En Route to Halifax: A Hop, Skip, And a Jump

Sunday July 12th: post internet in Bath update,

I walked from the ship to downtown and ran into Mike on the way. I told him I was heading for lunch and a thrift store in town and shared the bleak news of another day of sandwiches for lunch at the ship. He decided to join me and we decided to go find food. We looked downtown, but didn’t find anything that thrilled us. I found an internet cafe and updated my blog.

We had heard on the ship that there is a Holiday Inn hotel nearby that had a Bounty Tavern and was themed to our ship with a partial model, so off we went to find it. After many vague directions and a city map that was fancifully scaled we found the restaurant and the store. I bought a nice wool sweater for the upcoming cold.

The Bounty tavern was pretty cool. The ship’s stern in the lobby had very similar gingerbread work to our ship. The bartender got a kick out of us being crew on the ship and we were the only ones in there at four in the afternoon. Mike and I had a couple beers and dinner/lunch. I had incredible New England chowder, imagine that, as well as a nice chunk of beef and mashed potatoes.

We walked back to town and I walked and wandered my way slowly back to the ship. I really enjoyed all the old homes and  greenery. I got back to the ship and just hung around planning to go to bed early.

Monday July 13th

Woke up at 7am and got the ship all ready to go after breakfast. The previous night some of our passengers had arrived and more came during breakfast. Another full load of 12 passengers. We got the ship under way nicely and motored out of the river and into the Atlantic. The Kennebec river was just as beautiful as when we arrived and this time we saw a pair of Bald Eagles.

We were still all hands until after work party, so I did little projects until our work party and spent the afternoon doing things aloft like moving footropes behind a mast and oiling wood. We loosed sails a little after 3pm and got on our watch late. Dan has officially been made Bosun and so he is no longer part of our watch, which means we are down to 3 sailors. So, we had to drop our navigation position.

Thankfully we have 5 passengers on our watch and a couple were willing to help out with our chores. The watch went by quickly as we were all very busy. Dinner was cooked by Cookie and was a great Thai chicken and rice with peanut sauce. We found out that tonight Cookie is officially leaving the ship in Halifax to work on Shennendoah for financial reasons. We are all sad to see him go, being a very loved member of the crew.

At the end of the watch I wrangled Amber, who had foolishly come on deck early,  into helping me furl the main royal. I was thinking as I climbed the last stretch and laid out on the yard how amazing it is that I have become so comfortable in the rig, especially on the royal where the ratlines end several feet before the yard and climbing becomes a little creative. We got it done,  I cleaned up the lines, and got relieved shortly thereafter. Once below the captain said “Grant you didn’t get away quick enough” as more dishes had appeared, so he helped Sarah and I finish them off and after  being on deck for 12 hours I went straight to my bunk.

Tuesday July14th

Woke up for 4-8am watch and found the sky already starting to lighten up to the east. The sunrise was really quite beautiful. We washed the deck and jumped aloft and set the main and fore courses. I was very sleepy during the watch and grinned widely when my head hit the pillow.

Cookie made some great pizza for lunch and for work party I was sent aloft with a couple of guys to scrape down the fore topgallant mast. The point of scraping it down is to get to a new layer of wood and get rid of the old slush (beef tallow acting as a grease). Scraping down that 15 ft of wood took the whole work party since it was so awkward and unwieldy to scrap up there. I was unhappy as we hung there and later, when Mike and I were sitting on the fore topgallant yard, one leg on a stay one leg on the billowing sail, I turned and said to him “Mike we are swaying well over 100ft in the air sailing on the open Atlantic and doing brightwork.” I laughed and we both smiled while we returned to our scraping with a little more good nature.

We also found out today the office told us the wrong day we were expected in Halifax. We now have until Thursday to get there, so we reduced sail. On our evening watch we saw a pod of whales spouting and, though we never got to see one too close, we could easily see their backs gliding across the surface.

Dinner was wonderful. I sat on the stern grating and ate my dinner on a nice rolling sea with the  deeply angled sun warming my shoulders. It was another high moment in my day.

The sunset was fairly good, the sun was a deep fiery red as it sank the horizon. Most interestingly, however, I saw my first green flash today. The movies exaggerate the phenomenon, it is not a really a big flash, but as the last bit of the sun sinks, for a brief moment it turns green. Not green in the way you could consider it green, but a unquestionably deep and bright green. Nothing extravagant, but still an incredible natural wonder.

I chatted on deck for a few minutes while watching the rest of the sun set, ate a cookie Christine was baking, and went off to my bunk.

Wednesday July 15th

Woke up for the 4-8am watch and came on deck to neon colors. Neon pink and orange giving way to a fading neon blue. I chose to begin our watch rotation on bow watch, selfishly because I wanted a front row seat to what was becoming a great sunrise.

While scanning the horizon, jus on the edge of the sunrise, I noticed something peaking above the horizon. At first I thought it to be an island, but it had no lights. Then as we got closer and its shape more defined looking through binoculars I wondered if it might be an aircraft carrier or submarine given a raised superstructure and flat deck. The possibility of a funny shaped island was still in the running. Still, all of these options should have had navigation lights on them. Finally, as we got closer still, I noticed the square breaks in the deck, outlines of shipping containers: its a container ship! More interestingly, it is a container ship that was hull down from us the entire time (hull down meaning that its hull is beyond the curvature of the earth, we could only see the uppermost part of the ship sticking above the earth). The rest of the watch the ship was going the same direction as our ship and so she remained peaking over the horizon. Well, I thought it was cool.

During this episode the sunset had faded to less extreme colors. Some clouds above had become ribbed with burgundy and I watched the expected area of the sunrise with binoculars. I can only convey the speed of that sunrise, as the sun burst across the barrier of the horizon, with sound. A sudden then fading boom or even just a deep roar would better help convey the violence with which the sun escaped the horizon.

Later during the morning watch I spotted a pair of matching topsail schooners to our stern. I instantly laughed because they could only be our French comrades from Bermuda. Our friends were sailing along nicely, but did not appear to be heading for Halifax. We’ll have to see what this is about. I spotted another topsail schooner and with the help of satellite boat tracking (AIS) and some other sailors we figured her out to be the Amistad. After I got off watch I ate breakfast, took a shower, and went to sleep.

