“I am continuing …”

San Juan Puerto Rico: Mad Dash for Relaxation

2009-11-24T13:50:00.000-08:00

Wednesday November 11th

Jessie came in the cabin and cryptically said “We’re in Puerto Rico at the dock” and promptly left. I threw on my clothes and sunglasses and went up to the weather deck. Everyone was rushing around apparently having just gotten docklines doubled up, as best as I could tell anyway as I could barely open my eyes. I noticed that everyone else had their crew shirts on so I jumped below and got mine on.

When I came up I helped coil down and then we went aloft to furl the main topsail and the forecourse, the last sails I would furl this voyage. We had plenty of crew working on the furls, so the sail was put away in no time flat. Once the deck was all squared away we were called below to clear ourselves with the customs and immigration folks. After that we had to wait around the ship for several hours until all our paperwork cleared through. Thankfully, as we were now in an American Territory, the ship’s wireless internet card was working so all of us got to check our email and contact friends after 30 days at sea.

Once we were cleared for entry the ship was cleared of crew as we all hit the town. Adam and I went out and wandered old town San Juan. We had lunch near an old city square. We reveled in the many aspects of being back on shore including the fresh food, beer, and especially new faces around us. I had an avocado chicken salad with pico de guyo, oh man was that good!

We wandered over to the old Spanish fort during intermittent thunderstorms. Luck was with us and we got free admission to the fort and had a blast exploring the place. Very beautiful. After the fort we just wandered around the town for a little while and got some ice cream. We got back to the ship earlier than either of us needed to be so we went back out for a stroll and mojitos.

We went back to the ship since Adam had to take over watch and at 7pm I took over the night watch. I had expected a loud party all night on the ship once everyone got back from the bars, but luck was on my side. Well luck and exhaustion; the crew was all partied out and everyone was asleep before 11pm. I spent the night on my laptop and talking to Amelia on the phone.

What a wonderful day on solid ground. Being back on shore I couldn’t really grasp that I had been at sea for 30 days, for an entire month of my life. More so the idea that in 24 hours I would be with my parents at home in California.

Thursday November 12th

Everyone was still in at sea mode so most of the ship was up and ready to go early in the morning. I finished packing my things and cleaning up my space. Frank and Christine’s son Carmen surprised them by showing up in town and is joining the ship for the sun back to Florida. He had rented a car and offered to give me a ride to the airport.

As the time neared for me to leave the ship and people started to head out into town I had many wonderful, heartfelt goodbyes to the men and women I have worked and lived beside since I first set foot on this ship so long ago. When it was time I grabbed my bags and headed out to the car. On deck I shook hands with the captain and walked down the gangway.

I stopped and turned for one last look at my ship rolling ever so gently. With a smile and a deep breath I picked up my bags and headed out on my next adventure.

En Route to the East Coast of the Americas, 2nd Atlantic Crossing: Sun, Puffy Clouds, and Bounding Through the Sea at an Easy Walk.

2009-11-13T22:34:00.001-08:00

Tuesday October 13th

Woke up at 7:30am for an 8am turn to. I was really wishing there were more hours in the night as I had to choose either a good night’s sleep or a good last night in port before crossing an ocean. From the way I looked that morning it was pretty easy to figure out which one I had accomplished. We singled up the docklines, seastowed the ship, and did a number of little other things needed to get ready for the voyage.

Our pilot came on board to talk with the captain and then left to follow behind in his pilot boat. We took docklines and let the wind blow us off the dock, threw the ship in reverse, and headed out of the harbor. All of us were sad to go and I don’t think there was a single person on board who did not mention a desire to return to the Azores.

Shortly after getting under way we set pretty much all the sails and headed southwest. So as soon as sails were set we found out the clocks had been moved back 2 hours and it would be an all day work party. With my watch at the end of work party this meant working 15 hours straight with a lunch break in the middle. There were no immediately necessary repairs.

The entire crew was grumbling an unhappy (I think many had made my same last night in port choice). I really think that if it had not been ridiculously nice weather out that afternoon there would have been open complaint. Another point of frustration was, after lunch when the breeze slackened, we were asked to furl the royals and topgallants, but not enough sailors were devoted to the jobs. So we all struggled and had a rough time with it. Sure enough not 3 hours later I was sent up to unfurl both topgallants. I think I went up and down the rig close to 20 times today, if not more.

We did have absolutely beautiful weather in the afternoon, a lovely sunset, and a dark night with incredible stars.

Wednesday October 14th

Woke up at 3:20am for our 4-8 watch. We were moving fairly slowly, but the sky was dark and we had incredible stars. watch was extremely uneventful. We washed the deck shortly after the sun rose and went to sleep after breakfast.

Woke up at 12 noon for lunch and went on to work party. Mike and I put seizings on the main topgallant mast shrouds. After that I put a new hank on the main topmast staysail. It was beautiful weather and most of us worked shirtless.

We came on watch, swept and mopped the tween deck, then furled the royals. Caleb had me do a sunsight with a sextant and we worked on the calculations. There are so many calculations involved in figuring out your latitude from a sunsight. I have an entire page of numbers and calculations. I was only a few miles off the mate’s calculations which was good. This reminded me how much I love gps.

Sunset was as lovely as ever and gave way to another dark night with beautiful stars. We have been moving very slowly since we left the Azores, but today we picked up a little speed.

Thursday October 15th

Woke up for watch and got boatcheck to begin with. This meant I got all the idle positions so it was a nice and easy watch. I slept a bit, read some of The Hobbit and enjoyed my time on bow watch under the stars. After watch I ate some breakfast and went to sleep until lunch.

For work party we sanded and oiled all the brightwork and I worked on the stern gratings, just as I had done in New York which was the last time they were done over. I worked barefoot and shirtless under the intermittent sun with my big floppy hat. We worked until watch and had much of a repeat of the previous day.

We swept and mopped, I furled the fore royal, and Caleb had me do another sun sight. I was again fairly close to our estimated position. I think it will take many more sights before I can do all calculations and look up the information on my own, as well as fully understand it all. We had dinner and Christine was kind enough to take the helm so I could eat below.

We had yet another beautiful sunset and dark night for the stars to come out. As I went on bow watch to relieve Jim he said something about how he always watched the water for people over board or liferafts and such. I commented that lost at sea would be a hell of a way to go. He replied that while sailing on a ship they found a survival suit floating in the water and when they pulled it out they found bones inside. Someone had been lost and drifted for a long while. They never figured out where the body came from. I said that must have been very sobering and he agreed. Then I laughed and said "way to be a downer Jim”, he laughed, but then very grimly said “yeah, but it is a real danger”.

He left me with that story in the dark calm night. Yes there is always the constant danger for all of us to end up an unnamed pile of bones in a survival suit coffin, but I feel only a little more than driving a Los Angeles highway. Besides, it was too beautiful a night under the milky way on the bow of a tall ship with sails set to brood on the fragility of our positions. I quickly put my mind back into the stars and inky clouds. I think that chilling story will always stick with me.

Watch ended shortly thereafter and I lingered a few minutes on deck to watch for another shooting star and went below to sleep.

Friday October 16th

Got woken up for watch and dragged myself out of my bunk. Tonight is warmer than any we have had since Bermuda and I spent most of the watch in my t-shirt; I even did deckwash in bare feet. I read a bunch and as we had Sam for our mate this watch we played with the sails a lot.

On bow watch the sun began to rise and did something I have never seen in my entire life. A ray of pink/purple light shot up from behind the clouds and horizon. Bright and narrow at first it spread and faded. I had just gone below for my camera a few minutes before so I was lucky enough to take a photo and have the ship be still enough for it to come out. I think it will look like lens flare and do the moment no justice, but I hope those who see it can get a sense of the brilliance of the scene.

As the day wore on some dolphins came to visit and the water was so still and clear we could seem them perfectly well. They were beautiful spotted dolphins and small stripped fish swam around the hull.

Frank made an incredible breakfast and I got ready for a very warm day. It feels like summer! I took a noon sight at local apparent noon and we had a man overboard drill at capstan. Now that we are using a floating head for a man overboard dummy instead of oranges we have a 100% success rate.

For work party my watch sanded and oiled wood on the foredeck and for since we were motoring with no wind we were allowed to play music so we listened to reggae in the sun as we worked. We passed a floating bottle with a cork in it, but did not stop to pick it up, I was disappointed.

We started our watch amid rumors of a swim call. Just we were finishing some of our chores we head the engine die and the call. So we got on swimsuits and over the side we went. We haven’t had a swim call since on the way to Bermuda and that was our only swim call. This was cooler, but just as incredible. Crystal clear water with a deep blue endless bottom. There was a 3-4 ft swell running and it made swimming and getting on board the ship a little more fun. Some of the crew swam under the boat so I decided to give it a try.

Floating in the water I calmed myself and slowed down my heart rate. I took two deep breaths and down I went. My eyes were open and I could see extremely well. Down down I went under our 14ft draft and a foot under our long dark keel. About when I got to the keel I was running short of breath, but that is the halfway mark so on I pushed toward the light until I popped out of the water and took several deep breaths 30 ft away from where I went under. That was fun.

We got back on deck and got the ship under way again. We had a nice sunset, but by far more incredible stars. The water was so still we could see many of the lower and brighter ones reflecting off the water. In such a dark night we also had bright phosphorescence making for quite a light show where ever you looked. A huge squal lingered in the distance, but it and us seemed to travel at the same speed so we had a pleasant night.

Saturday October 17th

Woke up for watch and had to drag myself out of bed and force my eyes open. We came on deck to a little chilliness and beautiful stars. We did a deck wash and the watch went by quite uneventfully; quite slowly as well. As the sun rose things began to warm up and I knew it would be another warm day. The most incredible sunrise of yesterday decided to outdo itself this morning with several shaft of purple light amid the rising sun.

Sleep, lunch, work party. Mike and I tensioned some stays on the headrig and Scottie brought out popsicles so I lounged in the headrig stays, the crew thought it was funny and Dan went to get the captain. The captain has been getting into his photography lately and at capstan said he was going to do a photo journal of crew tattoos. So he came up and took a picture of my tattoo as I lay in in the headrig. We had a nice time working and then went on watch.

We will start now at night instead of having an idle rotation on the watch, one person a night getting stood down for watch. My first night will be on Monday. I am really glad at just getting 4 hours a week more to myself, which will double my spare time in a week. Watch went well and uneventfully. I ate dinner on the bow watching the sun set.

Sunday October 18th

Woken for watch, tired. During the night a breeze sprung up from the Northeast and we are under sail for the first time in 3 days. Also, going faster under sail than we have been since before the Azores. We are working our way Southwest towards the trade winds. May we reach them quickly.

Unfurled the main royal, did a deck wash, did wakeups, and helped Freya pump the bilges. Should be another nice day. Yesterday I got an email from Amelia saying that Pride of Baltimore II, the topsail schooner she sails, won first over the line for the Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. I told Bounty crew at capstan yesterday and everyone thought it was cool. I am excited for her, that is pretty cool and it sounded like a pretty intense race.

Went to sleep until lunch. Today is a Ship’s Sunday as well as an actual Sunday. So we dog the watches and no one has work party. I had projects in mind, but I find myself tired and wish only to watch a movie and relax. So that is what I did until our dog watch from 4-6pm. I went to sleep after that until midnight for our new 12-4 watch.

Monday October 19th

It was a lovely warm night with many stars and shooting stars as well. Sam was our mate tonight so of course it was a busy watch. He has settled down some, but he still insists on doing work that could be done during daylight. So, we braced the ship, which needed to be done. Amber and I were sent out on the headrig to furl all the headsails, which did not need to be done. So, in the darkness we climbed out on the bow sprit and gasketed all 3 sails.

The rest of watch went fairly normally. I got hungry and ate a big piece of my Azorean cheese, man was it good. After watch I went to my bunk and slept like a rock until 8am when I was awoken for breakfast and work party. Cookie is working the galley and made some incredible breakfast burritos.

Work party found Mike and I tensioning the headrig again. I was not happy for this though it is nice enough work. I woke up this morning to find my knuckle looking better than it has since the whole swelling with blood thing. Then of course, despite the splint I have been wearing for a week, I hit it on things and it was nice and puffy again. Still, we got the work done and seizings put on the line. During that work I saw a big school of flying-fish, the first I have seen since our transit to New York. Flying-fish mean Dorado, which means good eating. The fishing lines are out, but nothing yet.

An excellent lunch and then to watch from 12-4. We did dishes until the capstan meeting where the captain was up to mischief. Gabe was in a swimsuit and I knew what was afoot. We lowered the inflatable boat and got it going and over the side went Gabe. “Man overboard!!” went the cry and alarm. Everyone jumped to their positions working the ship or watching the MOB.

Over the swell went Gabe bobbing up and down as the ship sailed on. He blew his whistle and we watched him disappear and reappear as he went up and down in the swell. Dan in the inflatable stayed near him, but I had a strong dislike of the whole thing. Of course it was good to see what a person in the water looks like and to strike home how easily they could be lost, but it seemed an unnecessary risk to me.

We hove to’ the ship and kept our eyes peeled at Gabe now about a mile from the ship. We would lose sight of him in the whitecaps and swell only to see his blonde head a moment later. Dan was called to bring him back, which was done without a hitch. The captain discussed the maneuver and gave his critiques.

We fired off a few expired flares and a smoke canister and the captain discussed them a little more. After that we played with the ship again to get her on the best trim for our new course of West by South. Finally some more definite Westward motion. Home!

After that I stood the helm for an hour in a good steady breeze with our speed averaging about 5-6 knots. In the distance at one point a splash among whitecaps caught my eye and, though I could not discern the predator that made them, it was evident from the violence of the spray and its frequency there was one hell of a hunt going on about a mile from the ship to starboard. There was quite a show and we all had a dream of whatever tasty fish it was on our galley table.

After watch I was in high spirits as tonight is my night off our night 12-4 watch. I go 16 hours without having to work and I am so excited! A full night’s sleep plus some time to myself. I never thought such a meager thing as 4 extra hours off could be such a momentous event.

Tuesday October 20th

Oh how good it felt to sleep until I could sleep no more! I think I got close to 11 hours. I had a leisurely breakfast and read a book until my morning work party. Mike and I got sent to replace the halyard block on the head of the inner jib. I went out on the headrig and did the work replacing the block as well as the downhaul block while I was out there. I enjoyed the sun and the slow up and down roll as I say 60ft above the rushing water.

After a few little jobs and lunch we came on watch. The captain seems to have a pattern of deciding its time to play with the boat during work party when my A watch has the boat during afternoon work party. So on top of our morning work party we had to do maneuvers with the ship. We braced on a sharp tack and the mates discussed how to better stretch out our too large mainsail. in the end after a bunch of work it was decided that we were currently doing it the best way.

The rest of watch went easily enough, we did our chores and I got some time to read a book on deck. Which of course was a bad idea since those on work party kept asking me to help them and run to get things. After watch was over I kicked back a bit until dinner. After that I hung out for a bit and then went to sleep.

Wednesday October 21st

Woke up for watch shortly before midnight and had a decent watch. Beautiful stars seem to have become the norm, though tonight was cooler than usual and I had to put on a coat over my sandals and shorts. The breeze has lightened up again and we have all the squares set, except the royals which are never flown at night. Not much to say about it other than it passed. Went back to sleep until breakfast and work party.

Mike and I got sent to the tune the mizzen shrouds so we set up the some-alongs, cut the old seizings, greased the deadeyes with only enough time left to take up a couple times. I asked Dan to stop assigning me knuckle busting work for a while so that my knuckle can properly heal. I spoke to him a couple times about it and he kept assigning me rig tuning which is about the worst thing I could think of for my knuckle. So, today I told him to stop assigning me knuckle buster projects in a half serious tone and I think he got the message.

We ate lunch and then went on watch. My theory is holding true about the captain playing with the ship when we have her during the afternoon work party. Today we braced the ship to various points to see if we could learn anything about how fast she went on the various sail trims. It seems we didn’t really learn anything.

We stood watch after that whole bit and it went by quickly in the nice afternoon sun. As we got off watch we stayed on deck and helped heave the ship to. Once we were hove-to a swim call was issued and we went for a swim. I got up the nerve and jumped off the tip of the jibboom, the most forward point of the ship which is as high as the lowest yard.

I held onto the flying jib stay with my feet on the very tip of the jibboom. On the up roll of a swell I hopped off and free fell for seemed to be a while until I hit the water with a good force. I don’t think it was any higher as the diving platforms I used to jump off, but they weren’t in the middle of the Atlantic. I swam around a bit more, got stung by some little jellyfish and took a nice freshwater shower. I ate dinner on deck and watched the sun set in all its golden glory. This restaurant may not have my favorite menu all the time, but it has got one hell of a view.

Thursday October 22nd

Woke up for night watch feeling quite tired. Came on deck to find that a buntline (line used for striking a sail) for the main topgallant and come loose dropping to the deck. The previous watch had coiled it and left it there to be fixed in the morning. Sam was our mate tonight so I had the feeling I would be sent up to fix it. Sure enough he asked me to do just that.

I asked why it could not be done in the daylight, as the previous watch had intended. I told him, though we are in very calm conditions and I had no problem doing the work, going aloft and tying things with both hands on a dark night like this should be avoided if there is not reason to get it done this second. He countered that if a squall came upon us and that sail could not struck it could get dangerous.

I relented, making sure someone was below with a strobe light and life ring. Aloft I went leading the line through its various fair-leads and around shrouds. The only light I had to work with was starlight, so I tied the knot mostly by feel. I lingered for a moment on the crosstrees and watch the stars, I don’t think I will ever tire of seeing stars like these. The rest of the watch went quickly and uneventfully.

I stayed in bed during work party fighting the same sinus infection I’ve always been fighting. At the capstan meeting the Captain went on a very long lesson about how to sharpen and keep wood chisels. I was a combination of amused and bored by the whole thing, but I suppose I know a lot more about chisels now. The weather is quite mild and warm, puffy cumulous clouds as far as the eye can see.

I went to sleep early and asked Frank to keep a plate for me in the fridge.

Friday October 23rd

Woke up for watch feeling a bit better and found the square sails struck and the fore and aft sails drawing. The wind had veered and we had one engine and the triangular sails keeping us going, slowly. The helm was not liking this setup at all and she was all over the place. I got my exercise for the night hauling the wheel back and forth. While I was on the helm the wind veered even more and I told Caleb we were getting headed, so we altered course a bit more west.

During the watch I saw more shooting stars than I have ever seen in one night, it was incredible. About every minute or two I would catch one out of the corner of my eye. For a while I just stared around the constellation of Orion and saw several. It was a lovely night.

Slept through work party again just to make sure I rest enough to beat this thing back down. The afternoon watch was pretty uninteresting. With both engines, the watermaker, and a generator going at once the engine room was like a dry sauna. I was drenched in sweat by the time I was done pumping the bilges. Slept until my night watch.

Saturday October 24th

Woke up feeling much better than I have in a while. For work party we began with setting all the sails as the wind had come fair again, though light. I replaced a halyard block I had recently replaced that had split its cheeks, whipped the end of that halyard, and then helped mike sand and oil the jibboom. Today is a very warm day and I soaked my shirt with ice water a couple times; I am so glad to be back in the heat.

For out capstan meeting we certainly did not live fire a cannon with a ball made of cement. If we had we would not have really seen where the ball landed, though I might have seen a splash in the water a couple hundred yards out. Our afternoon watch was fairly normal and some high cloud cover cooled things down nicely.

I have the night off in our new rotating time off schedule and that coupled with a Ship’s Sunday tomorrow makes this a really great night, almost 20 hours off in a row. I watched a couple movies and hung out with my pals; even got a full night’s sleep.

At about 7 in the evening we crossed the tropic of Cancer, certainly the farthest South I have ever been let alone sailed. We expect to be hitting the trade winds soon, though they seem to be at a very low latitude this year. We hope to be making our westward turn in the next couple days.

We still don’t know where we are going. Our office can’t seem to find a dock in Puerto Rico and no one knows where Bounty’s winter home in Florida will be. So, it seems will just be sailing generally west for a while until someone actually gets our schedule hammered out.

Sunday October 25th

Slept a full night and woke up just in time for breakfast. I did a few little things I had been meaning to do and then decided to make a hammock. We had some leftover scraps from the man netting we put up and I got my hands on a length just about the right size. For about a month it had been sitting next to my bunk.

I got a couple scrap pieces of wood from Bosun’s and with Zach’s helped rigged the thing up and cut off the scraps in about an hour. We hung it off the spanker boom and now on my idles or a nice afternoon I can rig up my hammock, read a book, and enjoy a breeze.

Christine suggested we should sail to the equator, which is a right of passage for sailors giving us the title of “shellback”. She had emailed Margaret to ask if we could dip down and hit the equator simply to have crossed it and earned this title. The crew was not having it. Several people said the same thing, including myself. The equator would be 1200 out of our way and most importantly would require us to pass through the doldrums. There was almost an anger in the opposition to the idea.

I think it is a good indicator of how ready this crew is to get home. We’ve sailed over 10,000 miles and been working hard for over 5 months. Everyone is in good spirits and working as usual, but I sense that people are feeling a bit trapped, ready for a change and for the old familiar things in life. We all love sailing this ship, but I think we are all ready for this journey to end.

We stood our last 12-4 watch for the week, which was uneventful. After watch I watched a movie with some of the crew and then had dinner. Today is the Captain’s Birthday so cookies, cupcakes, and cake was made and after dinner we all gathered at the capstan. Rebecca sounded the general alarm and we waited in anticipation, and waited, and waited.

The captain came up a minute and a half later laughing. He had thought it was the high water alarm in the engine room and, thinking the crew was ignoring it, waited for a bit then went to the engine room to try to figure it out. He though it was funny and we handed him a card that had been secretly passed around. We were glad to see he enjoyed it.

I took a brief nap before watch and then went on deck for our new 8-12 watch. The sun had set some hours ago and a waxing gibbous moon was high in the sky. The weather was wonderful in shorts and a shirt. The wind died during our watch and so the sails were struck and we kicked on the iron sail. Several people lounged on deck and the watch passed fairly quickly in conversation.

Monday October 26th

Woke up for watch tired from the new sleep schedule my body needs to adjust to. Another beautiful day, a few little rain clouds passed over us and cooled us down. We are still heading Southwest, the trades must be low low low this year. The winds are light and are expected to stay light.

The breeze was up a little from nothing when we came on deck. The topsails had been set and we went up to unfurl the rest. Caleb went to the daily mate’s meeting and so I got the rest of the watch to set all the remaining sails. I took it upon myself to lead my watchmates and call out the commands to set the sail. I’m not sure if they resented it, but they did as I asked with a smile. I felt very good that I was confident enough in my abilities to lead them and that they are confident enough in my abilities to let me lead them.

Morning work party came on deck and began the task I heard discussed for several days: putting up, shall we say, creative sail. With such light winds, predicted light winds, and well over a thousand miles to go, the decision was made to set up extra sail. A Jacksail, a course sail for the mizzen crojack yard was made from an old spare mainsail and work began on a couple bonnets (an extra length of sail attached to the bottom of the course sails, also called a decksweeper). They look funny and will have to be taken down at night in case of squalls, but they add a couple miles more a day.

Afternoon work party consisted of Gabe and I making eye splices in a length of line and releading the blocks on the mainmast for the foreroyal braces, did some serving, and another little project. It drove me nuts as I was done 5 minutes before the end of work party, but instead of just being done 5 minutes early I was sent on another project and finished late. It is not as though we have a time crunch here, there will be many many more days for projects. All this tells me is to work more slowly until work is over or I will lose some of what little free time I have.

Had a nice nap after dinner until watch I came on watch. The day was not that hot, but the night was nicely warm and I went the whole watch without wearing a shirt. It reminded me of those lovely summer nights in Fresno. Everyone was in a good mood and watch went by uneventfully and quickly.

Tuesday October 27th

Woke up for watch playfully flirting with the idea of going back to sleep and making them wake me a second time. I got up. The breeze is still light, but are heading mostly west with only a little southing, which is a definite positive. Did breakfast dishes and cleaned the heads, the chores for our watch. I finished Hemmingway’s A Farewell to Arms and found it as depressing as I had expected.

The morning work party used the spars from Gabe’s Whaler sail rig to make a stuttingsail (commonly called a stuns’l) for the foretopsail. They are old tree branches and the only spars big enough we had on board (cough, my idea, cough), an old sail awning was used for the sail. The sail set well and is hilariously awesome being undersized and having obviously tree limb spars.

For lunch Cookie honored my request for his calzones and added the Azorian cheese Doug bought for the ship. Best lunch ever! For work party I had to change the ends of the sheets on the fore course and replace the sheet blocks. This turned out to be quite a project as all the gear blocks were shackled to the sheet block’s shackle. So, all the gear had to be secured and dealt with which I was hanging by my harness swinging under the course yard. On a warm afternoon working hard while swinging wildly in the 10ft+ swell we’ve been getting I was having less than a wonderful time. To add the fun my partner assigned to the task was “not comfortable” with doing the work so she was my incessantly asking questions assistant. By the end of the project and the end of work party I began to feel seasick from all the rolling.

I have officially, temporarily, run out of patience with some of the less pleasant members of the crew. I always try my best to be amiable and friendly with everyone, there is simply no other way to be when living, working, and playing with the same folk 24/7. I find myself lately having trouble letting things slide I usually shed like duck on a water’s back. Fatigue, frustration with the pace of our journey, and over 5 months in a rigid hierarchy of authority that purposefully keeps the crew uninformed. I suppose I just need to keep positive, take the joy I can from each day, and try not to think too hard about the wonderful things that lay on the other side of this ocean.

I ate dinner and slept until watch. I was woken up with the warning of a possible squall. I came on deck to a freshening breeze and the first peppering of raindrops. They were’nt kidding. I got on my warm weather foul weather jacket and my southwester cap (I love that thing). A nice little squall came through spitting rain and a lovely breeze. We went from our usual 2-3 knots to 6 for nearly a half hour, I laughed that 6 knots feels fast nowadays.

Sam was our mate and I chatted with him about sailing California and San Francisco Bay. I had a good time reminiscing about home. We had another little squall come through and everyone was happy to get any extra breeze. Our stuns’l, for some reason not struck at dark like the royals, held up surprisingly and admirably in the extra breeze. The rest of watch went uneventfully and quickly. Sleep was good.

Wednesday October 28th,

Gabe woke me up for watch and when I opened my eyes he was close to my bunk and I could tell his eyes were not yet used to the dark. I waited a moment, he leaned closer to me saying my name louder thinking I was not yet awake. I lunged towards him suddenly and shouted. I have to keep myself amused somehow.

A little overcast and so a bit cooler today. Went on watch which was about as uneventful as it gets. Lunch and then afternoon work party. I made a new copper sheathing for the portside of the fore topsail sheet. I actually enjoyed this little project. I went up and made a paper mock up of what I needed and then cut and worked a sheet of copper to what I wanted. Then I put it in place and rehammered all the other copper up there to run better. Relaxed before dinner and then slept until watch.

Night watch was pretty uneventful as well. A squall had just passed us and we had a good breeze from it, then, as what always happens after a squall passes, the breeze died and we kicked on the engines after a little while. Usually it picks back up, but this time it decided to clock around to our nose and back everything. So, with 10 minutes until we got off the decision was made to strike sail. Which was everything but the royals, including our new stuns’l and jacks’l.

The stuns’l caught up on its boom and had to physically untangled. The port fore topgallant sheet would not strike and so I went aloft to find a foul lead while overhauling the sheet. Then we stayed on to get the light wind sails below and coil down. Our watch lost an hour of sleep. Well, it happens. Sleep was easy and deep.

Thursday October 29th

Morning watch, woke up easier than I expected. We are under motor, a light breeze running and so we set topsails and courses. The breeze promptly died. Another beautiful sunny day however. Rumors of a possible system coming in and giving us breeze sometime in the next 3 days. We’re all keeping our fingers crossed. Watch went by slowly and without incident.

