At Sea En Route To Bermuda: Work And Sleep.

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!