do a big Yeee Haaa! every time.




Here are a couple of videos I took today.

Later I was on helm which was exciting in these conditions. Looking towards the bow was disorienting as
the relative motion between the bow and stern looks extreme! Then just after it got dark the light in the
binnacle became intermittent with a loose connection. Kolin had it fixed in a jiffy but trying to steer by the
clouds and stars when the bow is swinging through 30 degrees up and down and side to side was “interesting”.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Atlantic Crossing Jan 26, 09

Note that originally this was posted as a single long post when I got ashore in Grenada.
I will be posting each day separately here so you can follow each days action.

Monday January 26,09

So we are off across the Atlantic Ocean at last.

We hoisted anchor and “sailed off the hook”, ie we didn’t use our engine to get underway, around 1:00pm
this afternoon. We are now headed to the WSW under topsails, foresail, inner and outer jibs and main
topmast staysail.

The weather is fabulous with bright sunny skies, deep blue seas and steady force 4 tradewinds blowing in
exactly the right direction.

The Captain says we have the makings of a good passage as long as we are sharp on our sail handling so
he can keep the t’gallants and royals set longer. The crew is in favour of that so we should have an
interesting passage.

I’m back on the 4-8 watch for this passage so I will have to get re-oriented sleep wise again. I put on the
seasickness patch last night so I’m hoping I can avoid a repeat of the last passages “flux”. My back doesn’t
hurt and I’m feeling good to be heading West towards my lovely Lady so far away in cold and snowy
Calgary!

I’ll be updating this post as we go along so you will be able to follow how I’ve made out by simply reading
below. You already know I made it because if I didn’t you won’t see this   So consider this a message
from the past to all you fine folks following along at home!

Thanks for reading
KJ

2015 Postscript

Here is the video of us "sailing off the hook" taken by Spencer's Grand Father Hal.