Lunch and we certainly didn’t take advantage of the extremely calm day to fire a live cannon again. We didn’t see it explode into the water over a half mile from the ship. It wasn’t really cool, either. For work party I shortened the parrobead beands (which hold the yard to the mast when raising and lowering sail) on the main topgallant and royal. It took the whole time and man was it hot in the virtually nonexistant breeze and fiery sun.

The night off fell to me again so I read a bit, watched a movie, listened to music, but mostly went to sleep early and recharged batteries.

Friday October 30th.

Woke feeling refreshed and went on watch. The engine, which have been running over 24hrs, was cut and we were going less than 1.5 knots. So on the engines went again. After chores I did a sun sight with a sextant and somehow botched it, so on my next idle I shot another and didn’t mess it up. Towards the end of our watch we got a bit of a breeze so we set all of our squares and killed the engine. Today is our warmest day yet and I am sure I smell ripe, ah living on a ship.

There is rumor of a chance of a real breeze in the next couple days. We are all hoping hard for it. For work party I changed out a few blocks and then helped tune the main shrouds. Dinner. Slept until night watch.

A beautiful night with a bright nearly full moon. A little breeze, sailing at 3-4 knots. On the bow I saw, despite the bright moon, a shooting star become a fireball and disappear. It lasted long enough I pointed it out to the people on the bow with me and we all saw it burst into a bright ball of fire. We are getting close to a big meteor shower so I can’t wait until the moon is gone.

The rest of watch went pretty ordinarily.

Saturday October 31st

Happy Halloween! I am sad to miss this one out as the captain does not believe in Halloween and so the ship is not really celebrating the holiday. We work the same as always; really we can’t spare one afternoon work party? So only a couple of the crew dressed up, its just another day at sea.

Came on deck for watch to find us sailing along at 4 knots and the breeze strengthened throughout the watch until by 11:00am we were sailing at 6 knots! Finally some real breeze! This is the fastest we have gone since I think before the Azores.

Caleb caught a little Jack Tuna that had been hanging around the ship for a day and now there is a whole little school of tuna playing in our bow wave. Sushi tonight.

When I got off my helm rotation I was given the crew manual and told to reread it. Ominous to say the least. I didn’t think things were going badly, but I cannot think of a positive reason for a mandatory rereading of the crew manual. The thing is outdated and silly. It says smoking is allowed on deck and the crew tips get given to the crew: neither of these happen. I write this on my break after lunch and I feel a long lecture coming at the capstan meeting. I can count the times the captain has given positive reinforcement on one hand.

Judging by our course and destination we are heading for Miami to clear into the country and then to West Palm Beach. As always with sailing, we have no idea when we are getting there. I am definitely worried we will not get back in time for me to get home for Thanksgiving. On the upside, with the start of November things now feel like more of a countdown. The light is visible at the end of the tunnel, even if I can’t tell how far it is.

This is certainly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Sleep is a luxury, I work over 12 hour days 6 days a week at sea and the seventh is an 8+ hour day. Rarely an unbroken night’s sleep. Hard manual labor. Most of all I think I have found the hierarchical command structure the most difficult to bear. I have always knows I’m not a fan of authority, but this has been rough.

I have had and continue to have some of the most wonderful and incredible experiences of life, experiences that challenge every aspect of my being. I know I will forever look back in longing on these times and kiss the land in utter joy when I am free.

Well I was wrong, apparently some of the crew never read the crew manual, so all of us are reading it. The weird vibe I was getting was that we are changing the way we rotate mates, in that we are now rotating mates. Instead of Caleb being A watch’s mate and Sam relieves him every 3rd night, we just have the 4 mates and we rotate down the line for every watch. So I will rotate through every mate. The point of this is to help standardize the watches and we benefit from each mate’s strengths. I’m not sure how it will turn out for us deckhands, but it will be an interesting change at least.

For work party I stowed our light wind sails and helped tune the rig some more. When I was getting a comealong set up on the inner foretopmast backstay I heard a pop and a loud crash. I jumped up to see what was the matter and heard cries of “Is everyone ok?” For tensioning some of the stays we have been trying using two handy billies (block and tackle set) and a big metal hook unbent itself sending the block rocketing to deck with an incredible force.

Everyone was alright, a narrow miss, but a miss. Huge divets and a split deck plank remain in testament of the skull crushing force unleashed. We’re a lucky ship.

The school of tuna grew and grew during the day. As Freya and I tensioned fore stays on the headrig we could see some thirty of them swarming out bow wave. So cool.

Night watch was very social for some reason and I spent a lot of time chatting and hanging out while I did my watch work. A nice lukewarm night, overcast, but still blowing decently. Finally we are making some ground.

Sunday November 1st

Woke for watch to a stormy looking day. Good breeze. About 45 minutes into watch I was sitting on the nav shack reading a book. A puff of breeze came by and I set down my book to look up and see what was going on. My shirt next to me starts to blow away and the pages of the book sputter past. Squall.

Caleb called to strike the flying jib and I shouted below to get my watchmates up. Then it really hit, tearing through at gale force. Forget the headrig, we got the call to strike the royals and topgallants. The ship is steering wildly and I can see Jim throwing the helm back and forth. The sails are trimmed properly, but are shivering and luffing from the sheer force of the breeze. Raw natural power surging everywhere, ready to tear and render. The ship gets a good blow a bit off course and lays over, the water a few feet from the deck.

That big roll is a call to the crew off watch and below decks. Here they come knowing something is up or at least curious what’s going on. We are trying to strike the sails and I have the starboard clew for the fore topgallant. I am laying on the deck partly because of the heavy rolls and partly to brace my foot on the pinrail. Everyone is busy and there is no one to help me sweat the line. I put my back, arms, legs, and every other muscle I’ve got and clewed up the sail.

I am sweating from effort and my adrenaline is pumping well, the luffing of sails, howling wind, and sailors howling to heard over the wind adding to the intensity of the situation. Orders are shouted and echoed. I lay in with my shipmates hauling gear and we finally get everything struck.

“Hands aloft to furl!” I am sent to the mizzen topsail, with our weak mizzen mast it must be put away quickly. We climb the windward mizzen shrouds easily as the ship is still heeled over nicely. After 5 months sailing together everyone knows what needs to happen and that bastard of an awkward sail is furled in no time flat.

As we are finishing that sail the breeze begins to slacken and a cold rain blows down upon the ship. We get to deck, look aloft and see where we are needed. Most of us run aloft to the fore topgallant. By the time we get up there the squall has mostly passed and the breeze, though still strong, is no longer anything of concern. We all laugh that when we get to deck we will have to come back up and set it.

On deck everyone is coiling down and everyone is in a good mood with the thrill of the squall and satisfaction with our work. Caleb has Freya and I strike the flying jib finally and we run out to furl it. The rest of watch is fairly uneventful, though near the end the breeze strengthens nicely and we tear along near 7 knots. We strike and furl the rest of the headsails. Hell I furled that entire headrig.

Fear, danger, apprehension, adrenaline, thrill of a challenge, confidence in your own strength and abilities. A strange calm in the chaos of the moment and pumping emotions. Feeling…alive.

I wonder if this journal may give its readers a more dreary sense of my experience than is just. I think it is too easy, too convenient to bitch and complain in text while let the glowing moments of wonder pass unchronicled. Experiences such as this one make up for all the biting little things.

After watch it is lunch and then a ship’s Sunday afternoon without work party. During the afternoon I just kicked back and relaxed bit. Dinner and then my watch stood the 6-8pm dog watch, which was actually 3 hours as we set back the clock an hour. Sleep.

Monday November 2nd

Woke up at 3:20 am for our new 4-8 watch. Man was I tired when I got up. Adam was our mate for this watch, the first time I have ever stood a watch under Adam. It was a great watch. Since I am friends with Adam we just hung out while we worked, plus I think he is a good mate.

We passed a vessel, a 100 meter freighter, the first people we have seen for over a week and a half. They came right close to us, within a couple of miles, pounding against the wind and swell. We didn’t make any contact with them, but it was nice to see someone else out there, to know the world is still spinning.

We are making 6-7 knots heading dead down wind with main topsail, main topgallant, main royal and fore course. Since we are dead down wind and a swell has developed we are rolling quite heavily. We are all ok with it if it means this breeze will continue.

I spoke to the captain this morning about our schedule. I asked him if we had any idea if we were heading for Puerto Rico or straight on to Miami. Of course this depends on the wind and he said as much, but mostly I just wanted to explain to him my situation. Wanting to make it home for thanksgiving, want to get home sooner than later because I will be moving across the country and trying to make sure I get the job I have mostly lined up. I was basically explaining to him my situation and trying to find out if we stopped in Puerto Rico and I left the ship there would I be putting the ship in a tight spot or burning a bridge. I got the answer I expected, it would be fine, I am expendable. I’m ok with that. I love sailing, but the rest of the world is calling me.

We furled the main course and the foretopsail which had been put in its gear. Then I ate breakfast and went to sleep until lunch. At capstan the captain abolished our rotating nights off, for unsatisfactory reasons, a real bummer. We did a furling class, which was kinda silly given we are past halfway on the homeward bound transit. For work party I slushed (using edible beef fat for grease) the fore mast. Despite the unpleasantness of having one hand covered in grease climbing shrouds in a rolling sea, I was happy to do it, the rig needed it.

Evening watch went as smooth as can be, I struck and furled the royal. We had nice weather for the evening. The wind has gone down some, but we are making good ground still.

Tuesday November 3rd

Woke up for morning watch. I am still not yet adjusted to the 4-8 time schedule. I keep waking up hungry and excited for breakfast until I remember what time it is. I do love this watch for the amount of sleep I can get. The night was a little cool, but quickly warmed up once the sun rose. I unfurled and set the royal, we did a deck wash and that was about as exciting as it got.

22 days at sea since the Azores and 34 days at sea since Ireland. At the capstan meeting we did a man overboard drill with an actual person again. This time it was Robin (“Scotty”). I really hate it when we use an actual person, it seems like such an unnecessary risk to me, especially with the 5-7 ft seas we have. It went fine and we got her back on board. The captain got angry that we put the boat in “too slow”, when he said this was a walk through drill, not about speed.

A discussion on various man overboard drills and situations followed. The discussion got rather heated at times. I halfheartedly listened as there is not enough time left on the ship to implement or practice these things. So we talked and drilled again (to the captain’s satisfaction). There wasn’t really enough time for work party so we were sent below to clean our racks. I was waiting for a surprise alarm any second, but I think because of this they did not set the alarm.

Evening watch went by pretty normally. We had a nice sunset and another bright moon. The breeze is hanging out at 10-15 knots and we are averaging about 4 knots through the water. Perfect temperature out, shirtless all day and night. Furled the royal again. Sleep.

Wednesday November 4th

Had a lot of trouble waking up today, felt like I had to claw my way up from a deep, deep sleep. A long couple hours until sunrise. Deckwash was nice, the water is warmer than it was and makes me wish for a swim call as it sloshes across the deck with each roll and over my feet. Swim call would be nice, but at this point I would rather have those miles we would lose.

After the long watch was over I went to sleep and was out right until lunch. I had lunch and heard the general alarm as I was putting my climbing harness on. Every jumped on deck to calls of man overboard and we had the rescue boat in the water in no time flat. Nobody went in the water or the boat, it was a dry drill. The captain commended us (one of the few times he has) and we broke for work party.

In the tween deck along the port side we keep all of our scrap lines from a couple fathoms (a fathom is six feet, the length of an average man’s outstretched arms) to 30+ fathoms. For the last week Zach has been measuring and labeling the 100+ lines and today I helped him measure the last ones. We worked on organizing the lines and a new system of storage. It was hot work.

Went on watch, a very busy watch. We did our chores right up until dinner and then struck and furled sail after dinner. We struck and furl the mizzen topsail and the main royal. Amber, Freya and I went to furl the mizzen topsail, an awkward pain in the neck sail to furl when you have the proper 6 people to do it. Thankfully we had plenty of light and were in no hurry to get the job done.

I had the whole starboard side to myself, Amber and Freya on the port side. We worked and worked, Freya and Amber got very frustrated and upset by the time we were finished. On deck Freya was angry about having to furl shorthanded. I looked up at the sail with pride seeing the starboard side, the side I did alone and without complaint, looked better than the port side.

Once all the dishes and chores were done we just hung out until the end of watch. It was a nice night, the moon didn’t rise until after our watch left the deck, so we got to see some great stars. Almost everyone was in a good, chatty mood; so the quarter deck almost felt like we were on someone’s porch enjoying a nice summer night.

Rumors of stopping in Puerto Rico. Here’s what we know: there was an email on the ship’s email from our office entitled “Bounty in Puerto Rico” and Amelia, at an ASTA conference, spoke to Margaret our office person who seemed quite sure we are stopping at Puerto Rico. Of course the captain is a stone wall about our future, but this information plus our 800 mile distance to Puerto Rico are hopeful.

Despite the ups and down I am still having a good time on the ship. If my schedule were not so tight with Thanksgiving, moving across the country and starting a new job, I would like to sail all the way to West Palm Beach. However, if we do stop in Puerto Rico I think I will most likely leave the ship. I need to get ready to move, I need to see a doctor about the sinus infection I’ve had since Ireland as well as my cut knuckle joint, and most of all I want to spend some time with my folks and rest up before I move. Who knows what will happen, I will take advantage of whatever opportunities arise, whether my path leads home or continues North across the sea.

Thursday November 5th

Woke for morning watch, tired. On idle for the first hour of watch and for some reason not explained to me I was only allowed to sit on deck and wait for the next hour. Being told to do something I think is unreasonable, especially without explanation, is very frustrating. On the helm for an hour, we are still making about 4 knots. I unfurled and we set the main royal when it was light enough. Did a deck wash. Bow watch. Waffles for breakfast and I went back to sleep.

At capstan we did a 3 minute abandon ship drill and I felt like I was being turned into jerky inside that survival suit. The captain discussed how he does not know where we are going yet, but would tell us when he does. Less than a week to Puerto Rico or over 2 weeks to Florida. We broke quickly for work party. Zach and I unreaved, measured, and rereaved one of the maincourse lifts, After that we sat in the tweens splicing circle strops and grommets from old scraps of line. Got ready for watch.

We had a nice evening on watch. We just missed a squall and the sun set behind it silhouetting a picture book squall. Beautiful stars before the moon rose. Saw a few shooting stars. Missing Amelia, missing family, missing home, missing freedom. Went to sleep.

Friday November 6th

Woke just before my wakeup, a nice change of pace. Got ready for watch and came on deck. For the first two hours of watch 25 days at sea and an uncertain future was getting to me, a restlessness and bad mood I couldn’t shake. As the sun rose and the dark faded to light I became myself again. We set every square sail we’ve got.

The ship is now trying jibing back and forth in the trade winds. Sailing straight down wind the main mast shadows the sails on the foremast. So, we are not going straight west but we are traveling at a higher rate of speed. Theoretically we will make a few extra miles each day. In any case its nice to feel like we are going somewhere.

B watch was grouchy about their wakeups (I had no hand in them). A mate who shall go nameless got a late wakeup and so made us all wait for him while he ate his cereal in the galley. I think I am not the only one who is feeling the cabin fever, the whole ship is feeling antsy. I am working on keeping it to a minimal. I think a lot of it has to do with being tired all of the time (cough overworked cough) so I am finding coffee helps, though I normally don’t drink it.

Lunch and capstan. For capstan we did a man overboard maneuver used by the British Royal Navy in the days of sail. So, sailing downwind someone goes overboard. The ship cannot sail upwind to get the MOB so the ship sails as close to the wind as it can get and sails off away from the person. Meanwhile the person drifts downwind in the wind and swell, so after a while when the ship turns around opposite their course they have stayed upwind and finds the MOB in their path.

We threw a chunk of wood and then braced sharp to the wind. After a while we tacked back (remember tacking is hard to do on a square rigger and especially us on A watch) and saw the wood 200 yards to windward, we sailed on and then tacked again. On this time back we saw it again about 120 yards out. We sailed on farther and tacked. No one saw the wood this time and the captain called us to the capstan to talk about the maneuver.

At the capstan I thought to myself that there was not way we had sailed far enough back in the direction of the MOB, so I kept one eye to windward. Sure enough, while the captain was talking and everyone focused on him, I spotted the MOB 50 yards to windward. I called it out and everyone turned. The captain was delighted with another success.

So we sailed on and tacked yet again. Everyone lined the rails to watch for the MOB. I took up a position on the bow in case we ran the thing down and Amber took a position to leeward. After a while she spotted it to leeward not 5 yards from the ship. Everyone of our tacks was successful and every pass in our maneuver as well. I think we all felt like a crack crew at least for a bit. All my muscles ached from hauling lines, I was covered in sweat and had ditched my shirt early on.

I enjoyed the maneuver and it was fun to do such a historic MOB drill, but the afternoon was frustrating as well. For several weeks we have been setting royals as soon as it is day, striking as late as we can, setting up extra light wind sails and trimming everything just so to get every ounce of speed from the light trades. Not to mention jibing every 4 hours to gain a few miles here and there. I find a metaphor is everyone working hard to scrape and save just a little extra money and then it gets blown in a single afternoon on candy. A lot of hard won miles thrown away in just a few hours.

Then we had to refurl a bunch of sails we unfurled for the maneuver. Ugh. I suppose its best to just focus on the fun and success of the MOB Maneuver.

Evening watch, lots of chores so time passed quickly. A nice evening. Nothing of particular interest happened. Oh, I did get to see some bottlenose dolphins for a minute before I had to go below to do dishes. I have a strange affection for bottlenose, so I took a great joy from seeing them. Familiarity I suppose.

Saturday November 7th

Morning 4-8 watch. A nice night, saw a few good shooting stars. Had helm for the first rotation and she was steering nicely for the first time in a while. The breeze started decently but slacked throughout the watch. I have been doing a lot of the chores lately and picking up the slack in my watch, but the last couple days the mates have been looking out for me and forcibly assigning the chores to the other members of my watch, it’s been great. This morning’s watch was downright restful.

Work party was sawing up a whole bunch of extra timber to use as Dutchmen, chunks of wood thrown in the water to gauge our speed. I was covered in saw dust, but I had a good time working with Zach. Some of the crew made bows and arrows out of some of the wood and we entertained ourselves for a bit that way. When that was done we stowed a bunch of stuff in bosun’s and then I went on watch.

When I was on the helm I heard Zach say to someone in the nav shack that Puerto Rico was officially off. I lowered my head, took a deep breath and sighed. Then he came up to me beaming and said “Grant the captain just said Puerto Rico is officially on!”. I was confused and he said was just teasing someone. I cursed him in multiple ways.

An email just came through a few minutes before that confirming we had a dock. I was walking on air, so much worry about in the future was solved by a mere 2 weeks extra. The rest of watch I was bounding off the walls and having a grand old time. Mike and I furled the Mizzen topsail, normally a 6 man job, by ourselves and did a half decent job of it. The sun set was beautiful and we had some great stars come up. I broke out a carton of ice cream I had been saving since Galway and doled it out to A watch. Everyone was surprised and excited by this rare commodity. At our end of watch capstan I told my watch I would be leaving Puerto Rico and they really seemed sad to see me go. I was touched.

I could hardly sleep that night.

Sunday November 8th

Woke up for morning watch feeling great. Adam was our mate for the watch and we had fun hanging out. We set the main and fore royals, but did not set the mizzen topsail. A huge, mean looking, mass of dark clouds was bearing down upon us. Could be just some rain, could be a mean squall. So we set the royals betting it wasn’t a squall. We didn’t do a deckwash either since we would soon be awash in fresh water.

The sun rose nicely and we were relieved. I went for breakfast and slept until lunch. Woke up and found out the clouds had missed us, but another big rain storm was on top of us pouring its heart out. Ate lunch and then went below to begin cleaning out my stuff and organizing. Got photos from a couple people and talked to mates about letters of recommendation and sea time letters.

Pretty soon it was time for our evening dog watch and Sveta came below for my wakeup shedding water. She said I could guess the weather. I threw on my foulies to find out topgallants and royals had been struck on threat of a squall. A seaspout had been spotted a couple miles away. I was bummed I wasn’t called up for it.

A watch took the deck and volunteered to take the helm so I could enjoy the warm tropical rain. the wind veered all over the place, strengthened and slackened. We braced the ship a couple times, but then had to strike all the sail as the breeze came on our nose.

Zach was talking to Rebecca, my mate for the watch, about Puerto Rico. Zach thought we would be there Thursday and Rebecca said it would be sooner. He pressed her and she said we would be leaving the 13th. I did the math in my head and said Thursday was the 12th. Zach said “Wait we’re leaving on Friday the 13th!?”

In case you don’t know it is extremely bad luck (I roll my eyes) for a ship to leave port on a Friday. The captain never does it and the British Royal Navy never set sail on a Friday. This was such a problem that the Navy built a ship called Friday, had the keel laid on a Friday, even christened it and set sail on a Friday. It was promptly never heard from again. So this is a rather large and hilarious error to plan to leave port on what turns out to be a Friday. A Friday the 13th no less.

Rebecca mentioned this to the captain. He thought for a moment and said “That’s quite a kettle of fish…”paused and repeated himself. We nearly laughed ourselves to tears when a moment later he turned on the GPS and began rethinking his plans.

After striking all the sail we scarfed down a late dinner and came on deck to more rain. Mike and I went on the head rig and furled the inner jib. I have been finding it easier to climb the headrig barefoot these days and rather enjoyed the cool wet wood and line on my feet. We got it furled and ended our watch 15 minutes late. I went below to watch a movie and relax the rest of my Sunday.

Home in less than a week!

Monday November 9th

Awoken at 11:20pm for the 12-4 watch. What a night. Came on deck to more rain. Only the main and fore topsails and courses were set. Rain was on and off, there were several weather systems we were keeping an eye on. On the helm, I got one hell of a light show from all the lightning around us. Just before 1am a big storm cloud materialized on top of us.

Caleb was our mate for the watch and he woke up the captain. We struck all the sail and the captain took the deck while our watch, Caleb, and Dan the Bosun (whom we woke) went aloft to furl. These are the heaviest sails on the ship so we had a hell of a time in the shifting breeze getting them furled. The breeze was going all sorts of crazy directions and of various intensities. When we were on the fore course yard the breeze came on our nose and I suppose a squall hit us.

I felt a few big rain drops hit and then wham came a gale force breeze straight on our nose. My foul weather jacket, mostly unzipped from the work of it, inflated like a balloon. I just laughed, zipped it up, and continued on furling. By the time we were all finished the watch was pretty much over. We motored now and the breeze was pretty much dead. A little bit later we left the deck and went to sleep.

Slept like a rock until I was awoken at 8am for breakfast and morning work party. The breeze had strengthened during the nigh and come fair so we helped set all the squares again. After that our watch furled the main course by ourselves and we finished work party by taking the stuns’l gear off the rig.

Lunch and then we took the deck. At the capstan meeting the captain and mates discussed even more changes to the watch system, rotations, and position jobs. I can’t help but scoff at all these changes just before the end of the voyage and the pretty much entire crew and officer turnover at the end of the season. I don’t understand it, but its “Yes Sir”.

We get to San Juan, Puerto Rico Wednesday morning, so I only have 3 watches left. We get there Wednesday and the ship leaves Thursday evening, avoiding Friday the 13th. There was much debate about how we would do port watch and after some deliberation I offered to stand watch Wednesday night since I am leaving the ship. It was with a little reluctance I made the decision as I have been at sea just as long as anyone else, but my reveling can wait a couple days longer. My goodbye present to the crew.

Tuesday November 10th

Woke up for night watch. The ship is rolling heavily, but at least we have a good breeze. With ship traffic and islands close ahead the gps has been “fixed” and we can see where we are. Saw plenty of shipping traffic and the sparse lights on a small island we passed 20 miles away in the night. The first land we have seen since the Azores, 29 days ago. Adam was my mate for the watch and we were all in a good mood. We had a fun watch, everyone joking and teasing. After watch I went right to sleep despite the ship’s heavy roll.

Woke for morning work party, Cookie had a wonderful breakfast made up as usual. Work party set me on the port side of the ship painting the hull to make us look pretty, like we’ve done so many times before. I hung on the fore chains with one hand and sanded and painted with my other. We are officially in the Caribbean Sea and with the blazing sun I believe it. Every time the ship got a good roll I lowered myself down a bit and dragged my feet in the water. Man did that feel good.

Lunch and then watch. We can seen the Virgin Island to port and Puerto Rico is about 60 miles ahead. The afternoon work party put harbor furls in the sails leaving on the main topsail and the fore course. We were going too fast and so we are putzing along at 3 knots under these sails alone, well 2 knots plus a 1 knot current. Everyone is still of course in a great mood and we had another fun watch.

I had been asking Caleb for a letter of recommendation and today he wrote it and had the captain sign it. With that letter, my sea time letter and my stuff packed I will be all set to go! The whole day just about every member of the crew has been teasing me and trying to guilt trip me about leaving the ship. Try as they might, I feel only excitement for my future.

At the end of our watch we hove to and had a swim call. The water was perfect! This was our longest swim call yet and everyone was high energy. There were several lines over the side and we had fun climbing up the lines hand over hand, something I don’t think I ever had the arm strength to do in the past. We also had fun hanging on to lines and being lifted out of the water by the roll of the ship. Gabe and I did another 60ft leap off the jibboom.

After dinner I packed a bit and then came on deck around 7pm to see how close we were. Puerto Rico was plainly visible about 10 miles off to port. I got my cell phone out and sure enough got great reception. I called my folks and Amelia; it was wonderful to hear their voices. It is great to have internet on the ship, but hearing their voices for the first time in 29 days was something else. I only reluctantly forced myself to go to sleep. The crossing isn’t over yet.

Wednesday November 11th

30 days at sea…wow.

Came on watch and found our ship within 18 miles of our pier. The breeze was down, but we still only had the maintop and fore course on, rolling in the swell and crawling along. Everyone was in good spirits and I think a bit tired, not sleeping like they should the night before port. The breeze died on us and then shifted so we struck all the sail and just drifted for a bit to kill time.

All the while squalls were raging over Puerto Rico giving us a brilliant lightning show, clouds outlined black with a tinge of orange/yellow from the city lights. The swell is still rolling in and we are getting some pretty good rolls now and then. I kept reminding myself this was my last watch and I just couldn’t get the idea to stick. Living on the ship for nearly 6 months and spending over 100 days at sea aboard her, its hard to think of the dramatic and complete change in my day to day life that will occur in just a day.

We kicked on the engines around 3am and I watched the lights on shore during my last rotation on bow watch. We left the deck excited to wake up having finished crossing the Atlantic ocean for the second time.

Going to sleep I thought about how the ship did not seem nearly as large to me now as when I first got on board. I thought about how standing on top of the royal mast, over 100 feet in the air on a rolling sea with nothing keeping me from gravity’s plans but my own bare hands, is no more than climbing a ladder at home. Crossing oceans and crossing borders. Sailing like this has given me a different feeling of the earth and the triviality of national borders and governments.

30 days of warmth, puffy cumulous clouds, and light breeze. We may not have had the best sailing conditions, but we made it safe, sound, and reasonably sane. A successful voyage.

Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel Island, Azores:

2009-11-13T22:20:00.001-08:00

Friday October 9th

We got the ship docked and began getting everything ready for the seascouts. We dragged “Heavy Defender” our giant fender into the water and then I reached up to undo the flag halyard. As I reached up my back decided it was game over, knotted up, and I fell to one knee in pain. For an hour I was up on the bow trying to stretch out my back, but having now luck. Several people gave me a hand. I swallowed a bunch of pain killers and spent another hour stretching and hobbling around. I was hell bent on not letting this damn thing ruin my time on the Azores. It took a while. and I didn’t completely feel better for a week, but I got it under enough control that I could move around.

I took a quick walk with Zach to check the area out, bought some snacks at a local grocery, and came back to the ship. The head of the seascouts is buddies with the mayor (apparently the whole island runs on connections) and so that mayor got us a bus with seascout tour guides. We got a very nice bus and a 5 hour tour of the West end of the island including several beautiful crater lakes.

