Atlantic Crossing Jan 26-Feb 6,09
Note this post is continuous so read down for the latest entries.
KJ
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Monday January 26,09
So we are off across the Atlantic Ocean at last.
We hoisted anchor and “sailed off the hook”, ie we didn’t use our engine to get underway, around 1:00pm this afternoon. We are now headed to the WSW under topsails, foresail, inner and outer jibs and main topmast staysail.
The weather is fabulous with bright sunny skies, deep blue seas and steady force 4 tradewinds blowing in exactly the right direction.
The Captain says we have the makings of a good passage as long as we are sharp on our sail handling so he can keep the t’gallants and royals set longer. The crew is in favour of that so we should have an interesting passage.
I’m back on the 4-8 watch for this passage so I will have to get re-orientd sleep wise again. I put on the seasickness patch last night so I’m hoping I can avoid arepeat of the last passages “flux”. My back doesn’t hurt and I’m feeling good to be heading West towards my lovely Lady so far away in cold and snowy Calgary!
I’ll be updating this post as we go along so you will be able to follow how I’ve made out by simply reading below. You already know I made it because if I didn’t you won’t see this 
So consider this a message from the past to all you fine folks following along at home!
Thanks for reading
KJ
Tuesday Jan 27,09
Had a good night watch, we’re still sailing along with Royals set making 6-7 knots.
We will be having the first formal celestial navigation workshop today which should be interesting.
Just finished the first of our Celestial Nav (CN) classes. The class was held on the quarter deck. There is something really cool about learning navigation when you are actually at sea. I’ve read a lot about navigation and all the math etc necessary to do it but actually doing it on a ship is a good way to make it real We will be having these classes every day now and although optional I think I will try to stick with it for a bit.
I’ve downloaded some pdf files with CN info so I have some references to use s wll.
Also started my “ditty bag” which uses all the same techniques as Buddy the sailmaker uses to make the sails for the ship. Most of the crew have theirs since they started back in May but I and the other new(er) trainees got started today. the weather is fabulous with steady force 4 trade winds and bright blue skies with only a few puffy white cumulus clouds hurrying downwind.
When I came off the afternoon 4-8 watch the sky was ablaze with stars some of the brightest I’ve seen so far, the night watch should be good.
Thanks for reading
KJ
Wed Jan 28,09
Night watch was fantastic, the stars were amazing and for most of my time as lookout there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. I had first lookout and fourth helm so I was on the helm at the end of our watch from 7-8am which was also when the Sun was rising. As the sky brightened the sea changed colour from almost black to dark grey and then various shades of grey and silver to the blue it has during the day.
A flying fish landed on deck and Sophie, second mate on the Bluenose who is getting sea time with us on the crossing, found it under the coffee rack on the Aloha deck. Had agood look at it, Their wings are long tapered fins almost as long as their bodies.
Today will be our second CN class and we are supposed to get a chance to work with a sextant which will be cool.
More later…
It’s later and there was no CN class today as everybody was deeply involved in rigging up th stunsls (studding sails). We also had a class in different kinds of sailing rigs and why our ship was rebuilt with the barque rig. Very interesting on both fronts.
There was one hiccup during the stunsl rig down when a wind gust pushed the ssspar hoding the peak of the sail right through the upper topsail! That means we have to unbend the sail and replace it with an older sail from storage. I guess that will be on the agenda for tomorrow.
We are now 760 miles from the equator and I do believe that Neptune’s “minions” are about their preparations. Or at least they want us pollywogs to think so
Thanks for reading
KJ
Thur Jan 29,09
This morning I was on lookout as the Sun was rising. It is amazing to see the waves change colour as the light grows. Thy start out almost black then as the light grows they get silvery grey highlights. Soon they take on a polished steel colour and then finally as the Sun breaks through the clouds, that are almost always on the horizon, aluminous deep blue.
I’ve tried to take pictures of the Sea to capture that colour but it doesn’t do it jutice.
After breakfast I laid in with the crew switching out the damaged upper topsail. The sail was switched out, re-rigged and set in about 1.5 hours.
Later we had our CN class and actually got to play with sextants which was very cool. Then it was time to try and set the stunsls again. This time a wind gust caught the middle one and flipped it up over the boom which promptly speared the sail and ripped the sail across. So we down rigged the whole shebang. Buddy has his work cut out for him wth two sails to repair now.
More later.
An email from King Neptune was posted on the scuttle today. It was very interesting and basically warns that he will be visiting the ship when we cross the line to deal with the infestation of “odoriferous polliwogs”. It also asked the Captain to pass greetings along to “Queen Chibley”
We are only 550 miles from the equator so another 4 days or so.
