Sunday, March 29th, 2009
So it is Saturday March 28th and our watch is working today.
Yesterday and Thursday evening we were ashore.
I went to the opening party of the Moonsplash Reggae Festival which was cool, but expensive.
Our watch was the vanguard of the “Picton Castle Landing Party” and as such was charged with acquiring
the requisite provisions and billeting. Lynnsey found a guest house apartment which was big enough for
the invasion to proceed. I slept on the tile floor that night with the bath mat under me and the towel from
the bathroom as a blanket. Surprisingly the biggest problem wasn’t the hard floor but the cold from the
constant breeze of the ceiling fans.
On Friday morning I got up had an awesome breakfast of bacon and eggs cooked by Geoff, watched the
Great Lobowski (sic) on Ben’s laptop then headed out to find Internet and see what the day would bring.
I met up with the ship’s doctor Eric and David and we decided to go an check out the local Rum company.
They had free samples but their prices were basically retail. Then we took a cab tour of the island :-)
which was pretty cool. We went to Shoal Beach which has been rated as one of the best beaches in the
area and I can see why. The beach is busy but very clean, bright white with the water an intense blue with
brilliant breaking white rollers out on the reef.
In the evening we had a fabulous dinner at a small beach restaurant then headed back to the ship on the
9:00 skiff.
Today I’ve been sanding and varnishing the main and fore fife rails.
Not sure what I’m going to do with my day ashore tomorrow. Being Sunday it will probably be pretty
quiet. Just have to find a shady spot with WiFi and some good rum punches and chill for the day. We will
be sailing for Dominica on Monday morning.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Here are some pictures from Anguilla.
Posted in Ashore | No Comments »
Atlantic Rollers
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Sailing to Anguilla Mar 26,09
Thursday Mar 26,09
We really earned our breakfast today!
About halfway through our night watch. The wind was a gusty force 5, the gusts were up to force 6
apparently,and we were sailing “Full and By” as close to the wind as we could go. We took in all sail and
then had to go aloft and stow it as well. While we were stowing the mainsail the Sun came up behind the
island of Saba which we were passing at the time. The Sun cast a shadow of Nick SA, David and I on the
Main Topmast Staysail. We looked a surprisingly salty trio wrestling with the heavy sail as it flogged a bit
in its gear. :-)
The 8-12 watch had some excitement as well, about 3:00am the sheet on the flying jib parted with what
sounded like a gunshot. I woke up in my bunk to the roaring and deep bass rumbling of the flying jib as it
flogged madly. The watch rushed to take it in before it totally shredded itself or wrenched the jib boom
awry. I was glad to still have 45 minutes before I had to be on deck!
We are now motoring into fairly heavy seas and a steady Force 5 wind from the NNE trying to make
Anguilla by early afternoon.
More later…
Arrived in Anguilla around 3:30 this afternoon.
Anchored and headed ashore for the evening.
Believe it or not I am sitting in the Reggae Festival called Moonsplash and thought I would see if there
was Internet and surprise there was!
Should be a cool evening mon :-)
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Posted in On Watch | No Comments »
We really earned our breakfast today!
About halfway through our night watch. The wind was a gusty force 5, the gusts were up to force 6
apparently,and we were sailing “Full and By” as close to the wind as we could go. We took in all sail and
then had to go aloft and stow it as well. While we were stowing the mainsail the Sun came up behind the
island of Saba which we were passing at the time. The Sun cast a shadow of Nick SA, David and I on the
Main Topmast Staysail. We looked a surprisingly salty trio wrestling with the heavy sail as it flogged a bit
in its gear. :-)
The 8-12 watch had some excitement as well, about 3:00am the sheet on the flying jib parted with what
sounded like a gunshot. I woke up in my bunk to the roaring and deep bass rumbling of the flying jib as it
flogged madly. The watch rushed to take it in before it totally shredded itself or wrenched the jib boom
awry. I was glad to still have 45 minutes before I had to be on deck!
We are now motoring into fairly heavy seas and a steady Force 5 wind from the NNE trying to make
Anguilla by early afternoon.