The whole island is like a large land crammed down into miniature. Tiny valleys, hills, meadows, forests, mountains and so many farms or tiny villages. I have rarely seen a more scenic land with vistas everywhere and no building seemingly under 200 years old. We came back for a lovely barbeque and then went out for drinks. We had seen poster for an Azorean Heavy Metal Music Festival which happened to be free and next to the ship for 2 days. I went to see what it was about and had a grand time.

Saturday October 10th

Today was our sail with the seascouts. They were all extremely excited to be onboard and we had a beautiful day despite a rainy beginning. First we did an on deck program with the little kids and did aloft training with the older kids. We had some kids drag cannons around and a kid or two ride them which they absolutely loved. I helped with the aloft training and even the kids who were scared powered through it, I was impressed. Enough people spoke english that we always had a translator handy. Of course non of us speak Portuguese.

We took onboard more older kids and more adults and got underway. I took the helm to get us out of the harbor and under way: I must have had my picture taken close to 50 times by various people. The leader and a friend took the helm and I was instructed to keep an eye on them. The leader saw this and said not to worry, he had plenty of experience steering big ship and promptly went off course.

We set topsails and topgallants and had a great sail with plenty of breeze and sun. We only had one real excitement. As 20 kids hauled the fore topsail halyard the block must have caught on something so when they hauled it popped the halyard block off and down the whole yard went into its lifts, dropping about 10 ft.

Well I was tending a brace and hauling on it just as that happened, so before i knew what was happening up I shot 10 ft off the deck in a split second. As I was going up all I could think was “I probably should have let go”. As suddenly as it happened my ride ended and I was hanging onto the line with one hand, my feet swinging 10 ft off the deck. I laughed and lowered myself down onto a stantion and then got to deck. Several scouts were pointing at me with surprise on their faces and I just laughed and walked away like it happened all the time. My was racing for a while afterwards.

Gabe and I went aloft and got a new block rigged and we set the sail without a problem. We sailed around a bit more, wore ship and sailed back to the harbor. On the way back some of the crew played instruments and sung sea shanties and the scouts sang Portuguese seascout songs. We even fired a cannon for them, which the kids loved. We struck sail when we got close and the kids helped us furl sail. They were extremely thankful and sang what I assume to be thank you songs and despite being tired from all the work the crew had a great time too.

After the sail we had dinner and went out on the town. Zach and I went to find the Azorean Octoberfest, which turned out to be a bust. We did however, run into a seascout master who gave us directions to a sailor’s bar in the old part of town. We met up with Freya and headed out for it. It looked like a very plain dive from the outside, but when we came in there were tallship posters and shirts everywhere, several ships we had met and sailed with.

Over the course of the night we met an American artist who had been living on the island for 25 years and an Irishman who had been there for 3 as well as a 16 year old art (student of the American) student native. We hung out with them, as well as others, all night and I never bought a single drink. We had an incredible time. I left at midnight to chat with Amelia, but my friends stayed until 3am and came back with some interesting stories.

Sunday October 11th

I slept in late, being off duty, and went for a walk to a nearby beach with Zach. We strolled along with coast and through the city a bit to a black sand beach below a cliff with a beautiful old church perched on its edge. The whole island feels natural, not bulldozed for hotels and condos. The tourism industry is small here and home grown. All along the waterfront old homes, dilapidated homes, remodeled homes were in their ancient lots. For once I felt like I was seeing the true face of a place and not hotels and advertising campaigns; and I loved what I saw.

We came back in time for the second bus tour which took us to more stunning vistas and a tea factory (the island has a strong cattle, fruit, and tea industry). The big event of the day, however, was a visit to the island’s volcanic areas and hot springs. We stopped at a patch of bubbling pools with a strong smell of sulfur. It was as beautiful as anything I saw in Yellowstone and here they had pits the locals used to cook meals.

We came to a small town littered with hot springs and volcanic pools of various colors and temperatures. We went to a local public hotsprings and everyone went for a soak. Man, did that feel good! There were several pools and stream of hot water. My favorite was a small pool in the mouth of a small cave. I could have spent an entire day there.

After that we got back in the bus and had another scenic drive back to the ship. I went out for a couple beers with some of the crew, had a skype date with Amelia, and went to bed early.

Monday October 12th.

Woke up early as per our plans to rent motor scooters today and found a heavy rain. We couldn’t even check the weather on the internet as it was raining so hard we couldn’t bring out our laptops. We decided if it was going to rain all day as it looked we didn’t want to rent scooters and so we didn’t wake up the other half of the crew that wanted to rent scooters with us.

When the rain subsided Zach, Mitch, Doug, and I went to find the local market and stock up on a few more supplies for the next leg of our crossing. We found the market, but alas Monday is apparently a poor day for it as there were only a couple fruit venders. We did find a cheese shop and Doug bought a huge wheel of cheese for the ship.

Doug went home with his cheese, Mitch went off to wander and Zach and I went to look for a supermarket. We walked along with vague directions and ran into Mitch who joined back up with us. As we walked toward the general direction of the supermarket we spotted the scooter store. We thought we should at least check it out.

So we went up to the door and Mitch tried to open it, a man ran up behind us and said “it is closed”. The rental place closes from 11-4 and it was 11:05. The owner was leaving and spotted us. So, he opened up and with the weather clearing, the whole rental including everything was 25 Euro. So we decided, why not?

We did the paperwork, got outfitted and he asked us how much experience we had on motorbikes. He could sense my hesitance and got almost upset and asked me “Have you ever ridden before?!”. I replied “A bit, but it has been a little while” (lie). He gave me a quick “refresher” and off we went.

We rode through the narrow winding cobble stone streets of medieval Ponta Delgada and worked our way back to the ship. What an experience riding in the Bounty Biker Gang through this old Portuguese city. We got back to the ship and got ourselves ready for a ride as well as a little photo shoot in front of the ship. I wore my deck boots with my work pants and a pair of sailing gloves, the safest biking gear I had (Mom you didn’t raise a fool).

Off we went to find the big supermarket on the other side of town, which of course became an adventure in itself with winding streets and alleys not marked on maps. We got lost a dozen times and even ended up on the Azorean highway. Eventually when we decided to give up I spotted it in the distance and we made our way to it. We had lunch, stocked up on supplied (which fit conveniently in the compartment of our scooters) and off we went to just ride until we had to return our rentals.

We decided after getting so lost in the city we would just follow the coastal road West and see where it led us. The road was long with stunning views and almost no traffic other than ourselves. We opened up our little 2 stroke scooters to their top speed (which wasn’t much). We had many adventures and sights that day including when our road ran out of pavement and we went scooter offroading.

We drove around the backroads until they were impassible, then we backtracked to a main road we spotted. We tore down that road until we decided to head back, which was fortunate as it began to rain. Turns out we had a tail wind previously as when we headed back the rain was hitting us a 60 mph in our faceless helmets. We rode on and the rain continued on. We stopped and I put on my foul weather jacket.

The rain picked up and pretty soon I could look down and see an unbroken stream of water shooting off the bottom of my jacket onto my pants. I just laughed and kept on riding. A pool of water formed at the bottom of my seat and I could open my mouth, stick out my tongue, and get a drink of water. We made it back to the ship soaked through and through, but thankfully not cold.

We got on our foul weather gear, threw our clothes in the dryer (with everyone else’s caught in the storm), and Zach and I continued on for a little ride to the beach we had visited on Sunday. We rode along a coastal road and ocean spray hit the sea wall and shot into the air next to us, it was really quite dramatic.

We made it to the beach we visited and past that. We stopped a at some ruins next to the beach to enjoy the view and then off we went back toward the rental shop. Of course, since the second we put on our foul weather gear it hadn’t rained a drop and we had a nice ride back. We found a gas station to top off the tanks, which, during the whole day’s riding, hadn’t lost a half a gallon.

We returned the bikes, met up with Mitch, and we all got coffee and doughnuts together, Mitch’s treat. Zach and went off to get a last shore dinner; we picked a hole in the wall cafe. Who did we find there but an 2 Americans who lived on the island and chatted us up the whole dinner. Dan and Sam came by so we grabbed them and shared some wine with them. The Americans bought us another bottle before they left. We enjoyed that and went back to the ship.

I had planned to go to sleep early, but my arm was twisted by the offer of spending Zach’s leftover Euros at a nearby bar; which, with the wonderfully reasonable prices in the Azores, we did until 2am.

I had an incredible time in the Azores. I met many friendly people and an island not falsified by a large tourist industry. The island and its people live for themselves and the beauty of the land is among one of the most incredible I have ever seen. I will most definitely go back to the Azores some day and I encourage anyone who reads this to visit them.

En Route to…Somewhere..Maybe the Azores..OK Yeah, the Azores: Thawing Bones

2009-10-11T15:46:00.001-07:00

Monday September 28th

A sad day as we lost several of our crew and began our trip back to the states, the end of our voyage. We woke up early and got straight to work getting the ship ready for sea and the yards cockbilled to get through the locke. Too many bags were piled up in the tweens as Ed, Sarah, Nelly, Carpenter Mitch, Sonny Robin, and several crew we had to turn away due to government visa problems.

The pilot came on board and the captain told us it was time to go. We all gathered midships and everyone hugged each other and said their goodbyes. The pilot was waiting for us but he said “wow, I guess its good they all get along so well”. The captain had to intervene to make our goodbyes short. We got the docklines off and began heading out of the harbor. We gathered on the stern to shout and wave to our shipmates on land and they at us. That really was a touching moment, to be leaving behind men and women we had worked, slept, ate, played with; people we trusted with our lives daily. There is a saying that spending a week at sea with someone is like spending a year with them on land, I believe it.

We motored out and I was sent forward to get the headrig ready to set with Scottie and Gabe. We worked away and when I came on deck I happily learned that I was on A watch with Amber, Mike, Freya (Our new Canadian shipmate) and Jim (a salty old Irish tallship sailor), and Caleb our mate. I think this will be a good watch.

We began our rotation and I worked on the forward area of the ship getting all the lines organized and ready to go. We motored west up Galway Bay with a 25 knot breeze right on our nose. Our watch went by fairly quickly and I went below to update my journal.

We don’t know where we are going. We may sail straight to Florida spending about 40 days at sea. I sure hope to god we stop somewhere along the way to help us keep our sanity. There is talk of the Azores or the Canaries, anything will do. In any case I am just happy to be sailing back to warmer waters.

There is, however, something romantic about sailing with only a destination in mind, no schedule. We will go where and however fast the winds take us, just like it was done for hundreds of years. I think this will make the time easier to pass, more of an experience and less of a transit.

Tuesday September 29th

As usual with the 12-4 watch schedule which gives you time to sleep at 6pm I had trouble getting to sleep. So I got an hour of sleep before my watch and went through it tired. It always takes a couple days to get adjusted. I felt in the roll of the ship that we had set staysails and I was dismayed to see someone had set the dumbsail, awkward to use an very difficult to furl. I hope we abide by the rule of the dumbsail, you set it you furl it.

I started on bow watch and man was it a cold night! I swear my eyelashes were cold. Thankfully I got to nap in the galley from the time I finished boatchecks through my idle position. I ended the watch on the helm, which was steering extremely easy. At the same place near the blinding lighthouse we passed on the way North, we had dolphins at night in the phosphorescence. I would correct the helm, then watch the glowing torpedo wake like streaks streak underneath and around the ship. I even saw a school of fish scatter, sending sparks of light in all directions.

I went to my warm sleeping bag and passed right out. We woke at 8am for our work party, had breakfast, and got to work. To begin with we set the main and fore topsails and topgallants. After that I messed around with our radio antenna and then replaced a few of our old blocks with freshly serviced ones. I finished just a little into my lunch, scarfed down some chili, and then went on watch.

This time I started on the helm and enjoyed sailing past the same towering, rocky islands we rounded last week. We did two man overboard drills today for capstan. I was hoping we would hear where we are heading, but when pressed the captain said it all depended on the weather and listed about 5 different places we might stop at, or non at all. We were all happy they were warm and sunny places.

Shortly into my bow watch we had to strike and furl all the square sails this took a little while and when Mike and I were furling the fore topgallant by ourselves some dolphins came to play. I really enjoyed watching them in the clear water from my vantage point. We are forecasted to have light to no winds for the next week. I am a-ok with some calm conditions for a while after our last transit.

I write this next section from several days ahead because this night I felt a little funny, got out of my bunk and didn’t return for the next 7 hours. Some sort of flu bug went around some of the ship starting with Adam and I. Couldn’t keep down water let along food. So I spent the night under a table next to the heads curled up in ball of misery.

Wednesday September 30th

Retreated to my bunk sometime in the early morning and spent the day tossing and turning in my bunk. Christine very kindly checked on me a couple of times and brought me water. In the afternoon my cabinmate Zack told me that we were crossing paths with our friends on the _______, a Canadian ship who had sailed with us in the Atlantic Challenge. They were on their way to Dublin and as we met head to head we fired a cannon to which their 50 students cheered wildly.

We sent over our boat with a few letters (like they used to do back in the day) as well as some of our dinner. I only made it on deck as long as the salute then went back to my refuge. In the evening I was able to keep down water and some crackers. It seems that during the night the other two mates as well as our new 4th mate were stricken as well so for one watch we just hove to and drifted. The captain had to stand watch to get us underway in the morning.

Thursday October 1st

Slept well during the night and woke up at noon feeling well enough to putter through watch. In any case I figured being out of my bunk and in some fresh air would do me good. So I stood watch under the new 4th mate Sam who rotates around covering the mates night watches. Being the old bosun I was excited to have another person on board who knew much about the ship.

However, on my idle position as I laid on the navigation hatch in misery he came up to me and said “I know you’re miserable, but I don’t like it when people lay down on my watch.” He quickly retreated as I gave him the dirtiest, most venomous look I have ever given any human being. I walked up to him and asked him if I was allowed to be miserable at a 90 degree angle during his watch, to which he replied yes.

To clarify, though I still think the rule is stupid, I bear no grudge; the guy is a good sailor if not a thoughtful human being. In the evening a big headache came on and I didn’t sleep. I stood night watch with a still ill Caleb and he let me go to sleep early as my last position was an idle.

Friday October 2nd

I slept through work party yet again and I woke up feeling so much better! My headache was gone and though my stomach is still not well it is much better. I ate a small lunch, but ate all of it and got on watch. I started on the helm and got stuck on the helm as we did several tacks for practice. Hopefully the exercise will have helped.

We made one tack and couldn’t quite make the ship so we wore. After over 2 hours on the helm I went on bow watch got situated to start watching some dolphins and we were called up to tack some more. So into it we went. Running back and forth hauling and casting lines. There is a reason these ships used to sail with 3 times as many men. We made another good tack, lost the second and wore again.

After that was all done I went below and pumped the bilges. When I came back on deck the sun which had been coming in and out of the clouds had broken into a wide patch of sky. I spread out on deck and soaked up the precious minutes of sun. For the last several days we have been off gps so we were all happy to get our position fixed with sun sights.

The captain said today the conditions are still fair for the Azores so we will continue to make for the islands.

Saturday October 3rd

Slept as best I could until my watch, which was a struggle to stand. I was exhausted and now my sinus infection was acting up. By the end of my watch I was seeing things out of the corners of my eyes and hearing things. After we got off I told Caleb I needed to rest and so I spent all of Saturday sleeping, laying in my bunk, and pumping myself full of water and vitamins. More of the crew has since gotten the bug. We are still sailing most of the time, but have now entered fog banks.

Sunday October 4th

Feeling better and better I have been able to sleep more which helps a lot. I woke at 8am this morning and for the first time in near a week felt more good than anything else. I ate a full breakfast and came up on deck to listen to some music before my watch. The sails had been struck during the night but the breeze was back so C watch was setting sails again. So I helped them get all the squares set again and reveled in having enough strength to haul on a line and have it mean something.

I ate a full lunch for the first time since getting sick. We went on watch and had a pleasant time with the sun shining through thin points in the fog for over half the watch. I was so inspired I got Cassie to cut my hair again. Optimistically, I had her cut it nice and short for the warm weather I hope we get.

When I was on the helm Jim called out from bow watch, a black rounded fin was sitting on the surface on our portside. It was certainly not one of the many dolphins we have been seeing lately. I heard some say shark but the way the fin flopped about and the shape I saw in the water makes me pretty sure it was a large ray close to the surface. In any case it was very cool to see.

We dog the watches today and have no work party and A watch gets the short end of the stick this time so we will be back on deck for our new 8-12 watch this evening. I have been very happy with how lucky we have been with the breeze for the most part we have had it fairly regular. We’ve been sailing Southwest ever since we cleared the southwest tip of Ireland and on a sharp port tack for most of it. The breeze could easily veer and ruin our line for the Azores, but it has held nicely.

I really love this ship on a beam reach. She just leans over and powers up like a freight train rolling over blue hills. She has been steering so sweetly, too. As much as many things have become ordinary to me sailing on this ship, when she is under full sail heeling over and tearing along I am well aware of her beauty.

The 8-12 went pretty well. Some of the crew were watching movies so I chose a couple of positions that kept me below for a bit. Slowly it has been getting warmer day by day and I only have a few layers on and it is too warm for my deck boots. The moon is near full, waning now I believe, and beautiful as it comes in and out of the clouds.

Monday October 5th

Awoken for breakfast at 7am. I never used to eat eggs, I had a strange taste aversion to them. Recently, however, I just cannot allow myself to pass up the protein, so I have become an egg eater. I have reached a state of indifference about their taste and today for breakfast I had eggs and ham. So much wonderful protein.

What a beautiful watch we had this morning. When we came on deck all the sails had been struck during the night and we were motoring into the wind. During the first hour the breeze veered more to the west and we set sail on a starboard tack. As we were setting sail we could see a little rain squall coming in and we were just on the edge of it.

I have never seen anything like it before. A bright, huge, colorful rainbow directly to windward of me and bearing down upon the ship. I watched as the rainbow raced down upon us and broke on the ship. I got hit by a rainbow. The rain came down heavily, we all scrambled for our foulies, and continued to set sail.

The rest of our watch we kept seeing very distinguished rainbows as little bits of rain drifted around us. Mostly with sun the clouds slid around us and everything was vibrantly colorful. Today everyone loved their jobs.

We were setting the main royal and the sheets would not run. I looked up and said “Uh guys, the sail is still gasketed”. We all laughed and I got sent aloft to loose it. I can’t remember the last time I was aloft in a t-shirt. I loosed the sail and lingered a minute to enjoy the view. Dan spotted a loose earing lashing on the starboard main topgallant so on my way down I went to relash it. Zack came up to learn how to do it, but there wasn’t much room for teaching clutching the end of a yard, sail luffing and yard trying to shake me off. I got it tied and we laid below.

As we were beginning our descent Zack commented on the view and I agreed it was stunning. He replied that he loves his job. Following his remark the ship gave a big lurch and he grabbed on tightly saying “I’m gonna die” with a laugh. I thought the moment was very emblematic.

We got below, set, trimmed, and hoisted the royal; and I went on the helm. Amber on bow watch shouted whales to port and we all strained our eyes out to see when a giant rubbery back surfaced not 50 ft off the port bow. Many people gathered on deck as a pod of 3 (we think wright) whales surfaced so close you could almost feel the mist from their spout. They moved farther away after a half dozen close surfacings and then followed parallel to us for another 10 minutes.

A minute later the main royal was struck by those that ordered me to set it…

After watch cookie had an incredible lunch of fish chowder and sandwich wraps for us. That man is a true chef. At capstan we had an outdoor misc stuff auction. I bought back my sweater which I had been looking for forever… don’t get me started on that. I also bought a nice mug, a fleece, and a history book, all for a quarter. The hot item was a fan a passenger left behind. When it gets hot soon, that would be nice. So Jessie and I combined out quarters and bid on it. A passenger started to bid against us. Firstly passengers are not supposed to big on a crew auction, secondly he has what some might call a paying job, so he obviously outbid our combined funds. There were many raised eyebrows at him and dirty looks. I am waiting for my chance at petty revenge.

For work party I went aloft to mause shackles on the new maintopgallant halyard. After that I learned how to splice grommets and made a few. After work party I asked to have some food set aside for me and went to sleep until my watch. We got lucky and have found our watch taking place during both sunrise and sunset, so we got to enjoy a nice sunset with mountainous clouds. A lovely near full harvest moon rose shortly thereafter and gave us quit a bright night despite the passing clouds.

The wind died down to a wisp and it was difficult to keep course on the helm. When I was on navigation idle I kept throwing items overboard to gauge our speed, we call it throwing a Dutchman. Twice I threw and could not find them at the other end of the ship. So I got a big piece of white cardboard and threw it. Well, it solved my mystery, we were in fact not going slow, but going backwards. We braced a bit and changed course and got our speed up to 1.3 knots. Flying!

It was a nice night, cool, but really not that cold.

Tuesday October 6th

Woke up at 7am. Biscuits and gravy for breakfast, delicious if not healthy. Rain squalls during the night so I put on my foulies and took helm for the first rotation. No rain and as the darkness faded into light and the sun rose I found myself quite warm, an excellent feeling. We had just an incredible sunrise on the storm clouds to leeward of us with golden rays as it peaked more lofty clouds. The wind has again become fair for the Azores.

We got some sun and had a nice low key watch, only bracing around once and setting the headsails. For work party I taught Freya how to patch serve and so we did on the main and fore masts. When that was done we tarred our work on the fore mast but decided we didn’t have enough time for the main. So we went below to clean up. Dan complained we had enough time, which we didn’t, so I held fast and he assigned us some blocks to take apart for servicing. While taking using the knife on my leatherman it slipped and folded down upon my right pointer knuckle, cutting it nicely. I bled all over the deck and went to the medical supplies.

Freya came to help and fuss over me and Christine was soon there in mothering mode. We cleaned it and put on a pressure bandage. I seem to always have some sort of injury going, always. Life isn’t normal if there isn’t just one little thing. Right across the top of the middle knuckle, this sucker is going to take a while to heal.

Slept like a rock until watch. Sam was our mate for the night and he was in ADD mode so we set the dumbsail, braced the ship, and did a number of little adjustments. I am able to get along pretty well normally with my finger. We had a very muted pastel sunset and another incredible harvest moonrise. We had a good breeze and cruised along at 6 knots all night.

Watch went by pretty slowly and uneventfully.

Wednesday October 7th

Woke for watch and had a light breakfast. More squalls in the night and so I got my foulies ready. As I came through the nav station I noticed the main engines were on, the breeze had slackened and we were motoring. If we are motoring, keeping the ship at a steady speed, then we must be trying to get someplace by a certain time, otherwise we wouldn’t waste the fuel. We’re going to the Azores! I chatted with Bill later in the watch and he confirmed it, we are aiming to arrive Friday morning.

The moon hung in the west and the sun rose in a golden splash. Still just so many heavy cumulous clouds. During watch I counted five rainbows and we only ever got rained on once a little. There was even one bright full rainbow with the moon under its arch, so beautiful. The sun was mostly out and by the end of watch I was in a t-shirt.

During our watch a swell from the northwest has been coming in and the ship is rolling terribly. Lunch was eaten hunkered down over my plate, one arm around my plate with its hands holding my mug and my other hand with a utensil. As I write this I can’t stay put in my bunk and slide all around.

At the capstan we got the official word we are heading to the Azores, San Miguel to be specific. We should be there sometime Friday. The mayor has apparently arranged for us to get a bus tour of the island, which should be cool. One of the ways we can afford to stay here is that we are doing a daysail on Saturday for a bunch of Azorean seascouts. This should be interesting.

For work party we end over ended the main topsail sheets, switching the ends so the same spots would not chafe and wear out. While we did this we also replaced any of the blocks we freed. I hung in my harness and undid a guide block for the sheet while Gabe undid the bitter end of the sheet. Once that was done I went and undid the other sheet on the starboard side.

So, sitting on the course brace I lashed the clew of the sail to the yard so I could take tension off the sheet. All the while the yard is shaking from the sail luffing some and going up and down as the ship rolls. The clew block jangle threateningly near my head. I caught Amber’s eye as she hung in a bosun’s chair at my level 30 ft away. We both gripped tight as the ship rolled and laughed with each other.

I untied the sheet from the yardarm, which was tied with one of the more creative “knots” I have ever seen. It took my marlin spike and a lot of elbow grease to get the damn thing undone. I took off the old sheet block and attached the new one. Gabe came over to do the find work since my finger made it a little awkward. I spent the rest of work party doing little things here in there in the rig.

After work party, with the sun warming the deck, many of us gathered on the foredeck for a tanning session. I laid out on the deck in just a pair of shorts for the first time since we left Bermuda, man did that feel good. I laid out until clouds covered the sun then listened to music on the quarter deck until dinner. After dinner I slept soundly until watch.

We came on deck as a little squall passed, so I went to put on my foul weather gear and officially changed out my coat to my warm weather jacket, that was very satisfying. Tonight we had our most brilliant sunset yet, vibrant colors with clouds adding depth and texture. Many of us on deck just stopped what we were doing and watched it set.

On the helm for the second hour I had yet another brilliant harvest moonrise. Tonight, however, tall clouds to the east masked its light for a bit and so we got some wonderful stars, I even caught one surprisingly bright shooting star.

When I was on navigation idle I noticed the ship slow down and one of the engines cut out. I went back to the helm and saw Caleb and Mike hanging over the stern. I went to have a look and saw a 3 inch thick nylon mooring line dangling from our starboard prop swaying in the wake like a giant squid tentacle. Like a modern sea monster we had been struck and could not turn the starboard prop. It was decided that we would continue under the port engine alone and deal with it in tomorrow’s light.

The rest of watch went uneventfully in lovely weather.

Thursday October 8th

The air conditioning is working in aft crew again, so well at the moment that I was nearly cold in my sleeping bag during the night. This will be great when we get farther south. Dragged myself out of my bunk, ate breakfast, and got on watch. As the sun rose (beautifully) Caleb sharpened his dive knife and got himself ready to go, Gabe got on his wetsuit as well to help out. The captain took over our watch and I went to the stern window to watch over our men in the water. They cut and pulled out all sorts of line from the props that we had accumulated in our harbors across the North Atlantic.

Eventually they got the main offender, defeated it you might say. We hauled it out of the water and on to deck so that no other vessels would have our luck. As we got the sucker on to deck, which turned out to be 15 feet long, I noticed a crab scuttle around one of the coils. The line had been in the water for some time and was now host to all sorts of marine life. We found several small crabs that must have landed on the line as larvae and grown up on the line. There were small muscles as well as numerous other larval animals. I had quite a good time checking out all the animal life it held and playing with the crabs.

The wind had died during the night, come foul during the morning, and now is building as we motor for out destination. The Captain thinks we will be able to see the island by sunset and we plan to anchor out during the night. The rest of watch was uneventful and rather enjoyable in the sun.

Work party was spent furling every sail to make the ship look pretty and get everything cleaned up and ready to go for the seascouts. About that time we spotted the island ahead of us, faint in the distance. I slept until my watch and came up on deck to the sunset.

I got to be on the helm first and really enjoyed the sunset. Most of the crew was on deck, I think everyone is excited to get there. That night we had some great stars as the lights of the island came on and lit our way. We had some great dolphins in phosphorescence with large glowing creatures, so it looked like they were trailing green sparks.

Friday October 9th

Woke up for watch and felt the ship at anchor rocking slowly. Came on deck to a beautiful sunrise. Freya as the newest deckhand got to flake the anchor chain, everyone’s favorite job. I stood in the forepeak, kept an eye on her and relayed messages. We came picked up our pilot and came into the harbor. We all laughed at having a pilot since we just had to enter the harbor and not hit the seawall.

I volunteered to go on shore to catch the ship’s docklines. The captain was concerned as a wind was blowing us off the dock and toward the yacht club. So Mitch and I went on shore, caught the lines and helped get the ship settled down. We made it to the Azores and the first thing I did was put on shorts and sun block.

Galway Ireland: Goodbye Pubs, Goodbye Fiddles and Drums, Goodbye Ireland

2009-10-11T15:45:00.001-07:00

Thursday September 24th

Woke up for a day of work thankfully at 9am. Got up and around to find out we had a school group coming at 10am. We worked for a bit before they got there and at 10am 17 schoolgirls came aboard. We split them in two and I was with on deck station with Amber showing them the upper deck as well as raising a staysail. They were all very excited to be on board, so it made the job really fun.