Night watch was OK very warm but mostly cloudy. I tried to do some astronomy, identifying the 57 “fixed” stars used in navigation by comparing the star charts in a book with star maps but there were just too many clouds. I found a planetarium program on my little laptop which allows me to set the date time and lat long and it shows what the sky looks like. I even took that out on deck and oriented it with the sky which worked OK too.
We adjusted our clocks back one hour last night since we are moving West slow but sure so now it is ight fr most of our “night” watch. This means we will start to have shipwork of sorts to do at the end of the watch.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Fri Jan 30,09
Did my first noon sextant sight today! I’m fairly happy with the results. My calculations were 10 minutes of arc off from the sight taken by the first mate, whose sight is of course considered authoritative
The calculations are not onerous and with current tables take maybe 5 minutes if you have to do interpolations , which we didn’t.
The next clases will be on lines of position and plotting which is also cool.
We had a workshop on anchoring today. The Picton Castle has anchors and anchor chain sufficient for a 500 ton ship which is nearly twice our size. We actually have 4 anchors on board, the 1500 lb port fisherman’s anchor and the 1200 lb stbd navy stockless. In the hold we have another big fisherman anchor and a 200 lb danforth kedge anchor. The anchor chain weights a ton per shot which is 90′.
In modern maritime circles anchoring is considered more as an emergency tool rather than a standard mooring. That is because most ships go alongside now rather than anchoring out. The Captain prefers to anchor out as it keeps the rats and cockroaches (both two legged and multi-legged) away.
Night watch was uneventful and cloudy so no star identifications for me.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Saturday Jan 31,09
We are currently sailing SSW with the spanker and gaff topsail, all square sail, the mizzen staysail and the flying and outer jib set. We are making 5.5 knots and the tradewinds are much warmer now, as is the sea which is 25.5 C currently.
There is much speculation about what kind of ordeal us polliwogs will be forced to have when we cross the line. I do know that we are keeping all food waste aboard until then which doesn’t bode well.
We should cross the line late Tuesday or early Wednesday at current speed , however the winds may drop before then as we hit the doldrums (also known as the “intertropical convergence zone”).
Bruce, Rich and I are on solo galley duty tomorrow which will be “interesting” as none of us really cook. I suggested a couple of things that I have actually done and promptly got elected as “boss”, lovely.
More later…
It’s later. We are now sailing as before but we have the two remaining stunsls set. It didn’t seem to mess up the steering too much which was good.
Bruce and I have a plan for the cooking tomorrow which has reduced the anxiety level a whole bunch. At least for me
We will be getting up at 5:30am to get rolling and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Thanks for reading
KJ
Sunday Feb 1, 2009
Well we survived our day on Galley.
Our objective was to have simple, plentiful and timely food today and we achieved it with clockwork precision, thanks to Bruce and Rich for keeping things rolling. Having a plan worked wnoders and giving ourselves a little extra time in the morning meant we weren’t starting behind the eight ball.
Sundays at sea are pretty relaxed with no shipwork. This means that if you aren’t actively doing anything while on watch you can work on projects read or just hangout.
We also had a workshop on opening and eating coconuts followed by a “Farewell to Africa Marlinspike” so everybody was dressed up in all their Arabic and African finery.
We reset the repaired topmast stunsl so we now have all three drawing although the wind has dropped and we are only making 3 knots. We are at 3 Deg N so we will hit the doldrums anytime.
I expect we will be visited by King Neptune and his cohorts within the next couple of days so stay tuned!
It’s back to work for me at 4:00am so I’m off to hit the rack.
Thanks for reading.
K
Monday Feb 2.09
Happy Candlemas, Groundhogs Day, St Bridget’s day to all!
I hope Balzac Billy didn’t get to see his shadow so that Spring will arrive sooner rather than later for you.
The 12-4 watch took in the stunsls just as we were coming on deck last night. There was a rain squall approaching on radar and the wind was becoming quite variable. The rain wasn’t too strong and the winds didn’t pick up enough to force us to take in the royals.
We found a bottle hanging from the transom with a 2 page missive from the “Shellbacks”. Warning about the coming cleansing of the polliwogs. There are 28 polliwogs aboard including the 2nd and 3d mates! The note mentioned hairbrushes and “eating below in our own filth rather than in the clean Sea air” which has led to much speculation amongst us polliwogs as to what the punishments might entail.
Just as we were going off watch we reset the stunsls and we are now sailing along at 4 knots SW by S.
More later…
Just got off of the evening watch.