Woke up for lunch and was sent out to oil the jibboom. I enjoyed oiling on the tip of the ship as we came closer and closer to Halifax. We are about 20 hours early so we went off to Cow Bay just North of Halifax. We came in and anchored under sail. All the crew was working well and ready, we were looking pretty good bracing around, flashing in and out sails.

We Anchored and had a nice barbeque for dinner while I was on anchor watch for the last two hours of our watch, I was busy running around doing boat checks, plotting our position, and doing dishes from dinner. Most importantly, however, the other members of my watch would then stand the 4-8am anchor watch and I would get to sleep the whole night through! After I got off watch we played Around Cape Horn for the passengers who got a a great kick out of it. I listened to some music and leisurely went to sleep.

Bath, Maine: Lobsters, Mosquitos, and an Irish Pub.

Friday July 10th

Woke with a little more difficulty than normal for a work day. The weather was beautiful yet again. The captain discussed our Lobster options and it was decided crew funds would pay for half of our lobsters, so I would be paying 4$ for a lobster dinner. We got to work and I began painting the yards.

The coast guard showed up and had us do another orange overboard drill. The orange was saved and the inspector really grilled us with fire drill questions; I think we did pretty well. Painted more yards after lunch and we opened up for tours at 2pm.

I was supposed to keep working as it was port watch’s turn for tours, but somebody was busy so I stood in on tour rotation for the rest of the afternoon. I had a blast talking with everyone and when I got off work I went to see if anyone was interested in hitting a store in town. We asked the captain and he gave us the keys to the jeep and I got to drive us into town. The jeep was stick and I had a blast driving around Maine and guessing at the traffic laws.

I bought a new pair of pants and a new, bigger, bottle of port. We came back to the ship and the galley had a snack ready for the crew as our lobster was being brought to us by a group of sea  scouts that were coming to see the ship at 7pm. The neighbor of the leader of the sea scouts is a lobster fisherman and gave us a deal on our dinner. We were all excited with anticipation for dinner and we were not disappointed. Easily the best the lobster I have ever had. Cookie  seemed to have enjoyed it more than me, however (Photo Courtesy of Mitch the carpenter) .

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That night I hung around the ship and went to sleep early as I had to rise at 7am, Saturday being my day on watch. I watched Master and Commander again for the first time since coming on board Bounty and enjoyed it much more. I understood the lingo and enjoyed a new layer to the film.

Saturday July 11th

Woke for my day on watch and did boat checks until we started tours. Met some nice people and the day went by fairly uneventfully. In the evening, the whaler’s sailing rig Gabe and others had been working on was finished. We all gathered on deck as it was lowered into the water, waiting to see how long it lasted before the thing went to hell. The consensus was about 45 seconds.

Mitch and Gabe got the sail up and went for it. To the joy and immense surprise of us all she sailed admirably! The boat could not go to weather (up wind) for its life, but down wind or on a reach she was moving at a great clip. Our inflatable recue boat went out to make sure everything ended well and eventually brought them in when the light got too dim.

Greg the mate covered my watch and with a few other of the crew we went over to the maritime museum to listen to some sea shanties being performed. The performers were pretty good, but they played mostly immensely obscure, modern, or un sailing related shanties, so most of us snuck out of the back after an hour or so. I spent the rest of the night doing boat checks and hanging out with my shipmates.

Sunday July 12th

My day off in Maine. Woke up at 7am and couldn’t get back to sleep so I went and checked out the Maine Maritime Museum. The museum and this whole area is known for housing several shipyards since the 1800’s. The museums uses several buildings from an old shipyard and focuses on Maine shipbuilding and maritime activities. They had some incredible exhibits and I had to keep an eye on myself so as not to spend too much of my day off there.

After that I went back to the ship to organize my laundry and do a few little personal chores. Then I went downtown to roam around and again seek out the ever elusive internet connection.

Tomorrow we leave for Halifax at 5am full of passengers.

At Sound and Sea to Maine: Sun Soaked Skin and Rain Soaked Clothes.

Sunday July 5th

We woke at 7am instead of the 8am I was told and so I blindly stumbled my way up to breakfast. We broke down all the touring signs and sea stowed the ship. We quickly got under way and shouted goodbyes to our French comrades as we slid past them and out into the Hudson. Poor winds and so we motored down around the Southern tip of Manhattan and threw up some staysails as we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.

There are more bridges across the East River than I ever thought necessary and we crossed them all on our way to Long Island Sound. As we made it into the Southern reaches of the Sound we got a fair wind and threw up out topsails along with our staysails. What a beautiful day; 10-15 knots of breeze, the water of the sound as calm as bathwater, and a warm sun. During the afternoon we killed the engines and generator for a couple hours and sailed along the Sound in blissful silence, a gentle creak in the rigging.

For work party we continued painting everything red and we had a wonderful watch. Dave the passenger got assigned to our watch and as my shadow. It was great having someone alongside who was ready to work and interested in what we were doing. The man pushed me aside and did the dishes from dinner in the galley, earning him a special place in my heart.

The captain wants to anchor at night during our transit and, like in the film around cape horn, drop the anchor the second the sun drops below the horizon. So we sailed over to our anchorage and anchored by sail, which is quite a big a deal for a square rig ship. We luffed up into the breeze, backed the topsails and began our backwards run all the while bracing the sails to keep ourselves right.

At the dwindling end of our watch we got the call to take up and furl sail. With only two watches on deck it took a while, but I was quite happy to climb aloft and work away with the twilight on the sound. After our watch eventually got off duty, some hour and twenty minutes late, we found a new pile of dishes in the galley. Being from dinner they were rightfully ours to clean and so we began to clean them. However, as some of the other crew figured out what the situation was, they shoed us off to our bunks and took over washing the dishes. I was touched by this camaraderie, shipmates looking out for each other, and most of all after 13+ hours on deck I was damn grateful for my bunk.

Monday July 6th,

Six short hours of sleep later I was awoken for my anchor watch. I sluggishly, and with great effort, got out of bed and on deck. After relieving the previous anchor watch I pulled open my eyes and took a look at my surroundings. In the east the blue outreaches of the rising sun struggled over the horizon and a wistful, nearly full, harvest moon retreated to the mountains in the west. All my tiredness vanished and I grabbed the binoculars and watched the moon recede, reaching a nearly blood red crescendo as it sank behind the hills of Long Island.

