Above from top:
A swim while at
anchor; ongoing
maintenance en
route; start of a
night watch.
Below: Deckhand
working on a
yard, anchored
off Lord Howe27TH JANUARY AT SEA
Today, we have 20 knots of broad reach wind and we’ve got
all sails set except the royals and skysail; it feels just like
following the trade-winds across the Atlantic. Very nice!
I doubt it’s going to stay this way, though.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen any birds, but today a
few storm petrels were flying around. There doesn’t seem to
be much wildlife in this part of the ocean.
I’ve been feeling very comfortable on board these last few
days. Life is simple — the ship, the sea, the sailing — that’s it.
Set the royal, set the skysail, brace for the best angle to the
wind.... it all becomes second nature after so much time on
the ocean, and there’s not much else to worry about.
The captain said that in 1976 someone spotted a reef 50
miles away from where we are now. I couldn’t see anything
from up in the rigging, but if you look at the charts you can
see quite a few of these places marked ‘Reef PD’ [‘Position
Doubtful’]. I assumed that everything was well-known these
days, but it seems there are still many areas that haven’t
been fully surveyed.28TH JANUARY AT SEA
As soon as we came on watch at 00:00, the wind suddenly
shot up to 40 knots, bringing heavy rain and high waves. The
autopilot kicked in, and we all ran to our positions on the
clew-lines, halyards, sheets, braces and bunt-lines, ready to
take in the sails and bring the ship back under control. We
quickly took in the royals, but the wind picked up even more,
and a sail on the main mast started flapping out of control.
We headed straight to the bunt-lines and released the wind.
The less experienced crew had to pay close attention
because everything was going so fast and there was no time
for lengthy instructions. Before I knew it, I was up the rigging
stowing the sails in the dark, with the wind howling around
me. It really makes you feel alive! I know that when I tell
people back home about these things, it’s going to sound
unreal. And it is unreal. But for now, it’s just my daily life.29TH JANUARY AT SEA
We’re now braced square with the wind 180 degrees from
behind and we’re rolling around like crazy. It’s exhausting to
work in the rigging with everything swinging from side to25TH JANUARY AT SEA
Our first couple of days back on the Pacific have been
breezy, 10 to 25 knots, but no sign of the predicted 40 knots.
The wind has been beam-reach to broad-reach, and we’re
cruising along at a good speed. The watches have been
changed, and I’m now in the Red Watch. Most of us haven’t
been in the same watch before, so we still have to get used
to each other, but that’s fine; they’re all nice, and it’s good to
change things around a bit.
It’s warm, but every day we’ve had a few downpours,
sometimes as many as 10 showers surrounding us. It makes
our maintenance work difficult because we’re always having
to keep an eye on the weather and to pack in our varnishing
and rigging-work as soon as the rain clouds get close.
26TH JANUARY AT SEA
During the night-watch, we sailed by one of the Cook Islands.
I’ve seen some photos and it looks really beautiful. It’s a
shame that we’re not stopping there. Maybe next time.
Lord Howe IslandGalapagosPepeete, TahitiSydney