After them we opened up for tours did so the rest of the day until 5pm. During my idle position in the tour rotations I walked around and explored our neighborhood of Galway. I really liked the feel of it.

Today was Arthur Guinness day celebrating 250 years of Guinness Stout. All of Ireland was into the celebration and pubs everywhere were having toast and deals at 1759 (5:59pm). So I went with Frank, Christine, Caroline, and Bill to find a pint and celebrate.

We went to a bar down the street which turned out to be empty, because they were not participating, possibly the only bar in Galway not participating. So we walked to the nearby square, found a very old pub and put in our order.

Well, we stood there and stood there and he kept pouring Guinness after Guinness and handing them off to the locals and regulars that came in the door. So the moment came and went, us poor Americans with empty hands. A couple minutes later we got our order and Frank stood there for another full 10 minutes trying to pay the guy.

We decided he was trying to say the beers were on the house, finished our drinks and left. I went back to the ship a bit later and caught up with Mike and we ran into more of the crew. We went pub crawling and had a great night out on the town.

Friday September 25th

My first day off in Galway was great. I wandered more in the morning and went to find internet. I went a coffee shop with wireless and had a nice big coffee. I got online, checked my email and decided to check skype and found Amelia awake at home on her day off in Annapolis. What luck! So we were able to video chat for a bit. After that I went back to the ship and just relaxed until dinner.

After dinner I went wandering and found some great live Irish folk music. Had a couple pints and went to bed early as I had watch the next day.

Saturday September 26th

Woke up at 7am and began my watch duties of boat checks and cleaning up the ship. I woke up people for work and had some breakfast. Today we are hosting the opening ceremony of the Galway Oyster festival. So we tidied up the ship and people began arriving to set up the ceremony.

I came up on deck as it was about to begin and found oysters and champagne by the dozens and dozens, a marching band outside the ship, and a brass band on our deck. A model T and a sweet convertible were parked outside and several of our crew were asked to dress up as pirates and Arthur Guinness. I had an Oyster straight from Galway bay harvested that morning. I can guarantee it was fresh as it was saturated with salt water. I am normally ambivalent towards oysters but that thing was terrible, but at least I can say I tried it.

They had their ceremony with the Mayor and a bunch of other important folks and left in a parade to the festival. The rest of the day we were finding champagne glasses stashed throughout the ship. We cleaned up and got ready for tours. I was asked to sell tickets first and got to our table in front of the ship to find a huge line. I took money for the rest of my rotation straight and was glad to see my math abilities had not faded too badly during my college years.

We worked until 6pm and then had dinner. Of course I end up on watch today of all days as this was the chosen night for the ship funded crew party before we do the big crossing and lose some of our crew. The festival left a bunch of champagne for us, which I could not drink, and the crew fund paid for a bunch of beer and cider which I stashed a couple of for the next night. So After dinner the crew put up the disco ball, started the music and had a great little party.

I participated some, but as I was tired and had other duties I was elsewhere. Besides that the bar next to the ship let us use their wireless internet so I was able to chat with Amelia some more after she got off work for the day. I stayed up past 1am and still the party was going. So, I herded them in the galley and set up my bunk.

I woke up at about 4am to a bunch of shouting and laughing. I hopped out of bed and found a group of 12 or so young Irish folk had of course crossed our lines and were trying to get in the ship. I shoed them off and went back to sleep. We are all less kind about tresspassers since a bunch of kids stole from the ship in Scotland while I was gone, trying to steal several safety items which does not make the crew happy.

I went back to sleep until the next morning when I was allowed to move my bunk from the tween deck to my cabin.

Sunday September 27th

I slept in until about 11am and then went to get some sushi for lunch. It was good, but nowhere near the caliber of sushi I am used to. The miso soup was good, but apparently it was Irish miso soup for it contained broccoli and cabbage. I was very satisfied with my last shore meal.

After that I went and saw a movie; and wandered more around the city. On my way back to the ship I ran into Bill, Frank, and Christine who bought me a pint at yet another neat old bar. I went back to the ship and got some great shepherd's pie. I hung around the ship for a bit and then went off with Adam and Sarah to find some Irish music and spend the last of our Euros.

We heard Kelly’s pub was having a Guinness special all weekend so we began the hunt for it. We wandered for quite a while, got many different directions including a “Galway man born and bred” who swore that the place did not exist. Eventually we did find the pub that doesn’t exist and had a pint, but just missed the music.

So we wandered back toward Quay Street, the main drag, and kept our ears open. We stumbled across some bar I still don’t know the name of and found a 5 piece Gaelic band that was playing up a storm. They were absolutely wonderful so we stayed there into the night and had a grand time. As it got late we went back to the ship and went to sleep knowing we would be up early to leave Europe.

En Route to Galway, Ireland: Rock N’ Roll Slip And Slide

2009-09-25T04:37:00.003-07:00

Monday September 21st

I was awoken by “It’s 4:20, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em”; so chuckling I got out of bed. I got dressed and as I put on my boots, the new crewmember in my cabin asked why I was putting on my boots, was it wet? I replied “No, I’m just from California and a wuss for the cold” and man was it cold when I got on deck. Ed the passenger from the crossing, and my A-watch mate, was leaving the ship for a bit and tossing our lines.

We pulled our docking lines and I was asked to go on the helm. I wasn’t looking forward to that responsibility as I was not here when we came into the harbor and thusly had no idea what the channel leading to the sea looked like. Thanks to the almighty gps and our charts we threaded out way through the channel in the dark.

A freighter called Zues was coming through the channel at the same time as us, so our captain radioed them to say that we would slow down so he could pass us. He replied irritably that he could not slow down, he had to maintain a minimum speed. We looked all glanced at each other and the captain radioed “No, WE will SLOW down and YOU can maintain your speed”. The voice angrily came back that they had already slowed down as much as they could. We all laughed. The first mate got on the radio with the thought that a new voice might be better understood. A repeat followed. The mate eventually just said loudly into the radio “PORT TO PORT” (meaning the vessels pass port to port as they normally should) and we got a “roger”. So I steered the ship to hug the very edge of the channel and our hearing impaired friend came slowly by us.

We made it out to sea in the dark, which saddened me as there were many old forts and towers we motored past in the night. We found ourselves with a lovely head wind and seas, so we motored against the building wind and swell until the end of our watch. I went happily to my warm bunk and slept like a log.

I woke on my own shortly before noon and went to the galley for lunch. Had our capstan meeting with a man overboard drill, but it was too rough to send the small boat out so we just let it down to touch the water while everyone went through the motions.

Jessie, Slav (World class small boat sailor from Bulgaria and my new cabin mate) and I put up nets above the rails that we have for weather so foul that we need nets above the rails. The plan is to make permanent toggles for them so they are easier to put up in case of said foul weather. So we’re now sailing around Ireland with neon multicolored nets around the ship. I joked that now at least in bad weather if you went overboard you would go down tangled up in nets.

I spent the rest of work party putting whippings on new earring lashings. Our watch was pretty droll as we motored against the wind and sea with a peak speed of under 3 knots, often being check down to one by the swell. I asked Caleb about the storm I had heard rumors of and he said it was going to get ugly in the night. As we have a while to go before we can round the southern tip of Ireland and get over enough the breeze becomes fair I was not happy to hear this. I asked if we were anchoring out for the night and said no. A little later in the watch I was told we were setting some staysails because we were turning off the breeze to anchor in the lee of shore for the night. I was very glad to hear this.

Our watch was relieved and I went below in a very good mood. I went to sleep after Caleb told me I had the last anchor watch and therefore got to sleep the longest straight time, in recognition that I usually got the worst anchor watch times. I always tried not to notice myself, but it is nice to know someone besides me was aware of it. Oh I slept so well that night!

Tuesday September 22nd

I was awoken for my anchor watch shortly before 7am. I woke B watch as they would be getting the ship under way. I did a boat check, as it was the end of my watch I pumped the bilges, and did an anchor plot. When all this was over I only had about 10 minutes left of my watch so I had some of Cookie’s wonderful crepes for breakfast. After filling my belly I went back to bed knowing I wouldn’t need to be up again until lunch time.

I slept until after 11 and then just lounged in my bunk half asleep half grinning at such a wonderful morning. I can’t remember the last time I slept until I could sleep no more and then just lounged in bed, not even on my vacation did I get such a luxury. What an excellent morning!

For work party I went aloft to tie the earring lashings I whipped yesterday. The ship was pitching and rolling on all 4 axises and I knew it was only a matter of time before I got seasick in these conditions. So aloft I went and worked as quickly as I could and by the last few lashings I was so nauseous it took every amount of concentration to not shower the deck. I finished my last lashing and laid below, got on deck, walked over to the stern, and fed the fish as they say. I laid down on deck next to the capstan for the remainder of work party.

Between work party and my watch we passed in between a pair of islands. The one on our starboard side was covered in birds and had a huge sea arch; the waves pounded it sending up huge spray. The one on our left is a famous one I don’t know the name of. Apparently way back a few monks came out to this rocky tower for solace and to hide from the frequent Viking raids.

The rocky tower is extremely steep and yet these men built huts and walls on the top of it and carved steps into a ravine I would have thought you needed climbing gear to ascend. The dangers these men faced getting on the island and to their homes on it, let alone living on this desolate island, are absolutely incredible.

Half way into our watch the wind became fair and we set the main topsail and fore course, struck and gasketed the staysails, and killed the engines. The seas had been building all day and there were several big swell that covered the horizon when we were in its trough. The leftovers of some storm I am glad we did not encounter.

We sailed on and our watch was relieved. I went below, wrote in my journal and then settled down to try to sleep in this heavy swell. In between rolls when the ship did not creak so loud I heard water drip, quite a large stream. I thought “that is definitely not good” and jumped out of my bunk. I was met in the hall outside my cabin with a thick dark liquid pouring from in between the planks above me spilling on the sole (deck inside the ship). Nelly was up at the same sounds and said something about a diesel leak. I took a deep breath in fear and then realized there was no way that was diesel, the smell was familiar and it was some kind of oil.

Gabe came down and said that a barrel of linseed oil we had in the tween deck had broken loose and the tween deck was awash. By this time the dark rain had started in my cabin as well and I sacrificed my towel to the cause. As the oil spread across the deck of this heavily rolling ship things got interesting.

While I was stopping up the spread in my cabin I looked up to see Gabe standing still and sliding all the way across aft crew with each heavy roll. I laughed so hard I nearly cried as he slid in and out of view past my door with an “ahhhh”. I managed to get myself up to the tween deck to help out and almost everyone was up in their underwear (I fell in this category) and pajamas sliding around the deck trying to get heavy items resecured and begin getting the oil off the deck.

For an hour we mopped, scrubbed, and cleaned. Each time the ship took an especially heavy roll we would all slide, which, though it began with lots of laughter, quickly became rather dangerous. I was in the middle of the ship when we took a big roll and with no way of stopping I slide all the way across, still standing, to the starboard side. I rammed into the wall with my arm and shoulder, the fleshy part of my right forearm taking most of the impact unfortunately on a metal fire extinguisher bracket.

I sat down for a while until I could regain my senses and then helped out with what I would. We got things cleaned up as best we could, dried the deck, and put up a lifeline to help cross the deck with any residual oil. All the rags we used were conviently hung in the life netting to prevent spontaneous combustion. I iced my arm and went to sleep in the great cabin.

The ship was rolling so heavily I could not sleep so I eventually gave up and went to my bunk where I found the fumes not as bad as I anticipated. I slept for a couple hours until watch. In the end I suffered no more than a few bruises and my right arm came back into use over the next day. Certainly, no one would ever call this job dull.

Wednesday September 23rd

I was awoken at 3:20 for watch and came on deck to a chilly night. We were about 55 nautical miles from Galway, with the lights of the coast on our starboard side. Watch went by fairly quickly and uneventfully. I chose my position so that I would not have to do a one handed helm.

While I was on bow watch I glanced over the side and noticed a long streak of light in the water, like some sort of serpent. I heard the telltale puff of a dolphin spouting and realized it was a dolphin swimming along in our bow wave leaving a bright phosphorescent streak in the water; the outline of its body a greenish white glow. I told the other members of the watch and they came to gaze upon 8 dolphin streaking and darting around the ship.

Such an incredible scene as this is difficult to describe and it is a shame it cannot be recorded. They were like slow motion shooting stars with all the grace dolphins posses. This scene is easily one of the most beautiful things I have ever scene.

This instance again illustrates the extreme ups and downs of this experience. During a busy nearly sleepless night, getting bruised and battered while feeling seasick the word miserable hardly does the mood justice. Yet, not 6 hours later I wouldn’t trade my place for anything as I sail North along the coast of Ireland in the night with glowing dolphins streaking around the ship like gleeful ghosts.

I slept well during my time off and woke for lunch fairly refreshed. My arm was getting better by the hour, but when I found out work was going to have to be created for my work party I opted to rest it. When we came on watch we were in Galway Bay heading for our anchorage. All hands was called as we were going to sail to anchor and then get our sails ready for the weekend.

As we came in the anchorage was changed a few times until we found just the right spot. As we anchored one little sloop came in quite close and as they tried to hot-dog-it throwing up their spinnaker they wrapped it tightly around the forestay. We all laughed and the captain said “Don’t you hate it when you try to show off and fail miserably?”

We got a call on the radio that a freighter was coming out of the harbor and the pilot from that ship could take us in tonight. We were all very happy at the prospect of Guinness within 4 hours. So we went into high gear getting the ship ready to go. When I came on deck a little later an entire regatta, with colored spinnakers flying, was weaving its way down and around us.

We slung our hook (took up our anchor), picked up our pilot, and came in nice and easy to Galway harbor. We have a class coming tomorrow in the morning so we got the ship ready for tours and got the ok to hit the town. Trying to get all the crew together for a beer is like herding cats; so Adam and I wandered until we found a nice old pub, had a pint, and went back to the ship for a good nights sleep, calm and still at the dock.

Cobh (Cove), Cork County, Ireland: Back Home in a Foreign Land

2009-09-25T04:37:00.001-07:00

Saturday September 19th,

As I was sitting on the train from Cork at what I thought was our next to last stop, out of the corner of my eye I saw a spider web of rope and wood. I quickly turned my head over and saw my lovely ship. I grabbed my bag and jumped off the train. As I walked to the ship I recognized all my shipmates on deck and smiled at the dirty looks I got as I cut in front of the huge line to board the ship.

I was heartily welcomed back and asked many questions many times over about my trip abroad. I had a big hearty dinner followed by big hearty seconds. As I had been on vacation so long I helped out with the dishes and covered the watch for a few hours during the evening. I got myself unpacked and met the new members of our crew and was saddened by the faces that were no longer around.

I went to sleep with the comforting, rumbling hum of the generator very happy to be home.

Sunday September 20th

I was awoken for tours today at 9am. I was given the option of not working as I had just gotten back, but in the spirit of guilt for getting so much time off when others got none I volunteered to work. This decision also aided in not spending any more money. We had breakfast and got dressed in our red shirts as these are the colors of the local “football” team which is having a grudge match with the neighboring county.

The day went by fairly quickly and we drew a good crowd of over a couple thousand. Mostly families came aboard and we had to spend a lot of time telling the children to not cross the barriers we had put up as well as their parents. There were many friendly people, as I have found all across Ireland, especially one old sailor with a blurred and faded swallow and anchor tattoo on his forearm who told me the history of every landmark within sight.

Another Gentleman also told me that the man who had surveyed and mapped Cobh harbor for the British Admiralty was none other than William Bligh. I felt more than a little strange on this ship in a place he undoubtedly spent quite a bit of time. I don’t think he would have thought the existence of our ship very amusing.

While on a break from doing tours I was doing a little work on the rig when I saw I man cross over our lines to the foredeck. I got up and told him the lines were there to keep him from doing exactly what he did. The man replied in a Russian accent with labored English that he wished to take a picture at the front. We have no rails at the bow, thusly why the bow is off limits to visitors. I replied that he still had to go back, which was not the answer he was looking for. Grumbling he went back to where he ought to be and I went back to work.

A full minute later the man walked up to me while I was working and said “give me your point I want to take a picture”. Working with my marlin spike at the time I assumed that was what he meant so I unclipped it and offered it to him. A glare and a reiteration of “your point, your point!” was his response. I gathered he meant my knife, which I do my best to keep razor sharp and therefore denied his request with images of his accidentally bloodying a stray child.

Well that was it for him, he asked me irritably several more times, which I all denied. He inquired whether I was American, to which I thought “oh god here it comes” and replied “yes”. With evident joy at what pain his words would cause me he said “Everyone in Ireland is nice, but you are mean, MEAN!”. I chuckled under my breath and turned back to my work. This job never ceases to amuse.

After tours were over we got everything sea stowed and ready to go, for we plan on leaving at 5am tomorrow. We had dinner, which I knowingly ate way too much of and I went off to a nearby hotel to use their internet. I had to buy a beer to be allowed its use (woe to me!) and wrote emails and luckily caught my folks on skype. I can never help but be amazed at the world we live in as I sat in a hotel in Ireland drinking a Guiness and video chatting with my parents in California. So cool.

I chatted with a pair of old gentlemen outside the ship on my way back and I am now officially excited for Galway. I have spoken with a dozen people about Galway and even the guy who grew up there said it is a beautiful place; several claimed it was the best city in Ireland.

I went to bed early as it will be my watch that wakes up to get the ship under way. I hear rumors of a storm coming in tomorrow night, I hope they are wrong.

Explanations

2009-09-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

As I was absent from the ship, so too will my narrative be absent. Though I do enjoy writing this journal, this vacation was a break from all the monotonies of my shipboard life, daily writing included. In brief I traveled through Paris, Tolouse, Marseille, Aix en Provence, Barcelona, and Dublin. I stayed with old friends and made new friends. I returned to my ship revived in spirit and body, ready to set to sea yet again.

I would like to give a sincere thanks to Menja for putting my up in Tolouse and being my tour guide. To Emily for letting me tag along. To Katie for letting me come visit and giving me an unforgettable stay. Most of all to my parents for their help in making this trip happen, but also for supporting me in my ambitions and decisions in general.

I should also take a moment to divulge a part of my life that has been laying low between the lines of this journal, though quite obvious at times. My second day on board the ship, in Jacksonville, I met a young sailor at a party who quickly drew my attention. We enjoyed each other’s company in Jacksonville, roved together in Bermuda, and narrow missed each other in New York. She came on board my ship in Halifax, was fortuitously assigned to my watch, and we spent 12 hours a day together during the Atlantic crossing. Yet, it was not until Belfast that we professed feelings for once another.

Despite our current careers, I knew Amelia was not a girl I could pass up. We spent time in Belfast together as well as Delfzijl. I met her in Paris and we traveled to Tolouse together wither her friend Emily, separating in Marseille where she headed back to the states to work on another ship.

When I was asked by my friends why I now planned on moving to Annapolis when my time has ended aboard the ship; was it not “a big decision?” I replied that it was a very easy decision. I want to continue dating Amelia and so the next step is to go to Aannapolis. So, there you have it, my semi-personal life at the moment.

En Route to Edenbrogh, Scotland: Gimmie Shelter

2009-09-20T11:38:00.001-07:00

Thursday August 27th

Woke at 3:20am to a lurching ship and a forecast of “a little spray”. Understatement. With a building head sea and wind we had some spray reach the coarse yard and the forward half of the ship wet.Passenger Mary was assigned my shadow for the watch and we began on the helm. There were as many lights as I have ever seen on the sea or perhaps more. Container ships, navigation lights, oil rigs, and even a few of our fellow tall ships.

Even on the helm we got misted from the spray shooting up the bow. Slowly, during the watch all of us (including myself), but two, began to feel seasick in the short period, tall head seas. I haven’t really felt seasick since the Bermuda to New York transit. Which was the last time we had seas like this. Welcome to the North Sea I suppose.

Near the end of our watch we set all of our fore and aft sail (staysails, jib, and spanker), which was a rugged adventure. Bow spray kept showering us and while on the foredeck the ship lurched and dropped a few times so violently I found my feet off the ground while trying to haul on a flogging line. We eventually got it all done with a couple of almost-throwing-up-over-the-rail breaks.

After watch I went below, put on a seasickness patch (which should hopefully last until we reach the shelter of the coast) and went to sleep until lunch. I woke up feeling pretty good but deteriorated during work party which I spent on the main topgallant replacing gaskets. With about an hour left of work party and my task done I got permission to take a little nap before watch. I felt good for good when I woke up.

During watch things calmed down and warmed up with the sun shining nicely. It was a lovely watch, I stripped down to my t-shirt and basked in the weather. We set the main topsail and forecourse only to strike the maintop at the end of our watch, again staying on deck late; which was fine in this weather. The nasty weather is expected to hit sometime during our next watch in the AM. England just came in sight when we were on the yard furling, so hopefully that should give us some shelter from the forthcoming gale. Sleep time!

Friday August 28th

Three months on board! Three months may not seem like a lot, but to me it has felt like a lifetime. On one hand the days pass very quickly here, but it seems like I have been sailing for years.

Came on deck for watch to a very cold wind. I may even dare to say the coldest weather we’ve had yet as I was still chilled in my gear I wore across the Atlantic. The gale has certainly started and must be coming from the icy north. At the beginning of watch it was only about 20 knots.

Before our watch even took the deck we went aloft to furl the fore course in the driving spray and wind. Going aloft in weather like this doesn’t seem to bother me like it used to. We got it done fairly quickly and without incident. We reconvened at the capstan and took the deck. I took bow watch, but as I spent half the time turning away from torrential bow spray I convinced Caleb to let us do bow watch from mid-ships. I asked him ”As much as I like testing my foulies for leaks, could I move bow watch back?”.

I went below for boatcheck after that and on my idle position I got a little nap on the wooden benches on the ‘tween deck. When I awoke for my trick at the helm I came on deck to find the sun just beginning to peak over the horizon and tall white cliffs a few miles ahead.

I got on the helm and kept sailing right for the cliffs. As we got closer we let out a length of our anchor to find the bottom and when we did we dropped the rest, really quite close to the cliffs. Apparently we are on the English coast somewhere South of Scarborough. Our watch finished the anchoring and we went below to find crepes for breakfast (yay Cookie). After that I went straight to sleep.

So we made it to our shelter before the gale really hit and we will probably stay here anchored in the lee of the cliff until the worst of it is over. I am infinitely grateful we are not trying to slug it out at sea. The ship can’t go anywhere with 20 knots on the nose, let alone the 40 that is predicted.

After lunch I went to our normal capstan meeting and only Bill the engineer and I were there. We asked around and found out today is a Sunday. I immediately went to my bunk and back to sleep. About an hour later I was awoken to a call of all hands…to the bilges. There had been a diesel leak and we all had to go into the bilges to get it out. I was decidedly unhappy about this turn of events.

I stood my anchor watch later that evening, helped do dinner dishes, and after all that was done I traded movies and music with Adam. Since we were on anchor watch the next morning and wouldn’t be called until lunch at noon I stayed up late listening to music and watching movies.

Saturday August 29th

I stood my anchor watch from 5:45 to 6:45 and went back to sleep. Jesse (my bunkmate) turned on the light at 8am and I grunted to him to turn it off that I was trying to sleep. He replied “it’s work party today, time to get up. They tried to wake you a bunch of times”. I bolted upright and gave a series of expletives. “If anyone had said there was work party I wouldn’t have stayed up late. Communication people!” So grouchily I got up and went to work party.

I got assigned to the paint anchor chain and flake party. I offered to flake the chain since that seems to be everyone’s least favorite job and I was having a grouchy day anyway. So I crawled into the forepeak, over the starboard anchor chains (cursing the last person who had coiled it poorly making the already tight hatch even harder to get through, cleaned out the chain locker once all the chain was out, and flaked it as it came in.

Just before lunch I went to talk to the captain about taking some time off. Getting time off is not an easy thing on this ship. Firstly, there is our uncommonly uncertain schedule. Secondly, and most importantly, everyone always wants time off to go explore the places we visit. I had talked to the captain about taking time off from Delfzijl to our next stop, but the schedule was so uncertain I Couldn’t. So, again I broached the subject and, as easily as though I were asking for more paint, he said “sure”. The rest of the day I was walking on sunshine. I could have flaked all of our chain caked in mud twice over and been ready for more. I get time off!

Sunday August 30th

I was awoken at 5:20 and told our watch is getting the ship under way. I came on deck and the breeze had backed to the west/southwest. We planned to sail off of our anchor. We over-sheeted the spanker to windward with use of some block and tackle. Then we took up the anchor and when it left the bottom we set out jib and foretopmast staysail backwinded to kick our head downwind. We set the maintopsail, wore ship, and started heading North.

We set the foretopsail as well as the fore and main courses. B watch was going to take the deck in about 10 minutes and I half jokingly, between panting breaths from hauling both topsail halyards, said “I heard B watch was dying to set some sail, maybe we should leave some for them”, which was agreed by the rest of A watch.

The sun is out, warming up a bitterly cold day, and we are under sail heading the right direction. It’s a good day. When our watch was relieved I went below to my bunk and passed out until lunch.

We were eating lunch when we heard a helicopter coming by, getting very close, getting extremely close, and hovering next to the ship. We all left our plates and rushed on deck. An RAF (Royal Air Force) Rescue helicopter was hovering just behind us. We all waved to the crew and they hailed us on the radio. They were doing drills and asked if they could land a man on our ship!

Of course we said yes. To test things out they came in so close the wind coming off the rotors nearly blew me over, water spray everywhere. Young Mitch on the rig was seriously afraid for his life with the pictures to justify it. They backed off, got their man clipped in and lowered him over the water. Slowly they came close with the recue guy flying over the water like a B movie super hero.

Closer and closer they came and the man on the wire was below the cap rail where we couldn’t see him. Up he shot over the rail and landed on our quarter deck. He unclipped and I could see a big grin on his face. There was an outburst of applause and cheering from everyone on deck. The captain came forward and shook his hand and they chatted for a second. Cassie the purser brought up Bounty t-shirts and pins for him and the helicopter crew. He stuffed them in all the cargo pockets he had on his jump suit.

Some of the crew asked him questions and several of us jumped in for pictures. Just as quickly as he came the line came back over the quarter deck. He clipped in and off he went into the air, expertly keeping himself from spinning around, and waived to us. The helicopter backed off and winched him up. Once he got in, out came the camera and the helicopter did a couple laps taking photos which they promised to email us. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I went back below to finish my lunch. The captain said that was the first time anyone had ever landed on the ship via helicopter.

For work party I was assigned to make backropes (lines on the yard we clip our harnesses into) for the main topgallant. I picked some lines, measured it out, and quickly learned I picked the worst line to splice on the ship. I spent a very frustrating hour and a half splicing, only to finish one eye splice. Tomorrow I will slaughter that line.

Our watch came on duty and between chores and dinner it went by quickly. We expect quite a blow tonight (thankfully from the right direction), so Caleb told us the royals and topgallangts needed to be furled. We opted to just get it done with instead of waiting for the next watch. Gabe got convinced to join us even though he was off duty, earning him many points in my book.

Of course the second we said the words furl it began to rain. So, aloft we went in the rain and furled the four sails while our passengers Mark and Mary took the helm and bow watch. We got it done quickly and nicely, not to mention doing a few repairs while we were up there. Of course, a minute after getting on deck the rain quit and we had a good laugh. B watch took the deck and we went below to dry off followed promptly by sleep.

We expect to anchor out tomorrow near Edenbrough, most likely at the end of our watch. We will dock on Tuesday, then most likely I will leave on Wednesday for a European vacation!

Monday August 31st,

We kept on sailing throughout the day up along the coast. The breeze was fair and we were sailing along. During the watch I called my folks as we were so close to the coast I got cell phone reception. I was amused sailing along at 5am off the coast of Scotland and talking to my mother and father back in California, what a world we live in!