At 5am I awoke the next anchor watch and went to rest in my bunk for 45 minutes. As I was one of the two of our watch that awoke for anchor watch I voted the two sleepers to flake anchor chain. So, we weighed anchor and motored off on our way. At 8am we were relieved from our watch I nearly skipped to my bunk. I slept hungrily until noon, ate lunch, and got on deck for the all hands capstan meeting at 12:45. The captain talked for a bit and then suddenly threw an orange overboard for a man overboard drill. Everyone performed well and the orange was saved from its watery grave, only to meet a more terrible fate of the captain’s stomach.

The captain gave the call to set all our sails and so we gratefully sprung aloft. I went straight for the main royal, the highest sail on the ship, and unfurled it alone. At the royal I basked in the sun of yet another beautiful day, took a deep breath, and laughed with pure joy. We got all the sails dropped and sheeted home. A tower of canvas, we were now past Long Island Sound and now in the Atlantic yet again.

We painted red again with what little  work party we had left. We took the deck at 4pm and I greatly enjoyed cruising along the coast off Rhode Island. Around 7pm the captain decided the light was right and one of our crew set out in the inflatable with a passenger who is a professional photographer equipped with every ones’ cameras in a bag. For over an hour this dedicated individual circled the ship and took many incredible photos.

Dave the passenger and I had a great time on the helm for two hours as we neared Buzzard’s Bay and Martha’s Vineyard. After the inflatable came on board we continued on until the sun set, our anchor again splashing into the sea as the sun slipped down. As a treat to the crew (and the weather allowing it) the captain did not make us furl all our sails as tomorrow he plans to have us drop all our sail as we sail past Martha’s Vineyard. Some of the  more foolish members of the crew decided to go for a swim, my watch got relieved and headed straight below for some well deserved sleep.

As I stood at the top of our little wooden city and reveled in my joy, I was struck at how this life is nearly bipolar in nature. Sweat pouring down my face as I scrape, paint, and sand, I will nearly curse my very existence and the next minute I can be on top of the world, wishing to be no where else. I suppose the very hard labor and long hours this job requires help make those incredible moments all the more incredible. All in all, like a lot of things in life, the moments of joy stand out in my mind and wash away the hours of toil.

At the end of the day, when I get in my bunk, just before I pass out, with the whole day’s events swirling in my mind I am extremely grateful to be here and to have this opportunity. If the ship demands my blood and sweat, so be it, it is but a small price to pay for this wondrous experience.

Tuesday July 7th

I awoke at 6am to the boom of our fog horn and came on deck to find low visibility with water dripping from the rigging. As I got the privilege of sleeping in until 6 I got the privilege of flaking anchor chain. We didn’t have much out and it didn’t take long. During our watch the fog started to lift as we passed Martha’s Vineyard somewhere off to starboard.

We came through Buzzard’s Bay and near the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal spotted a pair of schooners rafted together. As we came a little closer everyone got excited as they recognized the pair of French Navy Topsail Schooners we last saw on the North shore of Bermuda. Etoil and Bellepoule came on deck and gave us hearty waves and did the same.

We came into the channel for the Cape Cod Canal and suddenly the land was very close. Fishing boats came over to wave hello and we went into the canal that cut through the west end of Cape Cod. We motored right past people’s backyards and hearing a highway from the fore deck was a real trip. I decided to give up some sleep and stay on deck during our trip through the canal. I enjoyed my mini tour of the Cape Cod Countryside. Once I saw the end of the canal and its bland finish I went down to my bunk and slept until lunch.

Cookie, our crewmate, once former and now part time cook, made quesadillas and Mexican side dishes for lunch. Man do I miss Mexican food! That was my first Mexican food probably since I left California, potentially the longest time in my life I have gone between eating Mexican food.

Came on deck to some rain and got to work wiring shut some shackles on the foremast. I volunteered for the everything on the royal yard, told to do expect to do 2 I did 5. One of which was at the truck (very tip top)of the mast, so I had to stand on top of the royal yard in the wind, rain, and slight swell and do a job that sometimes required two hands. I was of course clipped in, but it tested my nerves.

After the work was done we all went aloft to furl sails and straighten up a few others. The rain started coming down pretty hard and the hands were pretty spread out furling sails, so we were wet and tired when lightning coming on forced us out of the rig. After it passed, and I got on better foul weather gear, we returned to the rig and finished furling sails. By the time we finished furling we were already past our watch.

I did boat checks with our hard working passenger Dave and Dan held the helm so I could shovel my mouth with food. When I was done I came on deck as we passed the Boston lighthouse and I took the helm to our anchorage among the islands southeast of Boston. After we dropped anchor and straightened up the ship we watched the parade of tall ships coming into Boston. I helped finish our watch’s chores and went to my bunk.

Wednesday July 8th

Woke up for anchor watch at 5am and raised anchor around 7am. We motored into Boston harbor proper with a few staysails up and found our way to the pier East of the USS Constitution. The captain brought us in slick as can be and we docked up. I was sad to see to our passengers go, and they had to leave quickly as their was a very upset gentleman on the pier enquiring who gave us permission to dock here.

We got the passengers disembarked and the captain gave us an hour to tour the constitution, be back at 10am he said. The Constitution was built in the early 1800s, saw action in the War of 1812, and is now the oldest warship still in service afloat. We ran over and a guard told us that the ship opened at 10am. We told him our story and he said it was impossible. Naturally, we said we  would like to speak to his superior. Since she is still a commissioned warship, the Navy is in control of her and there is a lot of security. So after the request ran through the chain of command, and some of the crew had given up and gone to the museum, a man came through the gate and asked “was it you guys who wanted a tour?” Our crew came sprinting from the museum and we got a great personal tour of the beautiful ship. A very brief tour and we ran back to the ship and threw off out docklines.