More later…
Arrived in Anguilla around 3:30 this afternoon.
Anchored and headed ashore for the evening.
Believe it or not I am sitting in the Reggae Festival called Moonsplash and thought I would see if there
was Internet and surprise there was!
Should be a cool evening mon :-)
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Posted in On Watch | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Sailing to Anguilla Mar 25,09
Wednesday Mar 25,09
Had a quiet night watch.
We are still motoring North. For a wile this morning the wind picked up to Force 4 from almost dead
ahead and we set the fore and aft sails to try to take advantage of it but soon took them in again as we
came abreast of Guadalupe and the wind died away.
The skies are still cloudy but not as threatening looking as they were at dusk yesterday.
The boat frame that we acquired in Grenada is being worked on. The main hatch has become a boatyard
and by the end of the day it looks like one with wood shavings everywhere.
More later…
It’s now 3:30pm and we are approaching the island of Montserrat. This island has an active volcano that
forced the abandonment of the principle city on the island about 10 years ago. The top of the volcano is
hidden in clouds but you can clearly see the broad ashy looking fan of lahar and pyroclastic flow debris
running down to the sea from the summit.
The remains of the city can be seen rising above the grey ashy concrete like flows. This area is in stark
contrast to the lush green of the north side of the island where most of the people relocated to.
The ash from the volcano seeds the clouds causing them to boil up downwind of the island. It almost looks
like it is erupting furiously but it isn’t at the moment.
The 12-4 watch is busy setting all our sails so we will be sailing by the time I go on watch in 20 minutes or
so.
Later…
Had a workshop on wooden boat building while the ashy coast of Montserrat passed by to starboard. You
could smell the sulphur in the ash plume. As we passed by the island the wind curved around and briefly
headed us then picked up speed so that we were really moving along under all sail by sunset.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Had a quiet night watch.
We are still motoring North. For a wile this morning the wind picked up to Force 4 from almost dead
ahead and we set the fore and aft sails to try to take advantage of it but soon took them in again as we
came abreast of Guadalupe and the wind died away.
The skies are still cloudy but not as threatening looking as they were at dusk yesterday.
The boat frame that we acquired in Grenada is being worked on. The main hatch has become a boatyard
and by the end of the day it looks like one with wood shavings everywhere.
More later…
It’s now 3:30pm and we are approaching the island of Montserrat. This island has an active volcano that
forced the abandonment of the principle city on the island about 10 years ago. The top of the volcano is
hidden in clouds but you can clearly see the broad ashy looking fan of lahar and pyroclastic flow debris
running down to the sea from the summit.
The remains of the city can be seen rising above the grey ashy concrete like flows. This area is in stark
contrast to the lush green of the north side of the island where most of the people relocated to.
The ash from the volcano seeds the clouds causing them to boil up downwind of the island. It almost looks
like it is erupting furiously but it isn’t at the moment.
The 12-4 watch is busy setting all our sails so we will be sailing by the time I go on watch in 20 minutes or
so.
Later…
Had a workshop on wooden boat building while the ashy coast of Montserrat passed by to starboard. You
could smell the sulphur in the ash plume. As we passed by the island the wind curved around and briefly
headed us then picked up speed so that we were really moving along under all sail by sunset.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Sailing to Anguila Mar 24, 09
Tuesday Mar 24,09
Had a great night watch.
I was first helm and we were trying to sail as close to NxW as we could get. We had all sails set and she
was steering really well so even though it was a bit tricky to keep from swinging to far into the wind it
wasn’t too bad.
About halfway through my trick, around 4:30 or so I caught sight of a bright light to the NE and when I
glanced over to see what it was I saw what looked like two objects coming down like very bright and slow
meteors towards the East. There was a flash and they vanished. Later as dawn began to break there
appeared to be a band of very brightly lit clouds in the NE about where the flash was. These clouds were
high enough that they were in sunlight before even the cirrus clouds over us were. As the light grew these
clouds spread out into an ellipse almost like a giant smoke ring hanging just over the horizon. They were
no longer visible by the time the Sun came up. I think the clouds were the result of an explosion of
something at very high altitude. Pretty cool!