Shortly after that the breeze shifted directions radically and more than doubled in strength. The ship heeled over and screamed along. With that stronger breeze and some contacts on shore coming through we decided we could make it into port today. So, on we went through the nearby waters seeing all sorts of interesting sights on land until we sighted the city itself.

We went through a neat lock system to get into the downtown ocean terminal and came in as pretty as you please. We got all snugged up to the shore and I went about making calls and getting my flight changed to tomorrow. Of course since I was getting time off I was given watch that night, which was fine with me, for I was getting time off! I got my plans all lined up, stood my watch and the next day I was on a plane bound for France. I laughed aloud when I thought about how it took me about 15 minutes to cross the channel by plane.

Delfzijl, Netherlands (Holland) & Amsterdam: The Dutch Can’t Que

2009-09-20T11:37:00.001-07:00

Saturday August 22nd

We woke up pretty early and got the signal flags up and the ship ready for tours since we plan on opening the ship just about as soon as we get there. We furled the sails that needed furled and the pilot came on board.

We set topsails and topgallants and fell in a very spaced out line as we motor/sailed our way through the channel to Delfzijl. As we got closer more and more boats of all kinds came buzzing around. The closer we got to the city the more people we saw on shore until we passed some grassy knolls covered with people.

Windmills and people riding their bikes on the canal walls made a very Holland scene along with a plethora of traditional flat bottomed gaff rigged Dutch sailing sloops. We fired a cannon at the end of our national anthem which they played as we entered the harbor.

The event was packed, we learned later they expected over a million people to visit the festival and I believe it. We came in and docked with a hue crowd not two feet from our docking bits. Which is a really bad idea since we throw our lines across on lead balls and if a dock line broke under strain it could kill someone. I was shocked the event coordinators would do something as dangerous as that, but the more I hung around the festival the less surprised I was.

Of our four heaving lines (it is extremely hard to throw these with any accuracy, the general method is just throw it as hard as you can to make sure it gets on shore), two went nicely across, one went into the crowd but thankfully didn’t hit anyone, and the fourth was plucked right out of the air by a Dutch shoreman there to take our lines. The crowd and ship gave him a big applause, seriously, he should be an outfielder.

We got our gangways down and began setting up for tours. I knew it was going to be interesting as a giant mob formed outside the ship with no interest in forming a line. Several of them stood on the 6 inches of space in front of the closed sign on our gangway. I had to physically push past them to get off the ship. As I was assembling the informational signs a Dutch woman was adamant that I was doing it incorrectly and for several minutes followed me around trying to convince me to do it a different way.

The mob in front of our ship became so thick it blocked all traffic around us and people (including the security guards who probably should have been doing something about it) began hopping up on a raised are behind tents and going around. The event people set up no line in barrier form and gave us no security to organize people. We got flooded and tried to make them form a line which we eventually did after moving around barriers we stole from another area and literally herding the Dutch. One man came up to us an said “I have an observation for you, we Dutch cannot form lines”. We agreed.

A festival coordinator, who would continue to be a thorn in our side, came after we got people to form a line and said we had to switch our exit and entrance ramps. We told him the ship doesn’t work that way, there is only one way to do it. He didn’t listen and angrily told us “It must be this way, it is only logical. Do you not understand?!”. So we had to close down the below decks part of the ship and do topside only tours. (I do like the Dutch, it just started poorly).

I stood on deck but only answered a couple questions, though many people asked me things in Dutch, but gave up when I asked them if they speak English; I didn’t think I looked very Dutch. Amelia and her parents came to the festival and they waded through the mob to come on board, quite a feat.

At 6pm I got off of work and Amelia and I wandered the festival and the city of Delfzijl. The festival is huge, the parade of sail lasted all afternoon, ships just kept coming in and coming in. There was a regular forest of masts in the harbor, an incredible sight. No one I talked to had ever seen so many tallships in one place. People were just wall to wall, and there were half a dozen stages set up throughout the festival.

Delfjizl is a small walled city with brick streets. It seems to be a pretty touristy town with many shops, but it was obviously way more packed than normal. We had Chinese food for dinner and enjoyed a wonderful fireworks show from the ship. At the end a huge freighter ship all lit up and with spotlights turning had two tugboats push it to do 360’s in the harbor. The ship was an incredible and ridiculous sight.

Sunday August 23rd

Amelia and I had tried to get on the bus list for the trip to Amsterdam, but our liason had only left it on the boat for an hour. So, we decided to just show up to the buses at 8am in the hope that many sailors had had too good of a night previously. We woke up early and headed out with a bunch of the crew who didn’t sign up either and went to the area we were told the buses would be coming.

We found several other ship’s sailors wandering around the area, as lost as us and no buses. We decided we had to be in the right area and waited until finally a bus did show up; which was immediately filled with Russians in their white shore uniforms before me made the short distance there. A couple of our crew got the last 3 seats on board and the rest of us debated whether there would be more buses.

Luck was on our side as more buses showed up and these buses even had lists of people who were supposed to be on the buses. We found the Bounty bus and when we explained we were not on the list they replied “oh that’s fine there is plenty of room”. We got on board and pretty soon our other bounty sailors who had gotten on the Russian bus showed up. Shortly thereafter the bus was rolling into the Dutch countryside and were on our way.

We saw some beautiful country, lakes, canals and of course traditional windmills. Nearly three hours later we rolled into Amsterdam next to the central train station. I was astounded by the juxtaposition of all the very good looking modern architecture and the obviously historic buildings. Our tour guides were going to do a short tour before they set us loose, but we decided to get moving to get the most of our 6 hours in Amsterdam.

They gave us sack lunches which were better for giving us a laugh than filling our stomachs. We got an apple, which was a very good apple, as well as three sandwiches consisting each consecutively of butter, a single slice of meat, and a single slice of cheese. To wash it all down a little container of lime yogurt in liquid form. I could never quite figure out if I liked the stuff, but it was decidedly not satisfying on a hot sunny day.

The Bounty crew left en masse, but Amelia and I quickly decided by the third shop the group stopped at that we should break off on our own. So off we wandered in the general direction of the history museum, purposefully leaving the map to rot in my backpack. We passed all sorts of grand old buildings and tiny alley ways. At one point I stopped off in a KFC to use the restroom and was met by a man with a table set up next to them who informed me it would be 50 cents to use these KFC bathrooms. I took a long pause before I gave the man his money. Can’t say I ever expected that.

I was very struck by the lack of cars in the city, how the vast majority of people rode bikes or walked. It made for a serenely quiet atmosphere. We lucked out to be there on an absolutely beautiful sunny, warm, Sunday afternoon. Everybody seemed to be out on the town on their bikes or walking or enjoying a drink at the cafe.

What I think I most enjoyed, however, was the immense numbers of people out in their boats on the canal for an afternoon cruise. All types of boats from expensive ski boats to tiny little home made beaters with sputtering outboards and everything in between. Amelia and I sat beside a canal for a while in the shade of an old tree and just watched the Sunday traffic.

We eventually made it to the history museum which was fantastic even if overpriced and required us to put my bag in a locker which I had to pay for as well. The museum is designed chronologically, but we somehow ended up touring it backwards, which I actually really enjoyed doing. I feel it gave us an interesting perspective. The history of Amsterdam is obviously fascinating and gave us better eyes with which to see the city we wandered the rest of the day.

After the museum we wandered a bit with the vague aim of finding a place to eat an afternoon meal. We eventually settled on a little Tapas restaurant which gave us quite a gourmet meal. We took the long way back to the bus stop area enjoying the canals and building. We found ourselves back sufficiently early that we decided to strike out again for the Red Light District.

We got sidetracked from our quest by the oldest church in Amsterdam, a beautiful old gothic building. Here met a lovely trifecta of oldest church, “coffee” shop and brothel at a single intersection. We wandered through a corner of the Red Light District, which was pretty much as sad and ridiculous as I expected. I was more amused by the throngs of tourists alongside us than anything. My favorite was a pair of old Asian ladies coming out of a tiny dirty alleyway, red light peaking out behind them, with big smiles on their faces.

We spent the last 25 minutes before the bus came basking in the warm sun and watching a particularly busy canal intersection. We got back to the bus, as did everyone else thankfully, and off we went back to Delfzijl. On the way back we passed many people fishing in the canals or having a weekend on their boats as well as a dozen hot air balloons drifting lazily above the picturesque farmland.

We got back late and just hung around the ship the rest of the night, listening to nearby concerts.

Monday August 24th

Woke up before 9am so we could climb the rig and get some photos of the festival before our events started. Yet again we lucked out to a bright sunny day and I really enjoyed the forest of masts and rigging around us.

Amelia and I went off and explored the festival, had a beer at 11am, and just enjoyed looking at ships all day. There were ships of all kinds and from all over the place. I think my favorite ship of the festival was the tiniest barque I have ever seen. It was only 40ft long and had yard about 8 feet wide on the foremast. It’s deadeyes were smaller than my fist and it had tiny wooden blocks rigged to everything. It was wonderfully ridiculous.

Amelia’s folks came and picked her up in the afternoon; she left to go traveling with a friend for a few weeks and then is going on to sail Pride of Baltimore II. Everyone was sad to see her go.

That evening I went off with Caleb and a backpack full of beer to go socializing at different ships. We walked around the festival and had some great conversations with a few Dutch ships. We also caught Pirates of the Caribbean II playing on a big screen and came along just in time for the scene when the Bounty gets destroyed by the Kraken. When we came back to the ship we found Dutch Jack Sparrow (who had been around all weekend) was still on the ship and hanging out with the crew. I went to sleep early since I had work the next day.

Tuesday August 25th

Woke up for work, got ready, came on deck, and stood around for 3 hours. Hurry up and wait we call it. The last three days in mornings a company I cannot pronounce has sponsored a kids events on board for ill and handicapped children. Today we had all terminally ill kids on board doing activities like sword fighting, face painting, and we showed them how to fire the cannon.

We were just there to deal with the cannon and make sure everything goes well. All the crew hired by the company were dressed in pirate garb and our Dutch Jack Sparrow was of course a huge hit. Amber did most of the cannon firing but I did one as well for the heck of it, it was pretty fun.

It rained on and off all day and the event went flawlessly. After it was done we cleaned up and got the ship ready for tours. After dinner everything was ready to go and I was relieved form duty at 6pm. I went into town and hit the grocery store. Then I went to the crew center, which was packed, and used the internet for a couple hours.

When I cam back to the ship I just relaxed in my bunk and went to sleep early. I need to spend more time just relaxing and resting, but that may just not be possible. I will be sad to leave Delfjizl. I had a great time here and wish we could have stayed a little longer, but they will be getting the port back into business as soon as our lines leave shore.

Wednesday August 26th

Woke up at 9:00am to find out our departure was pushed back until 4pm. So, instead we were all put to work party. I pulled down the dress signal flags, removed/serviced/returned a block to the rig, and a few other jobs. The whole while a crowd had been gathering and every time you went up in the rig hundreds of people had their eyes on you and took pictures.

We worked until about 3:00pm and then got the ship ready to leave. We worked the ship off the dock despite a wind pressing us against it. As we left we fired two cannons on each side and got a big cheer from the crowd. We threw up all of our fore and aft sails while we headed down the channel and out to sea.

My A watch got Mike added to it and Andrew is staying on for this leg as well as a couple of passengers. We are on the 4-8 for this transit and so we took the deck after working all day. I was on the helm as the pilot boat came and picked up their pilot and we motor/sailed out toward the sea. At the end of the watch we struck all the sails and had to go secure the headsails on the bow sprit. I was feeling very tired and grouchy that we waited until the last 5 minutes of our watch to start a big job like striking all those sails. So, we got off over a half an hour late and I went straight to my bunk to catch sleep until my next watch.

It seems this will be a watch without darkness as we will be near sunset in the evening and twilight to sunrise in the morning. I think it will be an interesting experience. The captain said this morning that there will be a gale blowing against us and he expects a very rough transit. The plan seems to be to get to the UK coast as quickly as we can and get some shelter from the land. I hope it works out that way. We have 8 days to make what could be a 3 day transit, this could be nice or painful, we will find out.

En Route to The Netherlands (Can We Just Call It Holland?): Tanning on the Channel

2009-08-25T09:58:00.001-07:00

Monday August 17th

Woke at 7:00am for my watch and had some wonderful crepes for breakfast. Morning watch was pretty uneventful, very cold out, but sunny. It reminded me of skiing on a sunny day.

For afternoon work party I was assigned to the group in charge of getting the lines run for the main topgallant and royal we took down and up during the transatlantic. We went aloft and strapped things down and got some of the lines run. Gabe was calling the shots and sent me to put of both sides of the royal halyard blocks.

I got up to the yard got one block on the yard and looked up the mast. I looked down to Gabe and shouted down “how the Hell do you expect me to get up there?!” pointing to the strop 8ft above the royal yard, above the back stays and 2ft from the tip of the mast. “wrap your legs around the mast and climb the backstay” was his reply to which I retorted “there is nowhere to clip in” which was met with the classic “well then it would be foolish to let go wouldn’t it?”.

So I took a deep breath, unclipped from the yard, wrapped my legs around a greased mast, clapped my hands on to the back stay and pulled myself up hand over hand. When I reached the top I held on with one hand and clipped myself to the eye of the backstay. Hanging in my harness (I have much faith in it) I shackled on the new block. When I was done I unclipped, wrapped my legs around the mast and lowered myself hand over hand to the yard. A few minutes later I did it again to run the halyard.

I went to sleep after work party and slept through dinner. I asked cookie to set me aside a plate, which he kindly did. I was awoken for my night watch and took an idle position first to eat dinner. Not a few minutes after finishing I was called up to strike the fore and aft sails, which we did. Andrew and I went into the headrig and spent a good half an hour getting the sails daisy chained to the jibboom so they would not flog during the night. We did a lovely job if I do say so myself.

The rest of watch was none too interesting, we saw one of our tallship pals in the distance and saw a city on the English shore near the end of the watch. Sometime during the next watch we will round the Southern tip of England and enter the Channel. This should mean the wind will come fair and we can set some sails and really get a move on. Off to sleep I gratefully went.

Tuesday August 18th

Woke up rested but regretting leaving my bunk. Came on deck to the main topsail and forecourse set, England to port. Started on the helm and she was steering so lovely. Amber took the helm from me a bit before 9 so I could run aloft to unfurl the foretops’l. We set the foretop and maincourse and continued sailing along.

I chatted with bill about steel boats on bow watch and the traffic of the channel was starting to add up. Things will get interesting as we get deeper into the channel, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world that bottlenecks to 10miles at one point. Watch went pretty uneventfully.

We met for capstan and spent a good deal of time talking about abandoning ship and what we would do and take depending on how much time we had. Work party started and aloft I went to work on running the gear for the maintopgallant and the royal, just like yesterday. Over two hours I spent in the rig running lines and during the that time the clouds cleared and we had a right sunny warm afternoon.

I ended up putting seizings on the bitter end of the topgallant halyard so for nearly a half an hour I hung in my harness from just below the royal yard. The coast of england lay low off to port with dozens and dozens of little sloops along the coast. Meanwhile the sun’s rays warmed my skin and lit up the water, it was lovely work. I finished a little late and went down to my bunk to relax before dinner.

After dinner I slept until watch and came on deck to a lovely sunset in wispy clouds along the horizon. There was a lot of traffic everywhere and we came right by several fishing boats. The night came on slowly and the stars began to glow. A mild night with the coasts shrouded in clouds, we had all the stars you could want to see and many shooting stars. During my idle position I laid down on the stern and just stared into the heavens. I thought about “star watches” my family used to do when I was little, how much I still enjoyed them, and how I never thought I would be seeing the view I was now.

Wednesday August 19th

Caught myself almost falling back asleep after my wakeup and came on deck to another beautiful sunny day. I know the channel can get extremely ugly and I feel very lucky to have the weather we are. Some of the nicest since we were near Bermuda. We weaved in and out through the shipping lanes and plan on crossing the Dover Channel close to the French side.

Yet another landmark experience as we crossed the Prime Meridian today. Not a thrilling experience, but still a cool one. My first time sailing in the Eastern Hemisphere. I really enjoyed soaking up the day and when I was asked to come help clean up some tar that had gotten in the bilges I didn’t mind. So I got on my work clothes and crawled down into the bilges for an hour or so getting orange slime and tar on myself. I am glad to shower soon.

Afternoon work party was back in the rig as we finished running all the sheets and gear for the main t’gallant and royal. We had another warm afternoon and I actually got quite warm working aloft. We finished just in time and for the hour before dinner I showered and laid out in the sun on deck.

Slept after dinner until watch. When I came on deck were on the north side of the Dover Strait. France was plainly visible and a heavy mist was setting in. Lots of shipping traffic and all coming very close together at this point. I started on the helm and had to work hard to make sure we stayed dead on our course. The rest of watch went pretty uneventfully. The stars came out less brilliantly than last night, but still beautiful. The last hour of watch dragged on and when it was over I was out like a light

Thursday August 20th

Woke up for watch to another lovely day! Staysails had just been set when we came on deck. As I was on the helm the wind veered enough that we threw up all the squares on the main and fore masts. It was the moment of truth for all the gear we had run and despite one wrong lead they set like they did a month ago before we took them down. We killed the engines and cruised along at 6 knots under a bright sunny day, still haze/mist on the horizon.

We braced a little more square to the ship near the end of our watch, but the rest went true to form. We saw lots of traffic and a few oil rigs as well. If we are not already we should soon be entering the North Sea.

Lunch and then for work party Colby the volunteer and I cleaned out the tar area in Bosun’s and organized it. After that I went aloft and patch served. We sailed along at a good clip and a little swell was building to give us a roll.

Dinner and a nap later I was back on deck. The previous watch said that it had blown quite hard for an hour or so. The ship log used to gauge our speed in the water was ripped right off its new mounting bracket and lost. The wind during our watch slackened steadily until we were only doing 4 knots and had to throw on an engine.

Tonight was our most mild night to date, I never even had to put on a coat. Another misty/hazy night as the sun went down and the stars began to come out. At dusk Andrew and I went out on the bow sprit and furled the headsails like we had done the night before. We joked we shouldn’t do too good of a job or they might make a habit of sending us out to do it. All sorts of shipping, fishing boats, lighthouses, buoys, oil rigs, stars, and lightning in the distance gave us quite a light show.

Friday August 21st

When I woke up I could feel the ship moving slowly and figured we must be near our anchorage. Sure enough we were in the channel a few miles from our anchorage moving nice and slow. A touristy beach front lay on our port and ahead a huge wind farm with more windmills off in the distance.

Behind us on the horizon a couple of tallships were white flashes of full sail and ahead more ships lay at anchor with smaller sailboats moving around. This makes me excited to see some new ships and that we may be looking forward to a big event. We set a couple more squares and struck them a half hour later as we came closer in.

We came to our anchorage near the wind farm set the spanker and went into the wind. The anchor dropped and I went below to find our anchor ball (a ball hung forward to let people know we are at anchor which apparently the Dutch insist we use) which needed to be assembled and painted. We threw on a coat of paint, tied it up, and I crawled out on the bow sprit and made it off.

We refurled the headsails and went below for lunch. I am looking forward to having anchor watch tonight and getting a lot of sleep. It has been a week since I got my tattoo and it is heeling up well, also, I still really like it.

Belfast, Northern Ireland: Pubs, Castles, and a Tattoo

2009-08-25T09:56:00.001-07:00

Wednesday August 12th

Woke up for work party at 7am, way too early. I am on starboard watch for this port and I work Wednesday and Thursday so I get Friday and Saturday off. Today was painting the ship and making her look pretty. I got in the whaler with Young Mitch and we rowed around the boat painting the hull. Later in the day we put up our signal/parade flags which as always was an oh so fun project. It was a long day, but as always we had a decent time.

Maisie came onboard and after dinner we went and got a pint at a pub called “The American Bar” which was about as American as the “football” photos on the wall. It was definitely a locals bar, however, and we had a great time hanging out and watching the classic Irish pub. We walked a bit around the local area and then I came back to the ship to go to bed early and get some rest for tomorrow. When I got back I found that Cookie had bought an entire sheep from somebody he met at the pub last night and butchering it on the counter in the galley, it was hilarious. I guess we will be having a lot of lamb in the future.

Thursday August 13th

Got to sleep in until 9am, which was downright awesome. Had to wear my crew t-shirt, but it was so cold I ended up putting on 3 layers underneath. We got the ship ready and press folks kept coming by and taking pictures of us. We opened for tours from noon until 6:30pm.

A stage was set up near our ship and all sorts of “important” people were giving speeches about the festival. It was decided that Bounty was to fire off a cannon and then all the ships would sound their horns to signal the start of the festival. Europa, however, sounded their horn early and set off the other ships. I could see the event organizer’s hair turn grey before my eyes as he was on the phone and radio trying to sort out the mess. When the festival did eventually start we fired off a cannon and were all deafened by the blaring horns.

The tours went well and we had several thousand people come through and had to turn away part of the line at the end of the day. Many people knew about the ship and lots of people were very chatty. Thankfully it didn’t rain as forecasted and all in all it was a great day.

After work Amelia and I went off to find a tattoo parlor I had read was the best in Belfast (More on the tattoo later). I had called them in the morning to see if I could make an appointment, they said they were all booked up for the weekend but could call me if anything opened up. So, after work I wandered down there to see what I could do about the situation.

We eventually found the place and I got the same speech when I walked in. I then explained the situation and pulled the “tallship sailor'” card. Sure enough, the artist Shane, who was at the counter, said he would come in earlier and gave me a morning spot tomorrow. I was very grateful.

After that Amelia and I wandered around Belfast. We rode the silly Ferris wheel at city hall, which had an incredible view of the city and surrounding hills. There is so much beautiful architecture in Belfast, and more importantly so many pubs! We meandered our way back towards the ship and saw some fireworks. We went to a movie theater near by and saw the new Harry Potter. After that we went home and I slept like a rock until the next morning.

Friday August 14th

My first day off! I set an alarm and woke up at 9am. Why? To go get my first tattoo! I walked down to the place with Chris and met Shane the artist. Shane is Canadian and we joked that I had to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to Belfast to get a tattoo done by a Canadian. He is a really nice guy and came in early to fit me into their completely booked weekend. We went up to the parlor and we fine tuned the design and got it all worked out.

The design took over an hour and a half to complete and boy was that unpleasant! I got the tattoo on my ankle and foot. If you’ve heard that is a painful place to get a tattoo done, they were right! A little while of pain and it was done.

So the design is a bowline knot (used for tying a line to an object ie person, anchor..) around my ankle and fading away off my foot as though it were tethered to the deck. So, it has a keep me on the ship and safe theme. In the curve of the line is a swallow, which has two meanings. Firstly it means 5,000 miles on the water and secondly swallows are good luck to bring you home as they migrate such long distances but always come back to the same places. Also to commemorate my first Atlantic or, any ocean, crossing. It is done in classic nautical tattoo style and I am very happy with the job Shane did.

I was very happy Chris was there with me chatting with Shane, because I was in no mood to socialize and I had something to distract me. Plus he documented the event. Thanks Chris! We went off to find the care product and lunch. We hit a little pub we walked by on our way back to the ship. We got a couple pints and a shepard’s pie like dish that was fantastic!

We worked our way back to the ship the long way and I hung around, took a nap, and did a few chores I needed to get done on my time off. I offered to give Shane a tour of the ship because he was so nice to me and he showed up with his wife, kids, and mother in law. They were all very nice people and I showed them around the ship and they chatted with a lot of the crew. Shane’s mother in law told one of the crew that I was more handsome than Frank Sinatra and should be in movies. I had a good laugh. They seemed to enjoy the ship and I was happy to able to repay his kindness.

Later that night I went to the big crew party held by the Belfast Tallships people. We had a whole indoor arena for the event and lots of good cold beer. Unexpectedly, however, we were met with an all Irish Blues Brother cover band and danced the night away to American blues and rock. If you’re wondering, my foot didn’t bother me.

Saturday August 15th

Amelia and I took a bus with Caleb and Rebecca to the castle Kerrick Fergus, built in the 12th century by a Norman knight. Our tour guide was a little more interested in medieval weapons and gore than the history, but the castle was absolutely incredible. We had a great time and went off to explore the surrounding town. The church, built by the Normans as well, was very cool with its crowded little graveyard and extensive history. I was interested to find a plaque to an Irish sailor who drowned when his ship wrecked in the Caribbean in the 1830’s.

We wandered around a bit more and ate lunch at a tiny cafe, very local, every day place; it was fun. We hung out by the harbor and watch the boats before we got back on the bus and headed back. The bus had trouble getting back to the event because the police had blocked off several of the roads. We had to go through a long way and saw where the visitors had to park and take buses into the event. People were in a half mile line to get on the buses to get to the event which was absolutely packed!

After we got back Amelia and I struck out into the city and wandered our way to Queen’s University and the botanical gardens. It was absolutely beautiful and for once there was more sunny sky than cloudy and it felt wondrous to soak it all up. We had dinner at a little Italian place and worked our way back to the ship. Amelia’s folks picked her up from the ship and we said goodbye.

I went out on the town with a bunch of the crew and we all met up at a neat pub, but it was so crowded we tried to get a second round for 20 minutes and gave up to try somewhere else. We went to White’s which, built in the 1600’s is one of the several pubs to claim the oldest in Belfast. Sean, an old shipmate of Adam’s, got us all singing shanties and before we left we got the entire pub to sing “Wild Rover”, which was fantastic.

After that rendition we left and headed for our old haunt Pat’s. We found more of the crew there and all had a few drinks. I left early as I had watch in the morning, went back to the ship and went to sleep with a big smile on my face.

Sunday August 16th

Woke at 7am as I had watch until we left Belfast. Got all the trash off the ship and made sure the water tanks were filled and topped off before we left shore. I chased four different groups of people that had come onto our obviously not open for tours ship. I pretty much had to physically escort one old man off the ship, I walked him to the ramp and when I turned around he was walking back towards the stern and I had to run back to get him.

Roused the ship at 8:15 and we got to work getting the ship ready for sea. The sun was coming out between clouds and the most importantly we had a good fair breeze. We ungasketed topsails and courses and the captain told us our game plan. Before we knew it the ship in front of us was off the dock and it was our turn to get into the parade of sail.

I was on the foredeck so I helped set the forecourse and topsail, as well as the jib and foretop staysail. We flashed it all out and sailed right off the dock! We got out into the loch and had a great time sailing in a lovely parade with lots of pleasure craft sailing alongside.

We got out and decided we would head south through the Irish sea and then up through the channel. At this point it was lunch time and we broke into work party for the afternoon. I ended up doing the aloft and safety training for the passenger and volunteer with us for this leg. Just before dinner we headed more south and into a foul wind. So aloft we went to strike sail.

I am on the 8-12 watch for this transit and so after dinner I took a nap. It was a cold night on watch and with the headwinds and short choppy seas we had quite a bit of bow spray. Staysails were all set so we just motored along with those and headed south; Ireland to our right and the Isle of Man somewhere off to the left.

En Route to Ireland: Boredom, Adversity, and Sweet Triumph

2009-08-13T01:36:00.001-07:00

We’re really doing it! It’s finally here, the Atlantic Crossing!

Monday July 20th, At Sea

We finished cleaning up the ship and stowing for the voyage, cannons lashed down and everything put in its place. We have test for sea stowing. The tester grabs hold of the item and proceeds to do everything they can to move the item while shouting furiously “I am the sea!”. My cannon lashing passed.

We broke into out new watches and I am on A watch, the “Action” watch. In the event of some sort of incident I am one of the group to do something about the emergency. Caleb is the mate of our watch and Amber is the only other regular Bounty sailor in it, the rest of our watch consists of passengers. I felt very flattered that my abilities were rated high enough to deserve that ratio.

I got some dinner, Cookie’s peanut sauce chicken again. I believe I mentioned Cookie was going to leave us, but thankfully he did not and is sailing with us to Ireland. More Mexican food! I ate on deck and watched the starting of the tall ship race. It was so awesome seeing all those tallships lined up on the hazy horizon. Utterly Beautiful. So, off to sleep and next up is my 8-12 night watch.