The captain brought her out so nicely from a tough space that I heard several mutterings of astonishment on shore. Quickly we were out in the Atlantic once again. With the weather system coming through there was a mean little sea worked up. In the afternoon during work hours I was sent to the main royal to do some work and boy was I in for it. I took my time getting up as I swayed some 5-8 ft back and forth when we hopped swell. I got part of my work done and began to feel sick. Utterly defeated I came back down to a lower level and continued to work for a while. We worked on a few other projects and our watch took the deck.

During the afternoon we saw a few whales and one that just stayed in one spot bashing its tail, fluking I believe it’s called. Things got very cool at sea and before I went to sleep after my watch I layed out my cold weather gear.

Thursday July 9th

Woke up for watch and put on nearly all my gear I had got with the crossing in mind. I came on deck bundled up and stood my first hour of watch at the helm contemplating how much more cold weather gear I was going to get in Halifax. The sunrise was beautiful with a crimson band across the horizon and the weather beginning to clear.

The captain said the hill we were beginning to see in the distance is the entrance to the river to Bath, Maine. So, being way ahead of schedule, we hove to (a sailing position that keeps the boat still, only being moved by the current) and drifted. I stood watch until 7am and then went and slept until a little after 10am.

I came on deck to see where we were and was struck, jaw dropped and eyes wide, by being surrounded by the beautiful forests of Maine on the Kennebec River. I stayed on the deck until I was officially called on deck just watching the beautiful riverside, forest, and old homes. Our docking went as pretty as can be and we got the ship ready for tours and a coastguard inspection.

A regular passenger named Bill met the boat and lent us his jeep. So, before dinner we started walking to town a couple miles away and Frank the cook came rolling up in the jeep and offered us a ride. This was the first time I had ridden in a car since I left Florida. We did a quick driving tour of downtown Bath and came back to the boat for dinner. After dinner I just laid on deck in the sun, as we were hooked up to shore power we had no generators, just the fountain sound of our A/C units circulating water. I soaked up the sun and listened to the river, the wind in the trees and the chirping of birds.

I shaved to look presentable to civilization and got a ride from Frank to the Irish pub downtown where all the crew was gathering. We had a great night drinking, singing along with the Irish folk singer who knew some sea shanties. I bought a cheap bottle of port at a grocery store and sent it around when we got back to the ship. I think at the end of the night I had about a glass of the bottle before it was passed back with a little sloshing about the bottom.

New York: Working and Wandering in the Big Apple

Thursday June 25th

Our first full day in New York and we start the day with a work party. I was happy to be sent out on the bow sprit with Dan and Gabe to do some repairs rather than work on the passenger cabins like I have been a lot recently. The day went by fairly quickly and we got a few hours off in the afternoon.

I went with some of the crew including our temporary mate for the Bermuda to NY leg Denise, who is a NY native. We went for some Indian desserts and just wandered the nearby area. There were a lot of renovated industrial spaces, but also some very beautiful brick buildings and homes. We wandered all around and walked on what used to be an above ground railroad and is now a little path with wonderful architecture and beautiful plants.

We came back to the ship and found out that the fire boat we are tied to was doing a short evening tour, which meant that we had to vacate and re-tie up when they were done. The evening was beautiful with winds coming from the south, so we slipped our docklines, motored down towards downtown, turned around and threw up some sail!

We had a great time sailing up the Hudson River past all sorts of vessels and crowds. As the sun went down we furled sails and got back to our dock where we slid right up to the fire boat smooth as can be. We only sailed for about a half hour and spent a couple hours getting ready and putting gear away, but it was still a wonderful sail. The bar owner bough us drinks again and I wandered around and chatted with people about where to go on my time off.

     

Friday June 26th

Boat watch today, which means I do extra chores such as clean heads, boat checks, and I cannot leave the boat all day. I’m alright with doing it today since I whacked myself with a crowbar in the knee and I am nursing it for my days off. Work party was fun. Gabe, Dan, and I  are setting up a new forestay for the main topmast. We handled a huge metal cable. Sent it up into the rig and cut it to length. It sounds like a simple job, but I spent a few hours up in the rig today plus all sorts of other work and its still not done.

After dinner I helped the cook carry some big heavy grocery bags from the nearest street. I was really struck by how many people expected us to get out of their way when walking down a narrow shared way path. We were obviously burdened by these big heavy bags and yet people walked right up to us. About one out of ten people moved to the side so we could get by. This occurrence and a few other lead me to believe that this may be a New York trait. Everyone here seems to be in a rush, a very important rush.

Shortly after this a powerful thunderstorm came by. The number 1 dock line split, put the ship askew, and we nearly lost our gangway overboard. It was tether to the ship, but it would have done some damage. So I and the crew who had not yet left the boat got to work getting it on the ship and stowed, while setting up a few new docklines. All the while this storm was pouring down rain and tearing wind punctuated by the crackling of lightning.  Everyone was scrambling to get our docklines resituated and the gangway back on board; it became a very intense situation. Everything went well and I was completely soaked through despite my rain coat.

In dry clothes I continued my watch duties and finally 11:30pm came and I was allowed to go to sleep on the ‘tween deck. During watch we sleep on the tween deck so that we can hear if people come on the ship during the night. This happens surprisingly often. Over 3 times during the night people went under the lines closing off the fire boat and hopped over the sign that says “crew only” blocking off our gangway to come on our boat. Most often I would hear the clack of women’s shoes and lots of drunken giggling.

I cannot for the life of me understand what is going through these people’s heads, other than alcohol, as they board our ship during the night. I came up to catch one group of girls. I told them “that line across the gangway you jumped over that says crew only is there to keep you off the boat”. They all turned to me and incredulously, simultaneously replied “its her birthday”, as though I would put on a cone hat with elastic chin strap, throw up my arms and say “well then!” I chatted with them as I herded the drunken gaggle back toward the gangway, took a picture with them, and got them off the boat. I went  back down to my temporary bed, laid down, gave a sigh of relief and heard a new clack of shoes on deck. Predictably I did not get much sleep that night.

Saturday June 27th

Woke up for work party and found out the fire boat was moving for the rest of our stay so that we could tie up directly to the barge restaurant/bar. They moved out and we briskly got our lines to the barge. The move when quickly and without incident; I was thankful. Today was a tarring day again so up I went in the Bosun’s chair to tar the foremast topgallant backstay, but it didn’t get me in a newspaper this time.