It is warm and hazy with a misty grey sky. We have had steady winds all day with the occasional rain shower from a passing squall. Pretty much like it was last night.
My noon sextant sight showed us at 2 and a half degrees North so we will be crossing the equator tomorrow afternoon at this rate. There is still much discussion and anxiety amongst the polliwogs as to what the shellbacks have in mind for us. I don’t expect that it will be too bad, unpleasant perhaps but not much worse than a typical high school hazing. But then what is a “rite of passage” without some kind of ordeal anyway. No matter what happens it is a link with the thousands of sailors from the past, present and those yet to be born. It is a significant ritual, juvenile and silly as it may be, and as such it has a deeper meaning for the participant who chooses to find it.
At least that is what I keep telling myself
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Tuesday Feb 3,09
We ran smack into the Doldrums around 5:00am this morning.
The wind dropped and then began shifting around for a half hour oor so then droppd to nothing by 6:00am. So we took in all sail and fired up our “iron topail” and are heading South. The Captain expects to get back into winds later in the day.
Veronica says we expect to cross the line tomorrow sometime depending on how long we have to motor today.
The Sun is out and it is suddenly very hot, even Bruce is beginning to get a shine
I’ll have to come up with a mounting for my fan tonight I’m thinking.
Later…
We motored for about 6 hours or so then set all sails except stunsls in what looked like the same conditions as we took them in. Sure enough within the hour we got some wind and rain squalls and we are now sailing along at about 3 knots. The sky was really beautiful with all different kinds of clouds some looking like mini thunderstorms others like small chinook arches and even fluffy summer clouds.
A school of small tuna came leaping by the bows of the ship while I was on lookout. They jump almost straight up in bright silvery blue flashes. I even saw one do a back flip!
After dinner all us polliwogs got together for a “before” picture and after the ritual we will do an “after’ one as well. I’m resigned to loosing my pony tail not sure how I feel about potentially loosing the beard and everything else though :-/
Tomorrow may be the day we are now less than 60 miles from the line.
Wish me luck.
Thanks for reading
KJ
Thursday Feb 5,09
We crossed the Equator at 1:45pm GMT yesterday, February 4, 2009 CE!
At about 2:00 pm local time a great hail came from below the bowsprit asking the Captain’s permission to come aboard.
As we mustered midships we saw the Captain standing on the bridge, dressed formally in a crisp white shirt, navy blue epaulets with 4 gold bars and an officers peaked cap with the Picton Castle surrounded by gold laurel leaves on the front.
“Captain Davy Jones you are welcome aboard!” he says calmly but in a voice capable of being heard in a gale!
There then appeared from over the focsle rail an apparition, a haggard and ragged seamen draped in rusty chains and tattered canvas with strands of oakum in his hair, great dark circles beneath his eyes and the look of one who has seen many gales and hurricanes in his time.
The Captain greeted Davy Jones and offered him a cold beer served in great china tankards with Sailing fishing boats on them. It was 30c under bright Sun and fairly calm so the sight of two frosty bottles being opened and poured was like watching gold being poured into those tankards!
There followed a very interesting conversation in which the Captain apologized to Davy Jones for taking so long to arrive at the line this time. (Normally they would cross the line much sooner on a World Voyage). Davy Jones fixed us with his baleful stare and sniffed dramatically saying “You have a lot of smelly pollywogs here how did you stand it?”.
“With great difficulty” said the Captain, “They are making progress however they are not all hopeless. I should mention however that there is a new concept called Mercy that needs to be kept in mind.”
“Mercy? What be that?” says Davy Jones with a laugh.
Not a good sign thought I
After much such banter back and forth the Captain orders the ship to be hove to to receive Neptune and his retinue.
We back the main yards and hove her to and then there arises a great shout from the focsle and the Shellbacks dressed in various costumes herd us all below into the salon and close and lash the hatches.
What followed I am oath bound not to reveal to non shellbacks (as befits all such powerful rites) and so alas I cannot give you the gory details however I did escape with my pony tail, beard and hair intact
I am now part of a tradition handed down ship to ship since ships first sailed out of sight of land. The Captain says that he has traced the way we do it back Captain to Captain, all the way to the Captain of a full rigged Royal Navy ship who fought at Trafalgar!
While each ship has unique elements and the events are personalized for each polliwog the core is as it was done to the Captain on his first crossing and his Captain’s first crossing and so on back up the line into the past.
I am now the member of a community of seafarers that stretches back in time but also encompasses all those who sail the seas now and who have crossed the line in both civilian and naval vessels. It also encompasses those who will follow in the future. It is like a four dimensional club.