Woke up for the watch and found a warm evening. Our friends on the schooners Roseway and Pride of Baltimore 2 were coming up on us a sunset and how absolutely beautiful it was! Open sea and we three sail within hailing distance of each other. As the sun began to set the 4 masted Russian ship Kruchenstern came by our rear starboard quarter.

The watch wore on and the breeze shifted a couple times and so we had to brace the yards around to catch the wind. Amelia noticed a sheet dragging in the water so I hauled it in and went off to do other things. Later, as we were cleaning up and coiling lines (coiling down) I was called over to check out the sheet which had picked up a bunch of phosphorescent plankton.

The line did not look real. Every time you moved it or shook the line it would sparkle a brilliant green, aided by the moonless night that had come on. I hate to use the word, but the whole thing was really quite magical. The stars came out in force that night as well. All the constellations and the milky way galaxy were visible. I didn’t keep my course very well while I was at the helm. I spent too much time watching the stars.

By the end of the watch I was feeling very chilled and when I got to my bunk and in my sleeping bag I felt hot. I realized then that I had chills followed by a fever and my face was hurting quite a bit. Another sinus infection… I spent most of the night rolling around with a fever.

Tuesday July 21st

Woke up for watch feeling sore all over, feverish, and like I had been punched in the face. My morning watch went by so slowly, it seemed to take forever. Several of the crew were concerned and kind to me. Christine and Frank offered to take my watch. On the up side while I was on bow watch I saw several pods of dolphins. The seas and winds are so calm its incredible, the water looks so still you could almost walk on it. We also had a Canadian Coast Guard Cutter drive out to us and ask permission via radio to take pictures, we were all amused.

Towards the end of the watch the overcast skies started to open up and rain on us a little, I zombied through the watch with my mind solely focused on the end of my day and sleep. Thankfully, I was allowed to sleep through work party during the afternoon.

I slept through dinner as well and was awoken for my evening watch. The wind had backed to just off of our nose and we had to strike all our sail. With one engine on we are still making about 4 knots. The starboard bilge pump (there is a port pump and 2 emergency pumps too) had been overhauled and when I showed passenger and watch mate Ed how to pump the bilges like we do at the end of every watch, it went so quickly and easily it brightened my day. I pushed through this watch as well and fell right asleep when it was over.

Wednesday July 22nd

Woke up for watch and my fever had gone down quite a bit, but I was aching all over. We got on watch and the wind at our nose had strengthened so we had to furl sail and brace the yards over to create less windage. In my condition it would not have been smart to go aloft and so I took the helm. As the watch wore on and the helm became difficult I felt worse and worse. The best part of the watch, however, was that with the rain and cold my hands felt oh so wonderful on my neck and forehead.

After an hour and a half Ed relieved me and I cast lines for the furlers and helped coil down. After that was all over I asked permission to go below and sleep. I woke up a couple hours later, hungry for lunch which I took as a good sign. The captain told me to go rest and skip capstan, I would be the “man overboard” for the man overboard drill. So I went below and slept even longer.

About dinner time I heard the call of “all hands to make sail”. I was feeling a bit better, no fever, less aching, and so I went on the tween deck to put on my rig. The captain walked by and told me to go below and rest, I was worth more to him healthy. So I had dinner and went back below to sleep until my next watch. Surely I have been feeling miserable, but it could be a lot worse, and I have antibiotics ready if I get worse. Most of all, I am grateful that if I had to get sick, it is happening now when things are calm and I am not urgently needed. Also, better now than in Ireland.

I was awake when 7:20, my wake up time rolled around, and no one came to wake me up. So I put on my foul weather gear and began putting on my harness and rig belt, assuming C watch had forgotten to wake us again. Cassie on C watch came by and told me the captain told her not to wake me, that I was to sleep during watch. I began to protest that I could still stand watch, but she would have none of it. I was shoed back to my bunk and I slept clean through the night.

Thursday July 23rd,

I was awoken for my watch and felt so much better than the previous day. I am now capable of abstract thought again! My wake up told me that the sun had come out and the weather was nice. Alas, when I came on deck the sun had been swallowed up and a fog bank was blowing down upon us. So, for the first half of watch we had to listen to that damnable fog horn whose tone and volume could kindly be described as abrasive.

Halfway into the watch the fog blew past us, the breeze picked up and we braced around on a sharp port tack. The ship heeled over nicely and we began to plow along at 5-6 knots. On my bow watch I spotted some dolphins and they changed course, making a b-line to come play on our bow. I heard them called Atlantic White-sided Dolphins, beautiful and playful creatures. Twice on my bow watch they came to play, in groups of 10-15 and never less than 15 minutes. I could hear them click and squeak as they jumped and sped around. They were absolutely captivating.

At the end of our watch as I was walking down below I spotted blue sky, the first I had seen since we left Halifax. We are now heading East and with Newfoundland somewhere off to our port side. Lunch was good and we had brownies and chocolate cupcakes in honor of Sarah’s Birthday.

I came on deck for the afternoon capstan meeting and saw we were furling sails. I was feeling good and so I threw on my harness and rig. It wasn’t until I was out on the fore topsail yard that I glanced behind me and saw the main topgallant yard “split in half like a breadstick” as the Nell next to me said. The sail draped down the mast and the yardarms shot back like wings.

The wind didn’t feel strong enough to do that kind of damage to me, even with its current position on our nose (why we were striking sail). With a feeling of urgency that probably was not warranted, we got all the sails furled. The topgallant sail was brought to deck and the yard secured to the mast to be lowered in the morning. No one is yet sure why the yard broke. After all was furled and coiled down I went below to sleep another afternoon away.

I was out like a light yet again and awoken for dinner at about 5:30. I felt even better than before and damn chipper about it. After dinner I watched the captain play Dan the Bosun and Mitch the carpenter simultaneously in chess and utterly slaughter them both; and of course with much playful trash talking. I was very amused, as were several other members of the crew who were watching the show.

Evening watch was quite nice, the sky cleared some and we got to see part of the sunset. Our whole watch was in a very cheerful mood and we had a great time despite the cold conditions. I brought out my fleece face mask and my full cold weather regalia. We saw a few more dolphins and enjoyed a lot of satellites coming into view as the stars began to appear.

I spent my idle positions re-sewing the buttons on my new greatcoat, they were stitched on with only a few threads. So I have a new project for the next several days. I am really enjoying my new watch, all positive people willing to have a good time while they work.

Friday July 24th

Woke for watch and breakfast, but headed straight for the shower. I was aware that today is not my designated day to shower, but after several nights and days of fever and chills I was beginning to smell a bit ripe. Now, being cognizant enough to care how I smelled, I took a shower and felt clean on top of fairly healthy.

Ate some breakfast and went onto watch. We are simply motoring into the wind at about 2 knots and heading a bit south of east. Newfoundland is still to our North. I did a navigation plot, stood bow watch, did some chores on my idle position, and ended with a boat check and pumped the bilges. At the end of our watch we saw a tanker come nearby and in the last few minutes I saw a whale surface and give us his tail within a hundred yards of the starboard bow. A quick and painless watch with everyone in a playful mood, I had a great time.

As I was getting ready to get on deck for the capstan meeting the general alarm went off and I shot out of my cabin. As I got to the doghouse I heard the call for “Abandon Ship” and so I realized it was another drill. I helped toss out the survival suits and got my own on.

After the drill, for work party I was sent up the mizzen mast to patch serve (we use wires for our stay and footropes and such, so to keep them from corroding in the sea air they are first greased, then covered, or wormed, with a cloth-like strip round and round. Next another coat of grease and over this a fairly thick twine called marlin is wound around it tightly. Finally the whole thing is tarred. So, to patch serve is to patch and repair the broken or stripped areas of marlin).

The job was not very entertaining, but we kept attracting dolphins and they were wonderful to watch from aloft. They would zip around and change directions, burst out of the water and play with each other. There were several very young dolphins (does calf apply here?) with their mother and I especially enjoyed their awkward attempts at play beside their parent.

When work party was over I went straight to sleep until dinner and napped a bit after dinner. My evening watch was pretty damn cold with the breeze in our teeth. I was bundled up and when I was below I worked more on the buttons on my coat. Watch went by pretty uneventfully.

Saturday July 25th

Morning watch. Came on deck to much of the same conditions as yesterday. The wind had veered a bit more south and so at 10am we went aloft and unfurled the topsails on the main and fore masts, sheeted home, hoisted the halyards, and braced sharp on a starboard tack. If the GPS is right, despite the North in our East we should still clear Newfoundland. Captain thinks the breeze will come around to the West tomorrow. We were called to set the inner jib or “jib of jibs” as some call it. I jumped up on the bow sprit and ungasketed the jib. While I was out there alone I remarked to myself that this was probably the first time I had set a bunch of sail on the ship and not been at least a little unsure or forgotten some detail of the process. That felt pretty good.

The main royal yard was getting taken down during my watch so I helped here and there with that. Since the main topgallant yard is down and a spiderband needs to be replaced I guess we’re just going to drop the main royal and get the job done while we are at sea. It served as pretty good entertainment during the watch. With that and the sails being set time flew by. The engines are off and we are cruising nicely at 4-5 knots.

Slept until dinner and then tried to go back to sleep after, but ended up listening to music until my watch. The wind had veered more and strengthened quite a bit, with gusts reaching 25+ and sideways stinging rain. The engines were killed while I was at the helm and we were screaming along like an 18th century freight train at 7.5 knots. Thankfully it was not too cold, just very windy. We set the spanker sail to balance the ship out and she steered like a dove, gently following the guide of the rudder. I had a blast on helm.

On bow watch it was so dark I could barely make out the horizon and every couple of minutes the waves would hit the bow just right and a tower of white water would explode and shower the bow. I found it more exhilarating than irritating. We moved from our home made chart onto the corner of our chart of Newfoundland and saw we were sailing onto Grand Banks, which I thought was pretty cool. I had my full foulies on, facemask and hood drawn tight around my head and I was having a grand old time.

That being said I was wet and tired when I was relieved and happy to go off to sleep. Tomorrow is an actual Sunday as well as a sailing “Sunday” which means no work party and a dogging (changing) of the watches. Yes!

Sunday July 26th

Woken at 7am for watch again. Foggy with the breeze fairly light, but we are still going in the right direction. The watch went by quickly and without much interesting. We started to see some of the sunrise, the fog started to thin and I saw some sky. I jumped aloft to see if I could get above the fog, but it thickened before I got there. Caleb let me go up but then told me once I was up to unfurl the royal and topgallant. Trickery! I took this photo just below the royal with the fog behind me and my optimistic sunglasses on. After watch I ate lunch and then I had until 6pm to myself. We moved the clocks an hour forward which we will do every Sunday until we are on Ireland time.

I spent my leisurely afternoon finishing a movie I had begun watching, reading and listening to music. I however, spent the lion’s share of my free time sleeping. You can never get enough sleep sailing on a tallship. Frank and Christine were giving dance lessons to young Mitch; Gabe and Nelly had a dress-up-off, she in a cowgirl getup and he as a samurai. So Sunday hat the atmosphere of a holiday. This was cemented by Frank and Christine making ham and scalloped potatoes, a meal I had requested when I got on board. The meal was delicious and reminded me of home.

We stood a two hour watch from 6-8pm and slept until our new 4-8 am and pm watch.

Monday July 27th

When I was awoken the fog horn was still sounding and I put on my clothes expecting everything to be wet. I was not disappointed. Pretty much as soon as we got on watch we struck our sails. We had been motorsailing during the night and the wind had slacked so much that the act of motoring was backing our sails. Towards the end of the watch we came out of the fog and saw the horizon. During the act of striking sail. A poorly secured sheet block for the topgallant sail that is currently on deck broke free. I had to climb aloft, find it, untangle it from the rig, get it back where it ought to be, and secure it. It took me the better part of an hour in the rig, but I got it done.

Once watch was over I went straight to sleep and had a great nap. Cookie made a wonderful lunch which I woke on my own for, which was a nice change. Work party was rough, I got sent to Bosun’s storage to organize a bit, which was fun, but Happy Chris and I had to stow a 3/4 inch cable from its natural five foot coil to a 1.5 thick reel. Of course it naturally did not want to do this. It took over an hour and we were scratched up and pouring sweat by the time it was done. I was muttering my full vocabulary and Chris looked like he might pop. In the end we got it done and over with.

Evening watch went by quickly as we spent most of the watch getting dinner eaten, sweeping and mopping, and doing dinner dishes. We were very busy. We were also on deck helping take down the main topgallant mast to get some repairs done, all of this spurred on because of the broken yard. Sveta dropped a big mallet from the main crosstrees which hit the thankfully empty deck below with a rending crack. Everyone gave her a hard time for the rest of the night and expects beer from her, as is our law.

After watch I went to my bunk and just relaxed for a few minutes before going to sleep. I was tired and in somewhat of a grouchy mood, not being adjusted to my new watch times, tired as hell, and still not feeling completely myself from the sinus infection.

Tuesday July 28th

Two months sailing aboard Bounty! Two months never seems like a long time when I tell people, but believe me working, living, eating, sleeping, on the ship you are never really off the clock. Two months is virtually a lifetime, but a good one. I woke up in a good mood and volunteered to take bow watch, which nobody on my watch wanted given that this morning was one of our coldest yet.

My face felt so cold and I think the birds were affected as well since I was hit by one standing on the bow. I had so many layers on I didn’t really feel it, but I heard it hit my jacket and looked down to see it flutter about the deck and fly away. I just laughed at the situation. I think it was one of the large black swallow like birds we have been seeing flying around.

During the night a watch had put up topsails and the fore course. I saw the main topsail was not set right, so we fixed it and set the fore topgallant and royal as well as the main course. We are heading a bit north of East, but mostly in the right direction, and motorsailing at 5.5 knots. We better get some good sailing weather soon or we won’t make it to Ireland on time. We washed the deck and I helped Arlene pump the bilges after the watch was over since she forgot how to do it and that she was supposed to.

I went straight to sleep and had a great dream that I owned a big historic, Victorian bar. It was strange but I woke up in a good mood again. Cookie was spot on with lunch: gnocci, salad, tomato soup, and a nicely spiced and grilled sandwich with ham.

We met for capstan and since it was coldly raining in a generally miserable way on deck we met on the ‘tween deck for a sailing theory lesson from the captain. He talked about center of effort for a ship, tacking, center of lateral resistance, and such. For work party Ed and I washed a bunch of stuff under and the whaler itself, not done well enough previously. Apparently we are expecting some decent swell and weather in the future.

Once that was done we went on watch which went by very quickly in a flurry of chores. Mike’s birthday was today and so some of the crew made him brownies with icing in the shape of an iceberg (Mike really wants to see an iceberg). The rain continued and abated and continued and once I saw a slight pattern in the clouds instead of the gray hue we have been living in. At the end of watch I went to sleep fairly quickly.

Wednesday July 29th

I was awoken for watch and apparently on the wrong side of the bed. I was extremely tired and as grouchy as I can be. We braced the ship square to sail with the wind behind us. Struck the fore staysail, inner jib, and spanker. After all that activity I wondered at my being so grouchy and tired. I figured on the lack of sun for the last week and more being one of the main culprits, so I took a B12 vitamin. Sure enough an hour or so later I was back to my chipper self.

I also decided that I should try to sleep less. Surely I could use the sleep, I’m definitely tired enough, but sleeping all the time when I am not working makes life a little rough. I need to spend more time awake and doing something for myself.

This is an interesting way of living. I think it has changed my perspective on work hours. I wish I worked 8 hours a day and oh lord what I wouldn’t give for 2 days off a week! All these things I say could be seen negatively, but what is not conveyed in this writing is the smile and chuckle I say all this with. Despite being tired, sore, and a little cabin fever there is nowhere else I would rather be than on this ship.

Amber and I climbed aloft and I unfurled the fore royal in the second hour of watch. When I got to the royal, the ratlines (ratboards at this point) end several feet before the footropes. So we have a couple of lines spliced up there to use as hand holds and to clip in to. I grabbed on to those and like sponges they sent all the water they had soaked up down my sleeves. The braces turned out to be fairly loose. So once the sail was only partly unfurled and catching breeze I had myself one hell of a bucking bronco in that yard. Back in my good mood I just laughed and gave a few good “yeeehaws” and made my way down once the sail was done.

We messed with sails a bit more and did a deck wash. The wash was pretty funny; because we are heading down wind the ship likes to roll from side to side in a falling leaf motion, so the water never had time to go down the drains in the scuppers. The water would just wash to one side and before it quite got there would wash back to the other. I was temped to start a splash fight with my fellow deck swabbers, but then I remembered we are theoretically watching out for icebergs and decided against it.

After my watch I took a shower and man, did that feel good. Hot water felt so good; and now I decidedly smell a lot less. Had lunch and started work party. Amelia and I stowed some wood and spent over an hour replacing a fire extinguisher bracket with stripped screws. The more we tried to remove the stripped screws the more rust and paint came off the bracket revealing it to be not worth saving. Eventually, against all the mates’ inclinations that it should be saved and repaired, I convinced them that in fact there was no saving it without basically welding up a new one. So, we just tore it out and overboard that rusty hunk went.

The fog really closed in during our evening watch. We had about 200 ft visibility and the fog horn was blasting the entire time. On bow watch we had dolphins on and off the bow the entire time. There was even one with a scar on his back that circled the boat during my entire time on the bow, I don’t think anyone can tire of dolphins playing with the boat. Even if you’re not watching them, seeing them jump out of the corner of your eye is both pleasing and somehow comforting.

Thursday July 30th

I was promised clear skies when I was awoken for watch. I got very excited, I even made sure to get my camera on me. Alas, when I came on deck it was cloudy and a couple fuzzy stars could be seen through the cloud cover. We adjusted sails, set the jib and spanker. As the sky started to lighten up we could see patches of clouds and a few storms in the distance. The wind was not acting as it should according to the forecasts and so the storm cells to windward of our ship, bothered us.

We tried to brace the fore topgallant yard square to the ship so we could strike and furl it, but the brace was caught somewhere up in the mainmast. I went aloft and tracked down the point where it was trapped and after some issues got it freed and laid below. We clewed up the fore topgallant, so Amber and I went aloft to furl it. None of the passengers on our watch would go aloft in the wind, rain, and swell we were in so it was just the two of us.

We climbed up, the ship swaying back and forth, hopping up and down the swell. We got on the windward side of the yard and slowly worked our way across and got it furled fairly nicely. The sail luffing loudly, trying to blow free and the ship pitching the whole time. As we were finishing up we noticed that the fore topgallant yard was being lowered and sail clewed up. As I got down to the tops I shouted below and asked if we were furling the topsail. We were.

Still the rest of our watch would not come aloft, so out on the yard Amber and I went. 2 sailors to do what is normally done with six men. The only reason to furl the topsail is in preparation for some real inclement weather, so we jumped to it knowing it would take us a while. The rain had started again while we were laying out on the yard, though mercifully we had weaved our way between the really heavy patches of rain.

We threw ourselves into it and did a respectable job on the windward side of the yard. Once we were on the leeward side of the yard, we had a hell of a time, The wind was catching patches of sail and blowing it out of our hands and the whole sail had twisted so that it could not be stretched out properly. Nor could this situation be remedied by the two of us. I should also mention that when the forces were right the entire yard on which we were standing on was hopping at least a foot up and down in its yoke. At one point of physical and mental frustration and anguish I heaved the sail and roared with fury. In any other situation I would have felt silly acting like that, but with intensity of the weather, the ache of my muscles, and the meager force we were for a tough job, I felt damn primal.

It was about at this point that the sun broke through the clouds and I felt the first full blown sun rays since Halifax. Damn did that feel good. All the frustration and anger I felt at the overwhelming task to which I was set sloughed off and threw myself into my work with renewed vigor. The leeward side of that yard was by no means pretty, but it was furled, and securely.

As we laid below I took a moment to take a few photos from the tops. Sun! Once I got on deck and the adrenaline became to ebb I felt an ache in my shoulder. The ache continued to grow and when I got a chance I went below and checked it out. I had a nice red mark across the back and side of my right shoulder and a small cut had opened up. Considering the layer of clothing I had on while aloft, I must have hit, whatever it was I hit, with a decent amount of force to break skin. I talked to Caleb and he said we struck and furled the topsail because he suspected that the strange weather may have been a squall. Thankfully he was wrong, but I was happy to have done the work once I new the reason for it.

The rest of my watch volunteered to do the deck wash since Amber and I furled. There was a lovely rainbow to view during deckwash. I went below and iced down my shoulder so it wouldn’t be a problem in the future. We had waffles for breakfast, which I was oh so thankful for. I had a bunch of breakfast and went back for seconds. I had worked up quite an appetite. I iced down my shoulder again after breakfast and went down to my bunk to write this up. I promptly then went to sleep.

Consumed lunch. For work party Amelia and I parcel and served some of the lines for the downed topgallant. On watch we all enjoyed the sun. Chores again made the evening go by quickly. Amelia took the helm and promptly luffed up and backed the ship. We were steadfastly in irons and had to use the engine to ware ship to get back on course. I had never seen anyone completely back the sails until today and apparently Chris did it this morning, that’s twice in one day! Thankfully with the engines it is an easy thing to rectify, but we all give them a hard time about it. The wind has died down a bit, but the swell has grown above 10 feet and we are rockin’ and rollin’ pretty nicely.

Captain notified us that we have a “massive electronic failure”, again. This is his code for turning off the gps and making us navigate the old ways. We all agree that it is good to know the “old school” navigation techniques, but that doesn’t stop it from being a pain in the neck on a day to day basis.

Also, we are now officially low on water. We are not allowed to take showers and everyone is working on conserving water. We still have the water maker running, but it will take a while before we are full enough to take off the water restrictions. I am now very happy I showered the other day.

After my watch I hung out on deck with some of B watch. We watched the sun set, which, although not really anything special, was the first sunset we’ve seen in a long time. So, we all enjoyed it. I hear we’re supposed to have good weather again tomorrow, I sure hope so. I enjoyed wearing sunglasses today.

Friday July 31st

Awoken for watch. Not so cold today. Came on deck to all the sails struck and the engines on with a glassy sea, but still some decent swell. I took helm for the first rotation of watch. Slowly, the sky began to lighten up and everything faded into color. We have puffy cumulus clouds (a sign of good weather), but some interesting things I could not understand going on way up in the stratosphere. The sunrise had a very vibrant red and, despite the helm being squirrely, I enjoyed my first rotation.

We threw a dutchman to divine our speed, I believe I described it earlier when did it on the back from Bermuda. Anyway, we throw something in the water and time how long it takes to go from one point to another, thereby learning our speed. Easier than heaving the log. Under motor we were doing 2.25 knots. I just keep reminding myself we will get to Ireland when we get there.

We did a deckwash and I asked Caleb remind people during the capstan meeting that they need to clean up after their projects on deck. Piles of woodchips and a rolling ship means we just spread a lot of the woodchips around. We will have a chance to wash the deck again tomorrow, and the day after that.

Some dolphins came on the bow and as we were watching them I felt the breeze begin to come up behind us and a bit to starboard. I said aloud I thought we will be setting some sail soon. Not a minute later Caleb came up and this we did. We set the main topsail & course, fore course & topsail & topgallant. It was a whole mess of work and my shoulder is still bothering me, but I was very glad to be under sail again. The breeze grew and we were motor sailing when we gave up the deck.

I really like the everyone on my watch. Everyone is pretty good natured and we have a good time. We have a daily controversial topic introduced by our resident Oaklahoman republican. We have covered firearms, people’s political inclinations, and today was gay marriage. Our discussions take the form of a debate, but with a good natured half seriousness. They’re a fun distraction. I got off watch, wolfed down breakfast, and went to sleep.

Woke for lunch, some delicious lasagna leftovers. Work party was totally devoted to swaying up the main topmast. Amber and I ran the forstays and hooked them up. I was on the capstan for the rest of work party, hauling up the mast, easing, and hauling some more. Round and round the capstan, click click click went the pawls as it went up. Our watch took the deck late as the project was of course running late. I took the helm for two hours and then helped out with the project more.

We set some sail and struck the fore topgallant which I cleared some tangles on and helped furl. Then we furled the main course and when I came down on deck I heard the ominous phrase from Dan the Bosun: “Hey Grant, can you do me a favor?” So up I went to the crosstrees of the foremast with a crowbar to loosen and tension the main royal forestay.

I loosened it a bit, a real pain in the neck in a heavy pitching sea and the breeze that had been building all afternoon was now well over 20 knots. On the upside we were screaming along at over 9 knots. So I was clipped in at the crosstrees in a heavy see, both hands simultaneously at work as well as holding me in place. The wind was howling so loudly up there I had to have Dan repeat what he was trying to tell me at least 5 times before I understood it.

He told me to stand by. So I sat and stood in the crosstrees, the breeze howling and blowing through my layers. I was so cold! I had to tuck my pants into my socks to keep them from inflating from the roaring wind. The sky had darkened and clouds covered most it as the sun began to set. Still I sat and worked in the crosstrees as the moon brightened.

Weeks ago Sarah had given me a little M&M packet, I believe she was passing them out for her birthday. I kept it in the chest pocket of my fleece for a dark night when I needed something to brighten me up. This was just the occasion. So up in the rig near 100ft off the ocean, swaying I don’t know how many feet back and forth as the ship rolled in the growing swell, I was eating M&M’s and laughing with joy at the beautiful seas around me as well as the ridiculousness of eating candy aloft.

Eventually the mast was fully swung up, I finished off tensioning the stay and laid below. I was complimented for my work and went below to put on some warm dry clothes. Shortly thereafter we were relieved over an hour later than normal, which was fine, we were all happy to pitch in on the work. I went to sleep, but didn’t sleep too well thanks to the growing swell tossing me around in my bunk.

Saturday August 1st

I woke up shortly before my wakeups and so I just got ready and awake. Despite poor sleep I felt very good and quite chipper. We came on deck to find out during the night the starboard main topsail sheet had parted and had to be furled. That must have been a hell of a mess, the sail flogging like thunder and as much incredible power. They got the sail furled and the inner jib is said to have ripped in half, though Caleb and I pulled the parted halyard from over the side, so we will have to see what really happened.

The breeze was in the upper 20’s and slackening during our watch to the low 20’s. The swell was short period and often doubled up to rise 8 feet above the deck to our stern. I think the deck is 15 feet from the waterline and the swell was 8ft above that when we were in a deep trough, so the swell was in the low 20’s. I believe it too, several times the swell would crash upon itself and into our side sending a nice wave over the midships. I would just turn my back to it and let my foul weather gear protect me, but Caleb was wearing sneakers and would run in a very unmanly fashion and try to hide to keep dry.

After bow watch I spent my idle slot on the helm with Arlene to help her steer and make sure we didn’t back sails, which would have opened up hell upon the ship in this weather. With only the fore course and topsail with a few staysails we are still making between 7-9 knots. Walking around the lower decks was of course fun and I spent a good deal of time restowing and making sure things were lashed down tight. When our watch was over Frank and Christine had eggs, bacon, potatoes, and fresh biscuits made for breakfast. Man were we all grateful for a hearty breakfast after the last 24 hours. Off I went to sleep.

Came on deck after lunch to find the wind and sail reduced drastically. For work party I helped out with swaying up the mast and then was sent on he new mast’s forestays again. I was up in the crosstrees again through the end of work party and into my watch. When the job was done my arms ached and I went immediately to work on my watch doing boatchecks and then working on dinner dishes. Ed, in his extreme kindness, switched positions with me so I got bow watch and finished on helm, not having to do any more dishes.

The wind is now pretty weak and we are motorsailing. The weather is foggy and misty again, but I hear there is hope for sun tomorrow. After watch I went to the galley and made a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches since I was still hungry even after dinner. The captain came in and told us that he believes the unknown sailing vessel 45 miles to our southwest is Europa. So, there is a chance we may converge paths before Belfast. I really hope we do, it would be wonderful to see our fellow sailors.

Tomorrow is an actual Sunday as well as a Sea Sunday. The crew is bushed after the last couple days and everyone is ready for some rest. I plan on just chilling out and doing some repair on my foul weather gear. Off to bed.