It was a long day at work and I was very happy when it was over and I could take the steel wool to my skin to get the stray tar off. This method sounds harsh but I have found it to be hands down the fastest and easiest way to get the evil goo off. Dinner was great and I ate two full plates.

I gathered with Gabe, Amber, Cassie, and Mitch to make the trek into the city to a Whole Foods, the nearest grocery store. I felt silly, because my first reaction when I walked into the store was “wow look at all that food!”. I’ve been on the boat almost a month and I’m feeling like a refugee. It is absolutely silly. I had fun buying all sorts of snacks for middle of the night watch and sweets. This boat has a serious lack of sweets, so I stocked myself up. I was so excited when I went to the beer section and found one of my favorite California micro brews Racer Five! The beer made a lovely taste of home. I chatted with a tattood employee about beers and bought an Ithica brewing company IPA from Ithica NY. Somewhat strange, but I like it.

That night I went and saw “Year One” the movie, came back, and enjoyed my beer in front of the ship mingling with the bar crowd.

Sunday June 28th

One month on board! Hurrah! I feel a lot less like fresh meat. This also happens to be my first day off since before we left Bermuda. Nearly two weeks of working  8-12 hour days! I woke up early and hit the town. First and foremost I made the trek to Broadway and 18th st to a sporting goods store to buy a carabiner clip that you only need one hand to open, the one I have been using sometimes requires two, which is less than desirable when one is free climbing 80ft above the deck! I decided to pony up and buy a my own harness as well, one that, shall we say, is specifically made for men. All the gear was pricey, but since I will be wearing it 8 hours a day at sea I would say I’ll be happy I did half way across the Atlantic.

Then I went and saw the Gay Pride Parade which I have to say was a lot tamer than the San Francisco version. It was a wonderful event, lots of people were out and it was very friendly and perfectly, what some would call, family friendly. Then I just rambled and roamed my way South. I hit a bunch of neighborhoods including Greenwhich Village, which I have to say so far if I could live anywhere in NY that would be it. The neighborhood felt very home-like and had lots of great restaurants and shops. I had some great sushi for lunch, satisfying a month long craving. Not as good as Barracuda back in SF, but it did the trick.

Then I roamed all over town hitting a bunch of different area including Battery Park, the Stock Exchange, the place where Washington was sworn in (federal building I think), the World Trade Center Site, and many more I can’t name. I had a blast wandering around.

I called Denise, the my temporary mate for the sail from Bermuda and captain of a couple of schooners here in NY. I met her at the South Street Seaport and she was so incredibly nice as to give me tours of the tallships Peking and Wavertree. Peking is a famous ship, over 400 feet long and with four masts she sailed between Europe and South America as one of the very last working sail cargo ships. She rounded Cape Horn, one of the scariest places to sail in the world, something like over 50 times. She is most famous because there was a video taken of her rounding Cape Horn under sail in one humongous, deadly storm. This video is played in many maritime museums and any tall ship sailor who has not seen it is ostracized. I’ve seen it a bunch of times and it was so cool to get a private tour of the very same ship! Denise was so cool as to even let me take home as a memento a beat up old block (pulley). A piece of sailing history!

I took the Subway back to the ship, but only with Denise’s  help. The Subway system here is so confusing and there are no stinking Subway maps anywhere in the station except outside of the turnstiles. SF’s rail system is so much easier to navigate! I got back to the boat, took my first shower for a number of days I am not willing to disclose and just relaxed. What a wonderful day in New York! I covered everything to see and more in the Southern half of Manhattan. My feet hurt like hell, but I have my Ithican beer in hand as I write this and I couldn’t be happier.

Monday June 29th

Woke up for work and had some wonderful French toast for breakfast. There must be a rumor, or something of the like, that I am a glutton for tarring for I was assigned to tar the anchors and anchor plates. This was fine except for the times I was tarring above my head and by lunch time my legs were spotted like a dalmation’s.  I spent a good chunk of time cleaning myself and literally cutting some of the tar out of my hair, adding to the dog simile. I put on long pants and a long shirt despite the heat and gave a little more careful planning to the second anchor. This venture was much more successful than the first.

That evening after work I just hung out around the ship and went to sleep early.

Tuesday June 30th

Work again today. We spent the morning and early afternoon sanding and oiling the topside wood. In the afternoon our 6 month food supply from Sysco came and took  up the entire load of a 25 foot panel truck. We spent the rest of the work day moving pallets the 150 yards to the ship, putting it on deck, and then taking it below to be organized. Man, that was a rough afternoon. At the end of it we got another big thunderstorm, thankfully however we had just gotten the last of our food below.

That night it was my shipmate Dan’s 22nd birthday so the crew dressed up and went out on the town.I had been asking around previously for bars we could walk to and several recommended the Rusty Knot. The bar turned out to be neither close by or very good. Despite being nautical themed to the nines they would give no discount or even a smile to tallship sailors. I don’t believe anyone in that bar but us had ever set foot on anything more interesting than a ferry. We ended up having a great night at a very friendly dive lesbian bar nearby.

Wednesday July 1st

A day off! I got up at 9am and roused my friends who had claimed interest in hitting up the north end of town. We, Amber, Cassie, and I,  hiked a while to what we heard was a great thrift store by Times Square, but when we did find the place it turned out to have a pretty weak selection. Despite this I did find a few good shore shirts and a pair of shorts to replace the silly, puffy white Bermuda shorts I got in, that’s right, Bermuda.

Times Square was very crowded and I was there only long enough to go “yup, that’s Times Square all right”.We decided it was time for lunch and after much debate settled on an all you can eat Indian buffet, which was so good! We then worked out way to and through some of Central Park, which was really quite nice.

We found the Museum of Natural History, which mercifully charged only a donation. That museum is huge! We eventually had to see the place by prioritizing what we wanted to see. The coolest exhibit of all was their dinosaur hall. I have never seen such a a great display or such incredible fossils. Their exhibit on the rise of civilization was not only interesting in the information in relayed, but was also an exhibit on 1920’s scientific thought.