We took in all square sail and fired up the engine around 6:30 and are currently motorsailing North.
More later…
Just got off my afternoon watch and we are still motoring North. The winds are light, force 3, from the
North. The sky has been cloudy all day and was looking fairly grim at sunset but as we were coming off
watch there were a few stars visible so maybe nothing will come of it.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Had a great night watch.
I was first helm and we were trying to sail as close to NxW as we could get. We had all sails set and she
was steering really well so even though it was a bit tricky to keep from swinging to far into the wind it
wasn’t too bad.
About halfway through my trick, around 4:30 or so I caught sight of a bright light to the NE and when I
glanced over to see what it was I saw what looked like two objects coming down like very bright and slow
meteors towards the East. There was a flash and they vanished. Later as dawn began to break there
appeared to be a band of very brightly lit clouds in the NE about where the flash was. These clouds were
high enough that they were in sunlight before even the cirrus clouds over us were. As the light grew these
clouds spread out into an ellipse almost like a giant smoke ring hanging just over the horizon. They were
no longer visible by the time the Sun came up. I think the clouds were the result of an explosion of
something at very high altitude. Pretty cool!
We took in all square sail and fired up the engine around 6:30 and are currently motorsailing North.
More later…
Just got off my afternoon watch and we are still motoring North. The winds are light, force 3, from the
North. The sky has been cloudy all day and was looking fairly grim at sunset but as we were coming off
watch there were a few stars visible so maybe nothing will come of it.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Monday, March 23, 2015
Sailing to Anguila Mar 23, 09
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Monday Mar 23,09
We up anchored and sailed off the hook, after loading our “flotilla”,all 4 of them, back on board, around
10:00am.
A brief sail under topsails courses and t’gallants brought us to the other side of Union island by noon. As
we approached Union Island I went aloft to the t’gallants to stow the sail. This is the first time I’ve done
that and it was exhilarating and scary at the same time.
The Captain has gone ashore to clear us out of St Vincent and the Grenadines and we will be sailing for
Anguila some 350 miles to the North.
The passage to Anguila will take about three days which, in the words of our Captain at muster this
morning, “For the new people is an epic sea voyage, for those who’ve been aboard longer it’s detox”.
Heh :-)
Actually it will be nice to have a longer passage. I like the normal watch routine and sailing the ship. It’s
quite a comforting routine for me now which is a bit odd but cool too :-)
We hoisted the anchor and sailed off the hook headed North on our passage around 3:30 this afternoon.
That is the first time we have done that twice in the same day, at least whilst I have been aboard. A great
way to get back in Seaman mode for the passage :-)
The night has fallen and left the ky sprinkled with bright white stars and bright green flashes of
phosphorescence along the hull. A great end to a busy day full of seaman’s work on this fine barque of
ours.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Monday Mar 23,09
We up anchored and sailed off the hook, after loading our “flotilla”,all 4 of them, back on board, around
10:00am.
A brief sail under topsails courses and t’gallants brought us to the other side of Union island by noon. As
we approached Union Island I went aloft to the t’gallants to stow the sail. This is the first time I’ve done
that and it was exhilarating and scary at the same time.
The Captain has gone ashore to clear us out of St Vincent and the Grenadines and we will be sailing for
Anguila some 350 miles to the North.
The passage to Anguila will take about three days which, in the words of our Captain at muster this
morning, “For the new people is an epic sea voyage, for those who’ve been aboard longer it’s detox”.
Heh :-)
Actually it will be nice to have a longer passage. I like the normal watch routine and sailing the ship. It’s
quite a comforting routine for me now which is a bit odd but cool too :-)
We hoisted the anchor and sailed off the hook headed North on our passage around 3:30 this afternoon.
That is the first time we have done that twice in the same day, at least whilst I have been aboard. A great
way to get back in Seaman mode for the passage :-)
The night has fallen and left the ky sprinkled with bright white stars and bright green flashes of
phosphorescence along the hull. A great end to a busy day full of seaman’s work on this fine barque of
ours.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
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