Sunday August 2nd

Fog. The breeze is still low and we are still motorsailing. Caleb thinks we will get 20-25 knots by late this afternoon and for several days, which would be awesome. The dolphins today were especially energetic charging through the water and leaping well clear of the surface. Ever since our first full day of transit I have seen dolphins at least once a day. I think that is just absolutely incredible, dolphins and birds just seem to abound out here. Watch went by quickly, we messed with some rig oddities and braced the ship around.

When B watch came on deck Caleb and Rebecca played Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” and brought out chocolate to celebrate our half way point across the Atlantic. I think we are past half way, but that is beside the point. Caleb and some of us who knew the lyrics sang along, poorly. Everyone, however, joined in on the “wooah wooah we’re half way there” chorus. After the song ended we all went back to our normal routine. The whole thing was hilarious I think mostly because it was only mildly amusing.

After watch and breakfast I went to my bunk and slept until lunch time. After lunch I did a little reading, listened to some music, and did a little repair sewing on my foul weather gear. This turned out to be a good call since it was pouring rain when I came on deck at 3:45. Sunday dog watch is only 2 hours so it went by quick in chores and dinner, which was fantastic roast and mashed potatoes. Mmmm beef. Also a lovely cake for dessert.

After I got off watch I did a bit of reading and tried my best to sleep. The increasing winds and swell meant sliding around the bunk and my cabin creaking like someone eternally crunching a beer can. So I slept for a couple hours and still an hour and a half before my watch I couldn’t go back to sleep. I checked our speed 7.4 knots and I didn’t hear the engines on. Caleb’s forecast is coming through, good breeze! Rolling around in my bunk on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic on a decent wind and sea, I watched the fantastic surf film “Endless Summer” (thanks Blake).

My new watch is the 12-4 which means 12-4am and pm as well as an 8am wake up for a morning work party. The sleep schedule is a little rough for this watch, trying to go to sleep at 6pm and all, but it has a shorter work party and very few chores. The idle positions on our watch will actually be idle!

So today is 14 days at sea. The same amount of time it takes to get from California to Hawaii. Something has set a lot of the crew thinking of life after our contracts are up. Several people have been asking me what I am doing when my contract is up in November. I haven’t really been thinking that far ahead, nor am I worried about it. Something will crop up. I hear Bounty might be sailing a tallships festival in the Great Lakes next season, if so I don’t think I will stick around for another season. The lakes are not so high on my list of places I want to sail.

I think, unless I find an opportunity that I have to take immediately after Bounty, I will take the winter season to get possibly both my Able Seamen certification as well as my Six Pack Captains license. With those two licenses I would be pretty well set for whatever I wanted to do. I’m not yet sure where I will end up after Bounty, but I hope it is warm and somewhere I have never been. All of this talk aside I have much to think about and look forward before the end of November. Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, and who knows what else! Let the good times roll on!

Monday August 3rd

Woke up for my new 12-4 watch and came on deck to a heavy breeze and sails in a storm configuration. The fore topsail had been furled during the previous watch, but the furl was beginning to be blown loose. So, aloft Amber and I went to get it straightened out. I was the first one aloft and on the yard. The part of the sail that had been loosed was flogging all over the place and I got a good whack across the face from flailing reef points before I got the sail under control. We straightened the sail out and redid a few gaskets to make sure the sail would stay furled this time.

When I came back on deck I went to clean my glasses and found, to my dismay, that my right glasses lens was missing. The reef point had knocked it out. Thankfully I was wearing my back up pair of glasses and so I still have my regular ones, but most of all I am thankful that the damage was done to my glasses and not my eye. The rest of the watch went pretty well with the breeze roaring and us scooting along at 8-9 knots.

After watch I went to a troubled sleep with the ship rolling heavily and cabin creaking loudly. Around 7am in my sleep I felt the ship give a big roll and I grabbed on to my bunk so as to not be thrown through my lee cloth. I heard a rush of water and was showered by a spray of bilge water that had shot up the sides of the ship. I did my best to stem the flow and keep important items from getting wet. Thankfully the bunk I chose had previously been well waterproofed and only a small amount of the wave made it through. The bunk above mine got hit worse, which astounded many of the older hands.

I figured that the big roll had done damage elsewhere, so I got dressed. The lower bunk in the cabin across the hall was completely soaked and items all over the ship had broken loose. I helped get items in the ‘tween deck restowed stronger. I came on deck to see how the on watch had handled the roll, which turned out to be very well. When I was on deck however a passenger pointed out the fore course to me and I told him to inform the mate.

The fore course sometime during the tumultuous night had broken free of an earing lashing as well as nearly all of its robands (which connect the sail to the yard) and giving itself a nice tear down the center. I went below for breakfast, guessing what lay in store for me during work party. In the galley I learned that a pipe fitting had broken during the night an we had lost nearly all the water in one of our tanks. So much for my hopes of taking a shower any time soon.

After breakfast, among other tasks. I spent my work party aloft on the fore course yard tying new robands. The captain said he had never heard of a sail breaking a roband, let alone nearly all of them. The breeze is still very strong and the yard was rolling heavily back and forth as we rolled in the swell almost right behind us. At times I must have been moving 15 feet back and forth while tying on the robands.

I ate lunch gratefully and our watch took the deck. I took an idle position and went aloft to finish the robands. We got them all done and went to the capstan meeting. The captain lectured us all on proper sea stowing and said that the roll we had during the morning was nothing and we should be prepared for much worse. I got singled out and lectured for trapping a sheet in my gasket when furling the sail. I felt it unjust to single me out, though I admit the mistake, several others did the same while I was the only one mentioned.

We went to work doing watch duties and spent a good chunk of time cleaning the galley since dishes were delayed from breakfast due to the water fiasco. We are now really conserving water and using sea water to flush the heads and do dishes. I don’t think anyone is sleeping very well and everyone is getting worn down including myself. I hope to sleep very well and get rested tonight.

We set the fore and main courses and the breeze continued on strongly 20-25 knots slightly off on our port quarter. With courses, topsails, and staysails up we broke well into 11 knots. It is as of yet undecided whether we will sail straight to the North side of Ireland, or if we will go around the Southern tip and up through the Irish Sea. The weather will determine it for us.

After watch and dinner I slept for a few hours, but with the ship rolling so heavily it was light sleep. I woke a couple of hours before my watch and listened to some music.

Tuesday August 4th

Came on deck to more of the same conditions, heavy breeze and heavy swell, with our speed still averaging 8-9 knots peaking at 11. No one really wanted helm since she is steering heavy and yawing wildly, so I took it for the fist stretch. There were two C watch members at the helm and I was told I would need a second. I got our course, East Notheast, same as it has been for several days. I took the helm and went to work.

I found weather helm to be no worse than the last couple days and muscled her myself. I will admit it was ego boost to take the helm by myself from two people and steer her well. I used some lessons I had learned steering small boats in swell and got the old girl to surf down some swell. I would muscle her into it and feel the sudden rush of speed and strength as she powered down the wave. My arms ached a lot by the time I was done, but I had a blast.

Shortly after I left the helm Caleb decided to clew up the main course. This we did to find that a buntline came loose. I led it aloft and Amber and I got it repaired. About then we noticed the fore topsail brace was loose, so we tightened it up. Not a minute later it was loose again and we realized something was wrong, it turns out we had lost the block for our brace and had no purchase on the port side, so we could not brace the yard anywhere securely except sharp on a port tack. We tried to drop the sail and clew up, but a buntline broke loose and the clew got tangled on the yard. Dan had been awoken and he went aloft to clear the tangle. I was sent to the helm to make sure we stayed on course so the sail didn’t luff Dan off the yard.

We eventually got it as struck as we could and waited for a half hour. We woke B watch early to help us furl the sail. I felt bad waking them early telling them more things were broken, we had to go aloft to furl in this messy weather, and to top it off the rain had just begun to come down heavily. Once they were all on deck and ready we talked about our game plan and went aloft.

The ship was rolling heavily as I climbed the windward shrouds. Once I got up to the top I went to the leeward side of the yard and found it fast against the shrouds and starboard backstays. This meant some of our gear was trapped including the backrope we clip in to. It was a harrowing climb out on the yard getting through gear and around stays. I made it out to the end of the yard and began to furl. The ship rolled heavily several times and I could see the white foam spreading out below.

As we furled we found a gasket had come uncoiled and had spread around getting tangled in everything. I had to climb out to the end of the yard on the flemish horse and untangle/tie the fouled gasket. I had little grip and with the rolling and wet everything I nearly lost my footing several times, but as the saying goes, it would be foolish to let go. That would be hands down the most scared I have ever been in the rig. Now, mind you I was always clipped in when I wasn’t moving. Still, my heart was beating fast. We got everything straightened out and the sail secured.

We finally got below and my watch got relieved. I went straight to my damp bunk and slept like a log until 8am . I woke up on my own and went up to the navigation shack to find out what was going on. We had much the same conditions and Adam said he heard the captain might declare a Sunday. I headed to the galley for breakfast where I found Cookie had made cinnamon buns, which were simply amazing. Adam came in and confirmed today was indeed a Sunday which meant no work party. We were all very grateful, exhausted from the rough weather and all the breakage we’ve been having lately (which is quite common, ships like this are always having things break and get repaired, there is simply so much to them this is what happens).

I rested for a few hours and moved all my stuff out of storage to keep it dry. I also strategically nailed a trash bag to try to keep the bilge water from running down into my bunk from the bunk above mine where it was impossibly splashing. This did alright and I got out of my bunk to find the soul awash and my sandals floating around.

I went up to the galley for my watch’s lunch, but was caught by Caleb saying we were striking and furlin sails. The main topsail was beginning to split and the weather was strengthening, so it was being struck. I came on deck in time to ease the sheets, haul the clews and buntlines. Aloft we all went on the topsail yard, sail flogging like thunder, and got it furled quickly with more people than was necessary. While we were on the yard we had a couple good rolls, one of which buried our lee rail, which meant over a 30 degree roll.

Once that yard was secure we laid down to the main course yard and got the sail furled. All the while the wind was howling and no one was sure whether it was raining or it was spray being lifted from the crest of waves. While on the shrouds we got some gusts well into 30 knots and I felt myself pressed into the rig, air forced into my lungs. I had read about conditions like this, but this is the first time I have experienced them. I’m ready for Ireland.

We now sailed 8-9 knots under just our forecourse alone. Our watch took the deck and we now definitely need two people at the helm. Chris and I took the first trick and man was that a ride. She would yaw over a point (a lot) when big swell hit. A couple times the swell would be big enough and from the right angle that it would lift up the ship and send her down a wave at near a 45 degree angle, the stern quarter of the ship creating its own wave that during the roll would come up the deck. I was very ready for watch to be over.

We saw a little bird flying against the wind and staying parallel to us sailing with it. The poor thing was having a rough time and eventually it landed on the ship and huddled down in the lee of a big shackle. It ruffled its feathers and looked utterly terrible. Definitely not a sea bird in a rough sea.

After watch and dinner I slept poorly for a few hours and repaired my knife sheath which was coming apart. At about 10pm, just over an hour before I needed to wake up, I was again awoken by bilge water during another big roll. I had enough and I cleared my stuff out of the storage bunk and moved my sleeping bag over. I’m not sure why my roommate Jesse (who has previously moved to the great cabin because of the waterfall in his bunk) did not take it and I am also not sure if I am allowed to, but at this point I don’t really care.

During my time up I talked to the watch on duty and found out it has been decided to sail for the South of Ireland and around through the Irish Sea. I hear we could see Ireland in two days. This is A-OK with me since once we get to the Eastern side of Ireland we will be protected from this swell.

I am still having a good time, but I am getting more tired each day with poor sleep and small cuts and bruises adding up. I am faring better than others, however, and still appreciating the incredible experience this is. This may be one of the most trying things I have ever done. Time for my next watch.

Wednesday August 5th

The breeze is still howling and we are sailing under just the forecourse. I am on helm again and two people are definitely needed. The swell is a little smaller than it has been, but its still tossing us around and we are still doing 7-8 knots under the one sail. A jackline had been rigged by the previous watch, which was not really necessary, but still comforting.

The watch went by fairly quickly. I was on the helm with Chris for two hours total and we were a damn good team on it by now. We altered course a bit more south to make the southern tip of Ireland and also because things have died down enough that we can keep that course. Thank all the gods this blow we’ve had has been pushing us in exactly the right direction!

I slept like a log after watch in my new dry bunk and woke up on my at 8:20. I went to breakfast and to find out why no one had woken me up. Found crepes and yet another Sunday! I am very grateful the captain is paying attention to how tired we all are. I enjoyed breakfast and after very little inner debate I slept until lunch. Man did that extra sleep feel good!

I had a good lunch and came on deck to still heavy but much abated conditions. The sun was out, the heads were back in working order, the conditions were called “nice out” and I felt back on top of the world. We all laughed at how we now considered 15-20 knots and 10ft seas a calm day. I took the first trick at the helm again and she is now steering as sweetly as a dove. We went through watch rotations and Caleb gave me a little sextant lesson, now that we had sun and time.

The starboard maincourse tack had gone overboard yesterday and gotten wrapped in the prop, so I helped to try to get it cut close to the prop so the prop could just rip it off and just before the knife on a pole touched the line it snapped off the prop. I hung out with Amelia on my bow watch and we all just had a lovely day. During my last half hour I got grabbed by Bill the engineer and helped him change the oil on the portside engine.

When he was done with me my watch was already over, so I went to my bunk and messed with the journal until dinner time. At dinner Chris asked me if I had showered. Showered?! We can shower? I hurried through dinner and hopped in the shower. It was a short navy shower, but man did it feel good to be clean, especially after having had so much bilge water on me and so many days of hard labor since my last shower.

I took a second to take a look at myself and noticed I have definitely lost some weight. I also noticed I am definitely more muscular than I have ever been in my life. I am all lean muscle, but I feel fit and strong. I was also happy to note no new bruises or cuts I didn’t already know about. I went to my dry bunk and relaxed and slept until my next watch.

Thursday August 6th

Awoken for watch and took bow watch. The breeze was only 10-15 knots, but it was very cold. The nearly full moon would periodically break through the clouds and light up the world with its spotlight. Ed the passenger made chocolate chip cookies and I got one right out of the oven as I came down from bow watch. That was one incredible cookie! Watch went by pretty quickly and the sky was beginning to lighten up as we were stood down.

I went straight to sleep and was awoken 20 minutes late for breakfast. I was excited to see it was a sunny day with a strong enough breeze to give our 6ft swell some white caps. We set all the sails on the fore mast as well as our mizzen topsail and did a few odd jobs for work party. Lunch was quick and off we went to our next watch.

I was enjoying the weather and took the helm which I ended up being on for 3 hours. At 12:45 the general capstan meeting took place and today the captain wanted to “play with the ship”. With myself on the helm and each watch on a mast we wore ship a couple times and then tried a tack which failed unsurprisingly given the strong little swell and slackening breeze. Still we wore ship again and tried to tack, almost making it but having to box ship back into position and ware. One last time we powered up and shot up into the eye of the wind, with sails shivering, the fore beginning to back we nearly had it, but I watched the compass as one wave struck the bow and checked out tack. We fell off and the captain, now satisfied, told me to return to course.

Now each time we wore or tacked or did any maneuver I had to put the helm hard over from one side to the other. All those movies where the helm is effortlessly thrown over with a nudge, are false. Each turn of the spoke takes muscle and on some occasions weight. So by the end of all this, plus numerous smaller turns trying to hold a new course between maneuvers, my arms ached and I was beat. I went on bow watch for the last 10 minutes until the next rotation and we had to brace the ship around to a proper sail trim. Then we remembered the dishes we didn’t get to do because of the maneuvers, so below we went to clean up the galley.

By the end of watch I was beat, but had to stay awake for dinner. Cassie, in her infinite kindness, offered to give me a hair cut a few days ago and I took her up on it. Sitting on a box in the heads she took out the clippers and scissors and gave me a very nice haircut. I wouldn’t have expected any better job from a regular cosmetologist, she really did a great job. The whole thing was quite a spectacle too, many of the crew came to watch and I saw several camera flashes out of the corner of my eye. When it was done I cleaned up, thanked Cassie for the haircut, promised her a beer, and felt so much better with hair cleaned up. When the swell dies down my beard is next on the list for trimming.

We are now about 70 miles West of southern Ireland on way to rounding the tip into the Irish Sea. Captain estimates we will be there Wednesday and anchor out to arrive in Belfast Thursday morning. We will be early! We weren’t sure halfway across if we would make it in time, but now we will be early. Well, that’s what sailing downwind in gale and near gale conditions will do. Everyone is getting excited for Belfast, myself among them.

Friday August 7th

Woke up for watch to a clear night and a full moon. Watch was fairly normal to begin with. I was standing on the bow talking to Amelia when I noticed a strange yellowish/orangish star on the horizon. I asked her whether she thought it was a planet or star and we were both scrutinizing it when the moon cleared from behind a cloud to illuminate sails and a hull. A sailboat was half a mile ahead of us on a collision course with its anchor light on and no navigation lights.

At the same time Caleb was rushing to the foredeck to see what the strange thing on radar was. We altered course to avoid them and saw that they also had on their port navigation light but no starboard or stern light. Caleb hailed them on the radio and eventually they replied and he informed them of their brilliant light scheme. If it had been a darker night we could have run them down! On came their steaming light and their starboard light, which is strange because I don’t know why the bow navigation lights would be on separate switches…

Later on the watch as the sky was beginning to lighten up I looked at our chart to see where we were. On a whim I grabbed the binoculars and looked off towards where I imagined Ireland to be. Lo and behold! There it was! I shouted “Land HO” and spread the word. We were all so excited, elated, jazzed, stoked, and most of all proud. We crossed the North Atlantic Ocean on a wooden tall ship.

The sunrise silhouetted hills beneath clouds, there it was, Ireland, a couple points off the port bow at 3:15AM. I was very excited to be the one to spot land, a very cool stroke of luck. Caleb took down the poor weather beaten, torn, knotted American flag we used for the crossing. At the capstan at the end of watch Caleb gave a speech about how the first person to sight land, especially after a long voyage, is always rewarded. So to me he present a brand spanking new can of smoked herring…thanks… We all had a good laugh.

Sighting land got Chris and Erin motivated to climb the rig farther than they had before. Amelia and I went aloft with them and we all made our way to the fore royal yard to watch the sun rise over Ireland’s coast. Chris and Erin did a great job climbing up for the first time with a little swell rolling the ship. We all soaked up the moment, loosed the royal sail and laid below. As we climbed down the mast we noticed the some rain to our stern and a rainbow appeared. Could you have imagined a more glorious end to our transatlantic? We were all just thrilled with the day and I only reluctantly went below to sleep while I could.

I slept well and got up for breakfast and work party. Getting to working party I took the binoculars to check out the coast and on a hill I made out a big structure and thought “I wonder if that is a castle”, then promptly admonished myself for thinking the first building I see in Ireland is a castle. Then, however, I checked the chart Amber and I went aloft on the main to tension the topgallant mast shrouds which took the entire work party. While we were up the breeze came fair and all the sails were set. We scarfed down lunch and went on deck for watch. I took Arlene aloft to the main top and higher than she had ever been.

At the capstan again the captain wanted maneuvers done. We did three successful tacks and boxhauled the ship as well. It was very hectic since my watch had the fore mast with all its sails set as well as the head rig to brace, trim, strike and raise sails several times. At one point we lost the port inner jib sheet and I went to the head rig to retrieve it. Luckily it was just barely hanging on and I got it led back to deck.

After all that we set the mizzen topgallant mast staysail, known to the crew as the “dumbass sail” because it does very little, is difficult to set, and extremely hard work to put away. This is the first time I ever saw it set. We now had up every scrap of canvas settable on the ship sailing into the Irish Sea. Today and tomorrow the captain hopes to get the main topgallant and royal put back up and in order, once that is done we will be looking sharp.

All the while the coast of Ireland is beckoning off to port and we are all getting exponentially more excited to get to Belfast. It hasn’t really set in yet that I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, that I am now in Europe with Ireland next to the ship. I think it will take a while to fully sink in.

Saturday August 8th

Woke for watch after having slept very hard since dinner. The whole watch I I was sluggish and couldn’t quite wake up. It seems there is a Celtic Sea as well as an Irish Sea and we are currently in the Celtic Sea and about to enter St George’s Channel. We are seeing lots of shipping traffic now, which made for a busy bow watch. The watch went by pretty quickly and I was grateful to go to sleep.

I was torn from my bunk at 8am for work party. Today’s task is to get the main topgallant yard back up and so Amber and I got the braces led aloft for it, among other smaller chores. We had lunch and went on watch to a brilliantly sunny day with passing clouds. I started on the helm and we did a man overboard drill. After that the captain said that tomorrow would indeed be a Sunday on a Sunday, which we are all happy to hear. We also found out that we would be anchoring tonight because we are so ahead of schedule, which means more sleep tonight!

The captain also let us do laundry on whatever day it is to help get aft crew cleaned up after it was awash during the weather we had. I was excited and jumped below to get my sheets washed as well as some essentials. I cleaned my deck boots as well since the weather is nicer. At the end of our watch the call went out to strike and furl all sail, which our watch was not happy about, so we furled and furled and furled until 6pm. I felt very windswept and tired out when we got to dinner, but dinner was very hearty.

We got the topgallant yard up, now it just needs its sail and gear led, which shouldn’t take too long. I cleaned out all the wet stuff from my bunk and moved into my old bunk, but will next time switch preemptively to the dry bunk if we hit weather like that again. I can’t wait for Ireland!

We anchored near some little towns I have never heard of and I enjoyed looking over them through binoculars. I saw a big old church and the little fields divided by stone walls, sheep grazing away like they have always done. I went to sleep, stood anchor watch for 45 minutes and woke up the next day at 8am. I slept almost 10 hours! It was oh so wonderful.

Sunday August 9th.

Woke up at 8am feeling so refreshed, I cannot express how great it felt to get a full nights sleep and then some. Breakfast was wonderful and today is a naval Sunday as well as a regular Sunday, so instead of work party I got together with everyone and traded photos and videos from the voyage. We had a great time trading photos and remembering the parts of the voyage that seem so long ago now.

We stood watch for only 3 hours because we jumped another hour ahead. A bit of rain, set a few sails, and had a great time in the holiday atmosphere of a Sunday. Cassie baked cookies and we had a grand time, it feels like we are on a pleasure cruise! After watch I hung out with Amelia, traded photos and stories, had dinner and waited to anchor the ship.

We anchored out near a little community with a castle on the hill and fishing boat plying the little bay. We had a grand time holding an auction for all the items that had gone astray and gathered on the ship. A bunch of the crew, instigated by Chris and myself, went for a brief, extremely brief, swim in the Irish Sea. Once I could feel my limbs I was glad I had done it if for no other reason than to say that I had swum in the Irish Sea.

That night we had a dance party on deck, mostly consisting of my A watch and a few others. We had a grand old time dancing under the night sky with the lights of Ireland twinkling on shore.

Monday August 10th

Woke for anchor watch, which was uneventful. In the morning we were awoken for work party and were given the task of bending on the main topgallant sail. So aloft we went onto the footropes that were still slippery from the new tar that had not yet dried. Mind you we were always clipped in, but it was interesting standing on basically a greased wire and working away. We stayed up aloft past our work party to get it done and had to scarf down lunch.

Watch this afternoon was hectic as I was doing my watch duties and then helping out the work party during the idle. We furled the maintopsail and forecourse when the wind veered and became foul. Pretty furls if I do say so. Then during my next idle I set about doing eye splices for new gaskets and got sent a Erin and Rich to teach them how to do eye splices. The sun came out during the afternoon and I was amazed at how green the water was, it didn’t quite seem real, as though it were too themed to be so.

I was dragging by that time in the day and I’m afraid I was not the best teacher, but their splices came out well despite it. Also, I only know the words and phrases for splicing that are less than what I would consider clean, so I had to rename things as I went.

I spent the last hour on the helm and took us into our anchorage just south of Belfast harbor. I was positively beaming inside as I rounded the ship up and we dropped anchor. A castle, churches, fields, cars and roads on shore. So close to us! The coast guard came over and as I began to worry what they wanted out came cameras and the whole crew was taking photos. I reveled in excitement with my crewmates and we got relieved from our watch.

Tomorrow morning we enter Belfast!

Tuesday August 11th

All hands were calledat 8am to begin getting the boat in show shape. we started work party at anchor and the first thing we did was furl all the sails perfectly to get everything nice and orderly. That took quite a while, a lot of adjusting and tweaking everything. Then we began to clean up the ship and get all of the crew’s gear out of public areas. We hauled up the anchor and went to anchor closer to the point where we were meeting the pilot.

Twice throughout the day we got radioed to say that the pilot was coming later and later. We anchored again closer to the pilot buoy, which is where we meet the pilot. We were about a half mile from a huge, absolutely huge, stone manor on shore with a big green lawn in front of it. Then in the middle of everything we got a call that a pilot had been found and he was coming right over. So we got underway in a rush, picked up our pilot and came into Belfast.

We came in through the big shipyard that Belfast is famous for, the one that built the Titanic. We came to our quay (European phrase for stone pier) and got ourselves docked without much fuss. We got the ship put into ship shape as they say and the crew was stood down.

We all met on the tween deck and the captain gave a lovely speech about how great the voyage was. He told us, and I believe he meant it, that we are one of the best crews he has ever had. We work hard, we all get along with each other even after an ocean crossing, and we have a good time. He pulled out a handle of rum and, in tradition, passed it around from crewmember to crewmember and each took a swig.

After that we all pulled out our computers and checked email and contacted friends and family. Once that was taken care of we all went off to the nearest pub: Pat’s. A very small pub with a half dozen people in it, but the Bounty crew showed up en masse and we had a grand ole’ time. Everyone was buying each other drinks and discussing the voyage. I had a great night.

Halifax, Nova Scotia: Prepare Yourself!

2009-08-11T12:06:00.001-07:00

Thursday July 16th,

I got to sleep through anchor watch since I had taken watch the night before. I woke up very refreshed and found us under way heading into Halifax Harbor. We got ready to dock, had a wonderful docking, and found our slip near the center of the festival. We spent the rest of the work day painting and getting the boat ready for tours (ie putting up signs, locking doors, and idiot proofing the boat).

After work we all got cleaned up and went to a crew party put on by the festival. On the way there we hit the Garrison Brewery, which I heartily recommend; especially the Irish Red and IPA . The festival hall was crowded and I found my way to the food. Rows of silver catering platters lined long tables and my pace quickened. I grabbed my plate and when I got to the first dish I found that our dinner consisted of hamburgers and hotdogs, with condiment packages. Disappointment.

We got a couple free beers and few more using less reputable means. Several interesting bands were lined up to play while I hung out with shipmates and mingled with other sailors. The desserts, despite the other fares, were fantastic. I had the most decadent ice cream sandwich of my life.

When we tired of the crew party we wandered back to the boat and met former Bounty Sailor and current Spirit of Bermuda mate Maisie who invited us to a bar called the Seahorse where some bands were playing and her shipmates were meeting. We got there and the bouncer informed us they had just begun charging a 7$ cover charge. Now to us that is nearly a days wages and we were all planning on buying drinks. So, 10 minutes of arguing and haggling later we got in charge free.

We all drank and a rumored to be great local band began to play. I confirm that rumor, but have no idea what they were called. We hung out and had a great time until we all tired enough in body and wallet to head back to the ship.

Friday July 17th

Today was an all hands day and I helped put up the signal flags that get arranged in a neutral way and flown above the ship to make it look pretty. I fastened it to the very tip of the jibboom and the very tip of the spanker boom.

In the middle of this process we found out that our planned tours at 1:00pm were in fact printed in the fliers as 10:00am. So we had to cut things short and hurry up the flags, but at 10:30 we opened up for tours. We had several thousand people pass through and many of them knew more than “oh, a pirate ship”, which made the day nicer.