After that we took the subway back to our neighborhood and I got some pizza. To be sure, it was good pizza, but I have certainly have better. We came back to the boat and I got wrangled into going to see the movie about John Dillinger. A good film, although extremely morally one sided. We came back to the boat and I ate my pizza leftovers, which had somehow gotten better during the intervening hours.  I went to bed happily with aching feet and legs from the many miles we had walked, knowing tomorrow I had yet another day off!

Thursday July 2nd

Slept in late, caught the tail end of breakfast, and took a long hot shower. I spent the rest of the day watching a couple movies and reading. Key word: relaxing. I can see how easy it would be to let myself get overtired. Working 8 hour days and going off rambling with the crew in the evenings coupled with wanting to explore on my days off can wear you out without realizing it. So, despite many parts of New York yet  uncovered, I spent the entire day relaxing around the ship. A French ship Bellespoir came in and rafted up to us.

The problem with relaxing around the ship is that you are on the ship, so I got wrangled into helping out the crew on work party a couple times. I was perfectly fine with it, just amused.

Friday July 3rd

Extremely reluctantly I clawed my way out of bed and shoveled food into my mouth. In the middle of breakfast yet another Sysco food order showed up, so off we went carting the boxes from the truck to the ship, on deck, below, and organized things. We have officially taken a 6 month supply of food on board, which is a lot of food.

Spent the rest of my work day sanding and oiling woodwork. My body is standing up to the physical stress of this job very well. I’ve gotten a little more muscle mass and I don’t think I’ve lost much if any weight. I am more tanned than I thought a redhead like me was capable of. I no longer have to sunblock every inch of exposed skin. I will also say that an 8 hour day working on the ship passes a lot faster than any other job I’ve had, barring teaching sailing.

Just when I thought I was tired and sick of being in New York, Spencer, a sailing instructor from the non-profit sailing school next door took me, French sailors, and other people out for an evening sail. The sail was really cool on several levels, but I especially enjoyed sailing on a J24 again, the same boats I taught on for two years. I had a real blast hanging out with everyone and sailing on what I now feel is a small boat.

We had a wonderful breeze and wonderful conditions combine with the wide variety of people on board combine to make a wonderful sail. We cruised up and down the Hudson, did some man overboard drills and shared sailing terms in French and English. After the sail we were all invited to have dinner on the French topsail schooner Bellespoir sidetied to Bounty.

The poor cook was expecting 6 for dinner and ended up with 18. I was there in presence only since I had already eaten dinner and was in no way about to take food from their mouths with my own stomach full. As the sun set our hosts brought out some Cuban cigars they had proudly picked up in the Caribbean and we all chatted on their foredeck. As they are apparently a dry boat we all scampered over to the barge bar and had a few drinks. I had a great time talking with everybody and only reluctantly drug myself to my bunk my I noticed exactly how many hours it was until I had to be on deck again.

Saturday July 4th

Got up for another work party and at breakfast one of the other crew asked me if I was feeling well. I felt fine, but apparently I didn’t look it. Spent the day sanding and painting the red rail around the ship. The process was slow, but that was partly because French sailors and other folks kept stopping to chat. We got let off at 3pm expecting to come  back on duty at 8 for some sort of event on the ship.

As it turned out we had no event on the ship and the owner invited his friends and family to come aboard us for the fireworks. As the evening came on we helped out with the 4th of July Barbeque assembling on deck and watched the tugs position the Macy’s barges full of fireworks. There were six in all and one not over 200 yards directly ahead of us.

I did not even look at the free beer at the barbeque as I had plans of climbing aloft to watch the fireworks from the rigging. I and several other crew had planned on doing this when we heard we were not to be allowed aloft. A few gave up and went for the beer, but I wanted to see what was going on. After talking to the owner and the captain they got together and officially discussed the matter. Finally, they decided that we could go aloft if we were unquestionably fit for it and only just before the fireworks started, when people were distracted.

I spread the word and to the dismay of those who gave up hope we climbed aloft just a minute before the fireworks started. I climbed on top of the fore-royal yard along with a couple other crew. I surveyed the mass of boats anchored on the Hudson to the South of us and back behind me the throngs of people along the water’s edge. We had arguably the best view in all of New York.

The fireworks on all six barges, with illegal fireworks and other cities’ fireworks seen from our vantage point, began in earnest and lasted over half an hour. I have seen nothing like it. All of New York and Jersey lit up the lights of every vessel packed on the water and six fireworks displays blasting away. We gently swayed at the top of the mast and I laughed to myself at the grandiose scene before me. I felt very privileged to be where I was.

At the end of the show I climbed down from the rig, took off my harness, and retrieved a beer I had hidden from roving crew and guests in the depths of my bunk. I think it was the best Coors Light I’ve ever had.

(fireworks photos courtesy of Mitch the carpenter)

At Sea En Route To New York: Slow And Steady Wins The Race, Or At Least Eventually Gets You There.

I got the celebs photo from my crewmate Sarah, so here is some of the crew, the captain, Kathryn Zeta Jones (spelling?), Michael Douglas and family.

 

Monday June 15th

We awoke to find out our ship was arranged to leave earlier than expected so we got to work getting everything put away and lashed down, sea stowed as we call it. The Pilot came on board and after the monstrous Russian ship Kruchenstern got under way a couple of tug boats pulled us right off the dock. We quickly flashed out our staysails and once the got into a fair breeze and out of Hamilton we dropped some squares.

One by one all of the ships got off the dock and began the parade of sail down the North side of Bermuda. What an incredible sight! All those tall ships and schooners, plus small sailboats and pleasure craft; a joyful armada. Boats came by shouting greetings or blaring reggae. From the mizzen topsail yard I watched one big catamaran came in very close and as I said aloud “what is this joker doing” I noticed it was Michael Douglas at the helm with his family giving us a goodbye. When all of the immediate work was done I climbed to the Main Mast Crosstrees and took in the breathtaking view.

At the North East corner of the island we saluted with cannon and parted from the fleet. For this transit our watch has the 12-4 am/pm watched with a short work party from breakfast until lunch. So,I did my best to go to sleep right after dinner. Two of our mates have left the ship for a couple months vacation and so we have two new temporary mates. One of them being the new mate for B watch, my watch.