It is also very cool that I actually SAILED across the Equator in a Tall Ship powered by canvas sails and manila ropes. The number of Shellbacks who have done it that way and are alive today are a significant minority I suspect!
It took two hours to get the ship, and us, to rights after things were done and Neptune had returned to his watery kingdom
We had a small marlinspike in celebration and then a simple dinner of pasta and fresh bread on the hatch under the evening sky. The sky was an amazing range of colours. There were high white clouds and lower grey ones in many shades of blue to almost black. The sky itself was bright blue and the sea that amazingly luminous dark blue that seems unique to equatorial waters. Sinking in the West was a bright golden equatorial Sun, a bright silvery half moon was high in the sky above us.
I had the helm at the end of our watch and as I steered the ship in the moonlight I felt a great sense of contentment and connection with the sea and it’s traditions. I am no longer a smelly pollywog but a true oak shellback!
A fine rite of passage indeed.
Thanks for reading
KJ
Friday Feb 6,09
Yesterday we fired up the engines after takig i all sail about 7:00am.
We motored to the South West for most of the day until resetting sail about 5:00pm.
I went aloft to the main topgallant for the first time after we reset the sails. I was told to “overhaul the bunts”. This means to pull extra line through the blocks so that the buntlines and leechlines (which pull up the foot and leech of the sail when it is being furled) from going tight under their own weight and distorting the set of the sails. Easy to say but that meant I had to climb up higher than I have ever been before!
As one climbs the shrouds get closer together and the ratlines eventually become only about as wide as my foot! Also as the shrouds get narrower they start to twist when one is climbing. That takes a bit of getting used to. The ship motion is much greater up there but not as bad as I expected. I don’t think I’d like to be up there in a gale just yet.
We were braced fairly sharp on the port tack so getting out onto the yard on the port side looked pretty tricky to me so I went down to deck and told Veronica that I couldn’t do it.
“Go up and try it again. If Suzy can do it you can.” Suzy is 5′ nothing! So up I went and sure enough when looked at more calmly there was no problem. Amazing what a change in perspective does.
Night watch this morning was uneventful until about 6:00am when we broke back into the Trade winds and spent the last two hours setting all sails. We are now sailing SW at about 6 knots and should reach Fernando de Noronha tomorrow morning.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Saturday Feb 7,09
We have sailed the last 24 hours with all sails set with the steady Force 4 SE Trades blowing us along at 6-7 knots!
As the Sun came up we could see the island of Fernando de Noronha off the bow.
At 8:30 and we took in most of our sails except for the spanker and the topsails preparatory to our arrival. After 1400 sea miles, and the crossing of the Equator, we have crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived at the first green island I’ve seen.
Later…
We anchored without using the engine. We used the sails to back away from the anchor to set it and pull out the required scope of anchor chain. Since we sailed off the hook in Cape Verde when we started this passage it made for a nice symmetry.
The Captain went ashore to get cleared in and once the decks were cleared up and everything coiled down and made neat and tidy the “swim call” rang out and over the side we went. The water was a beautiful blue and was about 26C and crystal clear. That is the first time I’ve been swimming on this trip and it was nice to do it in such an exotic place.
Word came back that we were cleared in so everybody but the 8-12 got to go ashore.
First item of business was to get some Brazilian Reals to spend which meant atrip to the airport which is in the middle of this 5 mile long island. Once that was done we went Internet access hunting without much success. We did find two Internet providors but neither had a working wifi system. This was frustrating because the signal strength was actually the best I’ve seen so far!
Well without wasting any more time on Internet stuff, we rented a dune buggy, headed to a market and bought, munchies, beer, rum and coke. Then we headed out to the nicest beach on the island as recommended by the buggy rental guy.
He was right! The beach was fabulous and very isolated. To get to it you have to climb down two 30′ ladders inside the 50m cliff that surrounds the bay. There were even a few coconut palms to confirm that we were indeed in the tropics.
After a few hours of drinking “Cuba Libres” and letting the massive surf wash around my legs David and Gary and I hauled ourselves back up the cliff ladders and then headed in to the village to a restaurant also recommended by the buggy rental guy. His recommendation was fantastic again. We had a very fine dinner and then wandered back to the port to catch the 11:00pm skiff run. A fabulous day ashore on the first landfall on the West side of the Atlantic!
Tomorrow we head back to sea for our passage to Grenada. This will take 14-20 days depending
on the weather. Unfortunately I couldn’t send this to you all before we have to leave so you will probably get to read this once we arrive in Grenada.
Thanks for reading
KJ