After work Adam, Maisie, and I went to a military surplus store where we stocked up on warm clothes for the crossing to Ireland. I bought some wool clothes and a big great coat for 3$. We hiked back to the ship and hung out with the crew for the evening.

Saturday July 18th,

Change of watches, I am now on Port watch and today is Port watch’s day to work. Tours from 10am to 5:00pm and we put several thousand more people through the ship. There were less people than expected, mostly due to the cold and pouring rain. I felt great standing there on deck in my overkill foul weather jacket, water streaming off the tip of hood, while tourists came by in plastic rain slickers with Canadian flags on them.

Today we had a descendent of Fletcher Christian and one of Peter Heywood (a midshipman who was convicted and sentenced to death in the mutiny, pardoned, and later became an Admiral). I thought it was really neat to meet them and I swear the descendent of Heywood bore similarities to paintings of the man.

That night I went out with people and we could hear the Kiss concert going on the other side of the hill. I was amused. There is not much to describe of the night, but suffice it to say I had a blast.

Sunday July 19th,

I slept in, oh so late. I had lunch, and then I took a nap. I spent my afternoon wandering downtown Halifax and doing some grocery shopping to stock up on snacks for the crossing. The roving bands of sailors doing the same thing as myself was great, they stuck out like sore thumbs. Halifax is a beautiful city, and today we had wonderful shorts and a tee-shirt weather. I went back to the ship and gave an after hours tour to a few folks who said they came to see us from Ontario, but had car troubles and missed the tour hours. They were very thankful and even tipped me.

After dinner on the ship Adam and I went back to the Garrison Brewery to get rid of our Canadian money. We had a few beers and the bartender gave us a couple free ones when we told her these were our last beers until we got to Ireland. We bought a couple for the road and headed over to Spirit of Bermuda.

There we found Maisie and a bunch of the Bounty crew hanging out. We chatted and enjoyed a nice seat for the grand finale fireworks display. I sat on the floating barge after the fireworks ended, swaying, the evening beginning to cool down, a lovely paper bagged beer next to me and I felt damn good, ready for 26 days at sea.

I went back to the boat and went to bed early as I knew tomorrow would be a very long day.

Monday July 20th,

Woke up at 7:00am and got some breakfast. We got the ship stowed for sea and singled down to our 4 docklines. Amber and I went aloft and unfurled all the sail on the foremast. Starting at the North end of town with Bluenose ships began peeling off the docks and lining up for a parade of sail. We got in line and headed out of the harbor with fore and aft sails alone (Staysail, jib, spanker).

The wind was gusty and patchy thanks to the buildings and hills, but once we got to the mouth of the harbor and turned around we were able to set our squares on a sharp Port Tack (wind on our port side ). I was called to the helm with Cassie and excluding a short lunch break was on the helm for 3 hours, the entire parade. The ship was steering wildly thanks to the shifting, patchy, gusty breeze. By the end of it my arms ached fiercely.

We sailed back into the harbor and tacked around St. George’s Island in the center. Then we sailed past a very crowded downtown Halifax and fired our cannons to salute to the reviewing stand. We wobbled our way out of the harbor again, luffing a lot, catching huge puffs that blew our head down and lulls or shifts that headed us up.

Finally we made it far enough out in the channel. I turned the helm East, our sails filled, the boat heeled over, and we began sailing for Ireland!

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

2009-07-19T09:26:00.001-07:00

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.

2009-07-12T11:01:00.001-07:00

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) .

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.

2009-07-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-12T10:58:00.001-07:00

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.

2009-07-02T11:51:00.001-07:00

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!

Bermuda: Pricey Paradise

2009-06-14T16:18:00.001-07:00

Sunday June 7th; St. George, Bermuda

After we got in to Bermuda we spent quite a bit of time getting the ship cleaned and organized. Then after dinner, the crew who had all been discussing how tired they were and how they would sleep so much when they got to Bermuda (including myself), hit the town. We scattered and then rendezvoused at a nearby bar the engineer had hunted down within 5 minutes of hitting land. Then Bounty crew and some of the French schooner Eltois crew went on the hunt for a Bermuda hosted party/barbeque for the crew.

We walked, if mobs of rowdy sailors and be said to walk, near two miles to a little tiny yacht club only to find out the food was not free as promised and most importantly neither were the drinks. So we had a few rounds, hung out with the French sailors, and then as a mob moved back to downtown St George. The whole way back the French sailors sang shanties in French, some we know in English and we shot right back with some of our own. Our trail of course ended in another bar. Bermuda is very expensive, some poor guy paid $8 during happy hour for a Budweiser. Serves him right though, for his poor beer choice.

I separated from the group and decided to go for a walk to see more of my new surroundings. On my walk I discovered three things. Firstly, Bermuda does not believe in sidewalks. Secondly, young people on Bermuda have silly, tiny little European car which they drive way too fast and listed to techno and American rap. Thirdly, there is nothing interesting as far as 3 miles west of our ship, but that’s alright it was a nice night.

Monday June 8th

Woke up for work call and went aloft to help set up the repaired fore topgallant that had been busted on the way to Jacksonville. I was aloft all morning doing that. After lunch I got the luck of being chosen to do the notorious job of tarring the rigging. Tarring does indeed suck as much as it did 300 years ago. I climbed aloft and then got into a bosun’s chair and tarred one backstay on the mainmast for 4 and a half hours. At the end I was covered in tar and sore from the safety lines digging into me. That being said that backstay does look so much better…

We cleaned up the boat and hosted a party with the crew from the Pride of Baltimore and Eltoire. A disco ball appeared from below decks and we strung it up and I electrocuted myself plugging in the spotlight. The crew all came over and we had a good time drinking strange beers and talking. After a while everybody decided to head back over to another crew party like last night but hosted better. I decided to hike to Tobacco Bay.

I got vague directions from some crew who had been there, over the hill, past the church ruins and through a golf course; and a companion from the Pride’s crew, fellow history major Amelia. Off we went through the streets and back alleys. A few wrong turns, a few interesting buildings. and still we wondered on. The people here are so friendly! A big guy in a black wife beater and a do-rag gave us great directions and wished us a wonderful night. You can tell the tourists apart because they don’t make eye contact or say hello.

Eventually we found the half finished church as it is known. What an incredible building! It is literally a church started in the mid 1800’s that was never finished and damaged by a hurricane. All brick and local stone. With a floor of grass and a roof of stars and moonlit clouds, I was blown away by it all.

We hiked on and found the beach deserted but for two other people. The water was so warm and so was the air. I went for a swim and played around in the gentle swell controlled by the nearly closed off cove. More full moon, stars, and zeppelin-like cumulous clouds floating by. I had been dying to go to the beach since we got here and man was I satisfied.

Back we went to the church and checked explored it more thoroughly. We climbed up onto a window sill, sitting vacant for 150 years waiting for its delicate stained glass (sorry history geek moment). From that window in a recess of the stone church I looked out across Saint George and the bay: palm trees silhouetted, lights of the town, bay with boats anchored and hillsides all lit up by the full moon backlighting the clouds as they slide by. What an incredible moment in time! Words fail and pictures can’t do it justice, plus I forgot my camera. I watched that scene for 20 minutes and then only reluctantly left. Back to the boat, a nice shower, and content sleep.

Tuesday June 9th

Woke up to some awesome waffles for breakfast and then work party. Someone from the Bermudan newspaper “The Royal Gazette” showed up with a bunch of copies with a photo of me tarring the rigging on the front page! The article was kinda silly, but I enjoyed having my name and photo spread across Bermuda. Pretty cool photo too.

Spent the day doing work party, painting and other odd jobs getting the boat back into show condition for the festival this weekend. After all that sailing, work party every day since we got back, and going out at night I am bushed! Tonight I’ll watch a movie and go to sleep early. I hope.

Wednesday June 10th

Work party got started quickly in the morning and we motored the 3 hours over to Hamilton. It was pretty, but most of the time I was hanging over the side painting the dead eyes and chain plates. We got here and suddenly things went into overdrive. Tractor tired that were our dock fenders had to be moved so tackle from the yardarm was used and the whole crew was needed to move these things. In the midst of this we are doing docking procedures and rerunning all of our gangways and gear to the other side of the boat. To add the fun a downpour started. Which was actually very refreshing.

After that I spent the rest of the day painting and after dinner I went into town and got a free beer at a local bar. Bacardi hosted a big party on board for their guests and I put on my nice crew shirt and mingled to see what it was like. Most of the people were cool, but in the future I will skip the events. After the party I went rambling through town with Gabe and we ended up way away wandering through a very well off suburban neighborhood. We eventually found our way back having seen parts of Bermuda we would never have seen otherwise.

Back at the ship Gabe, Adam, and I decided to go swimming. The water was chilly at first, but it warmed right up. We rigged a rope swing (all sober bye the way) from the main yard and I had a blast. That may have in fact been my first successful rope swing experience.

Thursday June 11th

Worked most of the day tarring rigging again and a few other odd jobs. Most of the ships arrived today and the festival got started. All of the front street along the water was shut down and vendors of all kinds came out. The street was packed. I wandered around town with Ryan and Michael and we found the seemingly the only cheap beer on the island. Upon our arrival to the ship the rest of the crew went out in search of the fabled cheap beer.

Later on a bunch of us went to a bar down the way which, though I thought it was a sports bar, turned out to be a night club as well. A local reggae band was playing and we all had a great time. After that we wandered back home to the ship and found another band playing in the tent dockside of us! So we danced a bit more and walked a few feet to our beds.

Friday June 12th

My first day off in Bermuda! I slept in until 10am and it was wonderful. First thing on my list was to check out the other ships. I went to our neighbors on Europa who recognized me as Bounty Crew and they invited me aboard to have coffee with them. A crew member generously gave me a top to bottom tour. What a beautiful ship! Then I hit a few other ships and ran into Ryan and Mike who were on their way to a thrift store our cook found a few blocks away. Since I brought one shore shirt I was excited and found quite a few cool shirt to broaden my wardrobe.

Sidenote, one of my favorite things about Bermuda is the business attire of shorts and long socks. All of the businessmen wear it and the parties we have hosted have been very colorful because of it.

After changing into one of my nifty new shirts I went over to the crew center and used a phone card the Bermudians gave us to call my mom. She hopped on the computer and I got mine back at the ship for a video chat on the bow in the middle of the festival. We really do live in the future.

After that I finished touring the rest of the ships (22 in all) and hopped a ferry for the historic Royal Navy dockyard/fort now a maritime museum. The museum was very disappointing owing to their near complete shut down for renovation. The fort aspect of the dockyard was very cool and there were some great history exhibits. As always, learning the history of the place has really added to my appreciation of it.

In a park next to the towering walls I found crewmates Dan and Ryan. We ventured to a nearby beach, played in the water and checked out the rocky tidal area. Nearby was a neat beach where all the island trash has washed up for a long time and I had fun picking through 400 years of sea washed garbage. After that we all had a beer at the Dockyard micro brewery and took the ferry back to Hamilton.

We came back, freshened up and headed for the crew dinner and party the festival officials organized for the crew. I gorged myself at dinner and received a hilarious heated lecture from a caterer for asking for another fork. In a park next to the yacht club the dinner was held in, a stage was set up where a very popular home grown reggae band was to play. It was the same band we had seen the night before! The photo is my crewmate Amber, a French guy from Etoile, and myself with the Bermudan police (The circumstances surrounding this photo are positive, I swear). I think the best part of the night was when the band had power issues and everything went quiet. The sailors from South America busted out their marching band and started a conga line through the crowd.

Saturday June 13th

Watch duty today. When in port one person a day is assigned watch duty. They cannot leave the boat and obviously cannot drink. They do many chores around the boat, sleep in the common area so they can hear if anyone comes aboard during the night, and do a safety inspection every hour from 7:00am until 11:30pm. In the morning I was sent along with our cooks to a farmers market. They had the best cinnamon rolls! Bermuda also has really small and tasty bananas, I bought a few. Tours went well and everything was great except there was so much going on I didn’t get to sleep until 4:00am.

Sunday June 14th

Slept in late. Went to the crew center to try to chat with the folks, but couldn’t get internet to work. I came back to the boat just in time to meet Kathryn Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas, and their kids who were touring Bounty. They seemed really nice. Then I went to the Underwater Institute….something something. Anything to do with the ocean basically. Most of it was really hokey: “now you are in a submarine and oh no a giant squid!” ride shakes. However, their marine archaeology exhibit was fantastic. There are so many wrecks around the island there were 400 years cargo and material from ships.

The afternoon was spent lounging around the famous Horseshoe and Elbow beaches. Both with incredibly warm, clear, blue water and very fine sand. The birds we saw over the Atlantic I’ve found out are called Bermudan Longtails. Really cool looking birds and they were flying overhead. I had a great time relaxing, swimming, and body surfing at the beaches. The photos coupled with the expression “ahhh…” pretty much convey it all.

That night I blew what Bermudian currency I had which is very pretty money and also not accepted by any bank or country outside of Bermuda.

At Sea En Route To Bermuda: Work And Sleep.

2009-06-07T16:18:00.001-07:00

Monday June 1st, Leaving Jacksonville

We were woken early and after a brief speech by Captain Robin we got under way. The current helped carry us down the St John’s River and out to the Atlantic. For some reason I was told to take the helm (to steer) from our dock until we were just 5 miles from the ocean, so I ended up steering through the channel and under bridges for20 miles. It was pretty nerve wracking as I had never steered her before or another vessel like the Bounty, but I did fine and we eventually made it out to sea.

The wind, as predicted, was coming from the east at about 10-15 knots, so we just kept going under our two diesel engines. Of the three watches I am on B watch, which has the 8-12am and 8-12pm shifts. I like it, I get to watch the sunset and almost a full night’s sleep. Lunch is at 12:00 noon and then we have work party until 4:00pm. I like the people on my watch:Sarah, Mitch, Dan, and Caleb the mate. We rotate positions during our watch: bow watch to make sure we don’t hit anything, steering at the helm, checking all compartments for fire and stuff, and finally the idler who just helps out when needed and hangs close by.

In the afternoon we tried to put up staysails and the spanker, but the wind is just right on our nose. We sailed through the Gulf Stream which was a faster current than I imagined, around 4 knots, it swept us North a bit. We did a man overboard drill, unfortunately with a blue box that sank quickly. Poorly man overbaord, but still a good exercise.The weather is so wonderful at sea here, its in the 70’s with puffy cumulous clouds and a breeze. The sunset was really pretty and the night was beautiful. I felt great in shorts and a shirt during the night and the moon shone on all the passing clouds and the sea. at about midnight a thunderstorm passed to port and it was beautiful to watch the clouds light up. The stars were great, but the moon was really bright, so I might try to get up after the moon sets one of these days.

Caleb caught a really pretty female Dorado fishing with a couple lines off the stern today. It was really cool, but we need to catch more, otherwise they become a sushi side dish. I’m happy either way. Captain Robin thinks there will be southern winds as we get closer, so we are adding a little South to our East. I hope he’s right

Tuesday June 2nd

Woke up feeling great and took my watch. Saw some brilliant little flying fish and Caleb caught a male Dorado, a pretty big one and a wahoo, both of which were delicious for dinner! More thunderheads way off in the distance and the ocean is just such a vibrant, incredible blue I could stare at it for hours. The seas here are so small and calm so far that it’s almost like sailing on a giant lake. If we could have some fair winds, this would be perfection, but I’ll take what I can get and this is wonderful. We did an abandon ship drill that went smoothly and we were all ready in under 5 minutes.

We stopped at about 4:00pm to swim and it was so cool! There was Sargassom floating all around since we are near the Sargasso Sea. The water was the clearest I have ever seen and like bathwater. We all jumped off the ship and swam having a great time. What a blast!

Night watch went by quickly with the only interesting thing being that a little thunder cell passed over us and we got rain for about 2 minutes.

Wednesday June 3

Warm and beautiful again today. Had fish tacos for lunch with the fish from yesterday, sooo good. I have pretty much gotten everyone’s names down and nearly everyone on the crew has mine. Scraped paint during work and slept through dinner. In the afternoon we did another man overboard drill, this time with a smiley face orange. He was rescued and survived well until Captain Robin ate him.

On our evening watch the first thing we did was unfurl the Main Topsail and some of the other crew unfurled the Foremast Topsail. The wind was backing to the South finally. It was really cool unfurling sails and hoisting the halyard with 5 of us on the capstan, all during the last reaches of the sunset and dusk. During our watches now we are all asked to plot our position and do other navigational tasks. I’m finding it a bit tough, but really enjoying it. We were lucky and made our way through a gauntlet of thunder cells.

Thursday June 4

Came on deck and the Main Topgallant and Royals were being unfurled and set so I helped out with that. Then Dan and I went aloft unfurled the Main Course. Once everything was sheeted home the engines were killed and we started sailing! With the engines on we were making about six knots and now under sail we are hovering above and below six as well. Super cool.

The weather is a little cooler, but still quite warm. For work party we tacked the ship twice, which is a hue process, especially with a lot of green crew like us. Each tack took over half an hour and was a lot of work. Right after the first tack, before we had even started cleaning the lines up we did another man overboard drill, which was again successful.

Right now we have the majority of our sails up and filled nicely. We’re cruising pretty quick and for a while this afternoon there were no engines or generators on. The silence was wonderful and you could even hear the rig starting to hum. The maneuvers were very physically demanding and I am glad we ended work party early so I can rest my hands and brain. I am starting to understand the layout of the lines.

Friday June 5th

I had very strange dreams during the night. I kept dreaming that I was on watch or I was in the middle of doing something, then I would wake up and worry that I had fallen asleep on duty. Each time I realized I was off watch by checking to see if I was wearing my harness. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself each time I realized what happened. I suppose I am getting into the rhythm of being at sea.

Saw a really interesting sea bird flying in our wake during my morning watch, it was bright white with a wispy tail as long as its body. I’ve gotten a lot better at the navigation stuff and I am having a lot of fun with it. We reached steadily over 7 knots today under sail. The rest of the day passed by without any really interesting happenings.

Saturday June 6th

We’ve been heeled over on a starboard tack under sail since Thursday morning. Certainly its the single longest tack I have ever been on. Yesterday I installed a leecloth in my bunk so that I don’t roll off in the night, it came in very handy last night. The swell has gotten bigger. It is largely confused wind swell, but when it aligns right we get tossed around pretty good. Consistently getting spray on bow watch.

I hear we’re likely to make it to Bermuda tomorrow, earlier than expected. We’ve been hearing Bermuda radio transmitions and on watch I saw a paper plate, fruit core, and a right shoe in the water. All signs we are getting closer. I am so excited for Bermuda, there is going to be all normal things Bermuda has to offer plus a huge tallship festival with ships from around the world!

The wind is holding pretty strong, we’ve only got up the main and fore courses and topsails plus a couple staysails. We’re still making over 7 knots. Last night the inner jib halyard parted and it was apparently quite a scene.

Captain said at the current rate of sailing we would reach Bermuda at 5am the following day, so we reduced sail. All the crew went aloft and we furled the Main course and fore topsail. Now we are down to 5 knots and we should get there at a more reasonable hour. Looks like we will be there 2 days early.

During the night watch I took over the helm for a minute so my crewmate could run below. Sure enough the second they went down the hatch a thunder cell opened up above us and the wind drove the rain into me. I just stood there laughing at the situation. When she came back I went and got my foul weather jacket on in time for the cell to pass. My clothes are cleaner for it I guess.

Sunday June 7th

Got called on deck and immediately went to work. I went aloft by myself and unfurled the foretopsail alone, which was pretty fun. Then we added a couple sails and changed direction, now we are heading on a dead run. A huge pod of dolphins came and played in our bow wave. I was at the helm, but a bunch of them were jumping out of the water near our stern so I got to watch them.

A rain storm caught up to us. While I was on bow watch I was talking with our female cook and I was just saying we should be seeing Bermuda pretty soon and she spotted it. I passed the word and a cry of “land ho!” went through the ship. Saw a pair of those wispy tailed birds, anyone know what they are?

Made our way in easy, doused and furled all the sails. The pilots came on board and bguided us into St. George’s Island where we will be for a few days. We made it!

Sail Jacksonville Festival: Pouring Sweat Under Really Pretty Clouds

2009-05-31T09:17:00.001-07:00

Thursday May 28th – Jacksonville, Florida

The morning before we left St. Augustine we hit a really cool museum and then headed out for Jacksonville. As we crossed the bridge over the St. Johns river I saw the Bounty for the first time and I just felt happy. I introduced myself to some of the crew while they were loading food and Aunt Laurie, Uncle John and I went straight aboard for a quick tour. The ship has more amenities than any apartment I’ve had the last four years! Alongside the normal stuff there’s Heat/AC, washer/dryer, community computer, and my favorite: and icemaker!

After the tour Laurie and John left. Thank you guys so much for an awesome vacation and making life so much simpler by taking me to Jacksonville! I threw my gear down in my bunk and when given the choice of unpacking and working, I opted to start working: scraping odd the old paint on lifeline posts. Fun, but a thunderstorm cut work short and we got let off duty early. I went with a group to the Hyatt's pool and Sauna and had a great time. Then I came back to the boat, unpacked, and hung out with people. I also played cribbage with my new roommate Jesse, who was pretty drunk at this point and yet still counted his hand faster than me. So far I really like everybody as well as the feel of the crew and ship.

Friday May 29th

My Cabin:

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First night on the boat was a bit rough, sinus infection is bothering me again and I was up a lot during the night. I woke up at 7:00 am ready for the day and was on work party until 4:00pm. I spent the day scraping and painting the lifeline posts, the kind of bottom rung of the ladder I was expecting. I've been assigned to starboard watch. There are two watches on the boat when in the ship is docked so that only half the crew has to work at a time. So Port watch had to do tours tonight. I'm excited to do tours, but I am not looking forward to all the “pirate” questions. After I got off work I went with a couple of the guys to $1 beer happy hour, had a few beers and then came back to the ship for dinner which was great. The Bounty crew has been invited on to another boat for a short shorts party. Although I would really have liked to go, I opted out to rest and make sure I get rid of this damn sinus infection right quick. I want to be in top shape at sea. I am so excited to get under way!

Saturday May 30th

Second night on the boat was great. I slept well, woke up to calls and noises a couple times, but went right back to sleep. I woke up ready for the day and helped Shane put a a new bow line on and then the tours began. We had 4,891 tour the boat today. I had fun despite the heat. Most people were super polite, excited to be here, and learn. My knowledge of the boat and its history was tested and I learned some new things. I’m not sure when the novelty of it will wear off, but for now I really liked it.

After work I went on a hunt for a grocery store for a couple things and using directions from the Hyatt people I went to a super shady mini mart with bullet proof glass and was accosted by 5 people going into the store. So I hightailed it back to the ship and went to a party the Sail Jacksonville Festival promoters were putting on for the crew. There was food and 2 free drinks. The sailors figured out pretty quick that if they came back in half an hour with different shirts they could get 2 more free drinks. I

hung out with some of the Bounty crew and crew from other ships, mostly Pride of Baltimore II, on a deck with a live band. We listened to the music, enjoyed an awesome fireworks display that made us nervous about the proximity to the ships. After enough ill gotten drinks we danced and when that closed down we went to a nearby bar where our presence was known and had a great time with some awful punk bands.

Sunday May 31st

Today is first day off and I’m pretty excited. I woke up early and did the ships rigging check. So I got assigned a harness and climbed aloft. Today I went to the crosstrees (4/5 to the Mast tip) and enjoyed the view. My heart was pumping pretty good but I was very thankful for being fit and having gotten a little experience going aloft on the Lady Washington.

I walked around the festival and toured the other vessels. Pride of Baltimore II is a beautiful Topsail Schooner (See photo album), but I wouldn’t want to be responsible for all that brightwork (varnished wood). I hung around for the “Pirate Battle” which was pretty cool. Dan the gunner got thumped out a few good ones with the ship’s 4 four pound cannon. All the other ships sailed and motored around us and yahoos of all types in pirate garb abounded. A few were even allowed on the Bounty and they fired their pistols and had a grand time.

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Tomorrow we are continuing for Bermuda. I am so excited for so many things! There is the sailing of the ship which will be beautiful. There’s seeing the stars at sea, the weather at sea, and all the wildlife. Wish us luck!

My Bags Are Packed, I’m Ready To Go…

2009-05-27T13:38:00.001-07:00

My last few days in Fresno were a real treat. I spent much of my time with my family and getting myself ready to go. I received a lot of very generous and thoughtful gifts for Graduation, as well as many kind wishes. My friends came out in force and gave me more than one wonderful night to remember.

On my last day at home, Sunday May 24th, with my bags packed and lying next to the door, my parents and my brother, who came up from LA, went sailing on Huntington Lake. We had a great time tacking up the lake and winging it back down all the while reveling in the trees, fresh air, and snow drifts lingering on shore.

I slept for four hours before my flight and which were thankfully uneventful. I started getting excited as we flew over the Gulf of Mexico and a very lively thunderstorm welcomed me to Orlando, Florida. My Aunt Laurie and Uncle John picked me up from the airport and took me to their house where I very gratefully caught up on sleep. The next day Aunt Laurie and I bummed around the Universal themeparks and I had a great maitai during that day’s thunderstorm next to a waterfall at a nifty hotel, where we ate dinner.

Wednesday we left early for St. Augustine, the oldest permanent European settlement in North America, founded in 1565. I enjoyed the thick growth along the road and marveled how anyone ever traveled by land across this state. St. Augustine is a really cool city, though touristy, it has a lot of history. Sir Francis Drake burned the city in 1586 and it was attacked and changed hands numerous times. The fort built in the early 1700s was really interesting and gave a wonderful view of the area. I am writing this entry as today’s thunderstorm passes and we get ready to hit another museum. What a beautiful city this is.

Tomorrow we leave St. Augustine and I am continuing to Jacksonville; where I board the Bounty and my adventure begins!

Leaving the city by the bay…

2009-05-21T00:22:00.001-07:00

If you could pack my four years in San Francisco into a week, it would be damn close to my last week in the city. A sprinkling of finals throughout the wonderful food, friends, drinking, frustrated parking, sailing, wind-driven fog, surfing, MUNI failure, and indian summers amidst awe-inspiring views.

My brother Blake came on Monday to visit and we sailed through raccoon straits and anchored in Sausalito on Tuesday. Wednesday we trekked down the coast to a little cove outside Santa Cruz to find some fun waves sheltered from the howling breeze. Thursday I dined with Laura at a touristy restaurant on pier 39, but the real feast was the fog swirled sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Muni took twice as long as it should there and half as long back.

Friday I took a final I had no need to study for and gave away all my furniture on Craigslist (traded a chair for beer). Saturday during our indian summer I went sailing with Ocean Mat out of pier 39 and docked at Angel Island (without getting hunted down and fined by a ranger). Went from hot on the dock to shivering on the water to broiling as we hiked the island. We cooled off for good after anchoring on the leeward side of the island and swimming to the old immigration station. We sailed back in white caps amidst dolphins.

Sunday I went surfing at my favorite hidden surf break behind a grocery store; scored a few good waves. Got finished washing and putting my gear away and got the call to go surfing with Ocean Mat at Ocean Beach. I scored even better waves and even worse sunburn. Monday I had delicious pesto pizza with Laura on Haight Street and laughed until my sides hurt while drinking with Josh, David, Audrey, and Estevan.

Tuesday I packed, cleaned and left town with my truck looking like it was 1932 and I was heading out to “Californie”.

Check out this interactive map feature, let’s see if it works.

“I am continuing…”

2009-05-21T00:21:00.001-07:00

Four wonderful years in San Francisco have come to a close. I had a blast making friends and memories while I worked on my Bachelors degree in History at San Francisco State University. My jobs teaching sailing at Lake Merced and for Treasure Island Sailing Center were unforgettable experiences. I will miss the city and the Bay, but I will always carry with me the lessons I have learned and the experiences I have shared with the people I met.

I am continuing on to live out a dream. Beginning May 28th I will begin my 6 month contract as a deckhand on the historic sailing ship HMS Bounty. This blog will serve as my journal, as well as a way of keeping in touch and sharing my experiences with my friends and family.

Wish me luck!