Tuesday June 16th

I came on deck at midnight for our watch and was greeted by a mostly overcast  black night. So dark were our surroundings that the bioluminescent plankton stood out like little green flickering candles. Every so often the sky would clear a bit and reveal for a moment a shotgun blast of stars.

I was on seasickness medication most of the trip to Bermuda and it was my hope that I had acclimated to being at sea. A heavy confused wind swell we sailed in that night did away with that idea very quickly and I spent a decent part of the night hugging the leeward rail. The way seasickness knocks all of the fight out of me is amazing. I cam on deck loving the scenery and happy as can be, but halfway through the watch I couldn’t focus my eyes and I would have given my right hand to be anywhere but on this ship. I put on a seasickness patch and stuck it out the rest of my watch.  During the last 5 minutes of the watch a storm passed with such heavy rain and wind I could not see the compass to steer by and my face stung from the driving rain. Got rid of my seasickness for a bit. It was fun.

By the morning the medicine had taken effect and I was again on the top of the world. Man, do I hate being seasick. Morning work party went well and during our watch in the afternoon we did man overboard drills and safety talks. As the whole crew stood around the capstan something caught my eye: a sea spout 15-30 miles to our stern. A sea spout is basically a tornado, but at sea. Though we were in no danger at that distance it was a very sobering moment and stories of sea spouts ripping ships to shreds floated to my mind. I think it was the first tornado I’ve ever seen. A reminder of how precarious our little wooden city is I suppose.

That evening I spliced a new lanyard for my harness. Dan taught me the official Bounty way of splicing and it looks strong enough to hold 5 of me.

Wednesday June 17th

Woke early for watch in a dark night with scattered showers. The nights are starting to get cold as we sail north, I’ve busted out my cold foul weather gear. For our morning work party we tuned the rigging, the foremast backstays to be specific. An interesting and yet simple process. Afternoon watch went well and I saw a few Portuguese Man O’ War in the water, so cool! The afternoon saw wonderful weather, but light winds. At the helm I spotted a little sloop rigged sailboat way off to starboard. It is really neat for two sailing vessels to run across each other in the vastness of the North Atlantic. Seeing that boat served to remind me how we really are in the middle of nowhere. We’re on our own and I love it.

(Me in the rig photos courtesy of Sarah)

Thursday June 18th

I have officially been on board for 3 weeks! In some respects it feels as though I have been here for ages and yet as there is so much to learn it still feels as though I just got here. In either case I do feel at home on the ship and with the crew.

Midnight to 4am watch went nicely. We had beautiful weather, the clouds broke a few times revealing the stars. At around 3 am the harvest crescent moon rose and it was hands down the most vibrant red/orange I have ever seen the moon. I absolutely loved watching the moon rise over the horizon contrasted with the scattered deep black rain clouds around it. I wish I had been able to capture and share the image and colors, it was incredible.

I am so excited for New York! We moved from the Bermuda/lots of ocean chart to the East Coast chart today. Captain said we are only 300 miles out. We are averaging a a little under 5 knots, so roughly 60 hours, so only a few more days and I get to sail past the Statue of Liberty!

Afternoon watch was uneventful. We discussed abandon ship scenarios and did a fire drill.

Friday June 19th

Night watch was uneventful. We are sailing on a run with a following swell so the boat is rocking quite a bit. My cabin apparently does not like this swell and is complaining so loudly I had trouble sleeping. In the four hours between the end of the watch and our 8am work party I slept so hard that the watch that was to wake me said I didn’t wake even after they shook me. I suppose with all the cabin groaning and my roommate snoring I must have gone into hibernation. I was very deeply asleep apparently.

Tensioned more stays today and I took a chunk of skin out of my hand and later in the day when we reefed sails for practice it opened up again and I bled all over the main topsail. I suppose I have officially made my mark on the ship! We also did an abandon ship drill and put on our “gumby” survival suits; the drill went well. During the afternoon the captain turned off the navigation equipment and we navigated by dead reckoning, compass, and floating objects down the side of the ship to gauge our speed. It was pretty cool.

Apparently we are farther away from New York than was originally anticipated adding to our slower speeds yesterday we will still be a several more days at sea. Also a rain storm caught up to us and just hovered over us and we saw quite a bit of rain, I rather enjoyed it.

Saturday June 20th

Night watch went well and we got some clear sky to see the stars, and what a view!  I saw a few constellations I know as well as the milky way. To make the night even better for my time on bow watch there was a big thunderstorm off to the east that gave me quite a fireworks show.

Woke up four hours later to a beautiful day at sea. Work party went by quickly and Shane caught a huge Dorado. Afternoon watch went by quickly and easily, especially after the captain told us tomorrow would be a “Sunday”. Although it technically will be Sunday, the term refers to the sailing tradition of the crew getting Sunday off from their normal work. They would attend a church service in the morning and have the rest of the day to mend clothes and relax. “Sundays” were also traditionally coupled with special foods.

This will be our first chance for down time since we left Bermuda on Monday. I am both excited for a a chance for a full nights sleep and time in the evening to do something other than go to sleep! Sarah on my watch has also made some pudding for us to eat on our 12-4 watch tonight, simple things in themselves but at this point our “Sunday” seems like quite a holiday to me.

We have been sailing North Northeast for the last couple days which has us sailing parallel to the coast and a bit away from shore. We were supposed to get a Southwest wind today but it hasn’t materialized. If we do get our wind it will be a straight shot for NY. We had absolutely beautiful conditions today. I have been having a lot of fun doing the dead reckoning and other old school navigating, too.

Sunday June 21st

What a night! I was awaken for my watch and told that it was cool and there was some rain. Man, they were not kidding. We were plowing our way into a huge thunderstorm that lasted 3 and a half hours of our 4 hour watch.  Our radar just showed a blig red blob dead ahead of us. The wind was shifting all sorts of directions and howling one minute only to coyly whisper the next. The rain came in all shapes and sizes and from all directions; while lightning and thunder gave us one hell of a show.

I stood the first turn at the helm. She steered pretty easily for a while, but as the wind began to get unruly the forces of the sails became exaggerated and I had to throw my legs into it to turn her over. When the wind really came on we fell off downwind of our course so a sudden wind shift would not take us aback. We were still only still supposed to be using historical navigation, but we cheated and found our speed at over 9 knots. I could feel the power in the helm, it was pretty incredible.

Sarah’s key lime pudding was ready and during my navigation watch I had a bowl. What a treat to be sailing in a storm, water streaming down my foul weather gear, and walk to the fridge for some pudding! Bow watch was pretty ridiculous as it was so dark I could barely make out the horizon. The bioluminescence was pretty vibrant that night.

During my bow watch the lightning got pretty close. At one point the night was so dark  and a pure white flash of lighting so bright and close that I couldn’t see a damn thing for over a minute. More interesting still was the loud crackling thunder that lasted literally over 10 seconds.

Of course as the next watch came on deck the storm hadn’t passed, it simply dissipated!  The rain had quit and the stars were starting to come out.  When our watch was officially relieved I damn near skipped to my bunk to sleep  for another 7 hours since work party was canceled. I woke up feeling so refreshed and ready for some more sailing!

Afternoon watch went by without much of interest, but we did have some dolphins come and play with us for a while. I came on deck to get my water bottle for dinner and got drafted to work as we were changing up our sails and tack to throw on the motor for the first time this trip. We’ve been just kind of hovering in the same area, not making much ground for NY, and the breeze died down quite a bit, so on goes the motor.

Monday June 22nd

Of course since we put on the motor we got a gale warning and when we came on watch we had the main topsail and the fore course up with wind gusting up to 30 knots at its highest. By no means anything scary, but enough to keep things interesting and everyone on their toes.

The most interesting aspect of the night were the whitecaps. They were glowing white from the bioluminescence. They were so numerous and the sky was so dark that it looked as though the world had flipped and we were sailing upon the stars. It really did. I shared this idea with my watch and they agreed. Minds were blown.

The helm was being a bear to keep on course and I definitely got a workout. When the watch was over we were all cold, covered in salt spray and very ready for sleep.

Work party in the morning went quickly and the afternoon found little change from the night before except that our sails had been struck and we were under motor power. For the last several days we had been hoping for better winds and trying to work out way northwest, but eventually our schedule took precedence and were had to kick on the motors to hold our ground until the weather subsided. I slept poorly that night wit the A/C out on this tack, the rolls, and the cabin creaking. The afternoon watch was a long one and we decided that no one had given Poseidon his drink when we left Bermuda, so I offered up some of my own libations.

Dinner was pretty interesting with the seas we were getting. The ham made a bid for freedom as well as numerous crew dishes. Like a good sailor, however, I kept my elbows on the table and therefore my food on the table rather than in my neighbor’s lap. See Mom, there is a reason I always have my elbows on the table, it just never came in handy until now.

This storm has basically just kept us sitting a few hundred miles out from NY. We’re basically treading water, doing our best not to loose ground. We will get there, slowly, but surely.

 

Tuesday June 23rd

The night watch was much the same as the previous night, stormy and fairly miserable. As always, however, the company on watch helped the time go bye.  As our watch was getting toward its end the breeze was noticeably down and the seas were less confused.

In the morning the weather was definitely calmer and after breakfast I joined some of the crew on watch to enjoy the fresh air. Someone spotted a big sea turtle floating bye, we all looked at him and he stuck his head out of the water and stared right back.

Afternoon watch was great, things have really calmed down and warmed up. Slowly but surely we are getting closer. Despite having the engines on and no sail the captain is still having us use old school navigation. On my dead reckoning plot I was excited to see we were about 70 miles from the mouth of the Hudson River! I was on bow watch near the end of our watch time. Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement and turned to see a whale surface not 30 feet from out bow! We were traveling at over 6 knots and I turned and shouted to the helm, even though there was nothing he could have done. The whale, I’m not sure yet what it was although I am leaning towards a Fin whale, of course avoided us and we watched it spout in the distance as it swam away. I felt lucky to be the only one to see her so close.

I can feel the land looming. Lots of seagulls and other birds now. I think we are all excited for NY. I’ll be keeping my ears open this evening for the cry “Land Ho!”. We will probably get close tonight and anchor or slow down and get there in the morning.

Other exciting news. For the last four days I have been completely free of seasickness medication as well as seasickness. This includes during the weather we experienced, some of that time I spent below doing thing like sanding and painting. I am very excited to be acclimated!

Wednesday June 24th

I was awoken for watch and told that we had sighted land. I came on deck to find the understatement of the the century when I was met with the light filled Jersey shore to port and Brooklyn backlit by Manhattan shining to starboard. The ship was navigating the channel and we were heading for an anchorage just outside of the mouth of the Hudson River called Sandy Hook. We had trouble picking out the channel marker lights from the near christmas display on shore behind them.

We were all very tired from our journey, but everyone was buzzing with excitement. For most of the crew including myself this would be our first time to New York; and what an entrance! We settled up in the hook and dropped our 400 lb anchor and set an anchor watch for the remainder of our watch period. I spent most of that watch just looking out at the city lights. I could definitely make out the Statue of Liberty, bright green, looking like a figurine in the distance. Sleep was sweet.

I was awoken with the phrase “sorry Grant” and was told to dress to get dirty. I wasn’t phased, in fact I had been expecting the unenviable job of crawling in the tiny forepeak and flaking the muddy anchor chain by hand so that it ran free the next time we dropped anchor. Gabe went down with me and I thanked god for being the bigger of the two of us so Gabe had to crawl down low to flake the chain while I guided it down to him. I don’t think it was as bad as everyone made it out to be, but the mud smoked on our hands, which is probably not a good thing.

After we slung our hook (weighed anchor) we motored towards NY. My watch went below to our work party and at noon we were sent on deck. I lucked out at got the first hour at the helm, so I got to take the ship into the Hudson through the narrows and all the way past the statue of liberty. There was a lot of traffic making it a little stressful, but what a way to come to New York!

We motored up the Hudson until we came to our dock at Pier 66, near the Chealsea Piers. We found out we were to side tie to a historic fire boat, built in the 1930’s I believe and but back into service to aid during 9/11. We had a heck of a time with the current, wind, and tight angles, but on our second try we slid right in backwards. After we got settled down the captain stood down the crew and the owner of the very hip bar built on a barge on pier 66 bought the crew a couple rounds. We all went to bed exhausted, but very excited to be in New York. We made it!