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

Friday July 10th

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday July 11th

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

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

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

Sunday July 12th

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

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

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

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

Sunday July 5th

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

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

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

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

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

Monday July 6th,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday July 7th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday July 8th

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

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

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

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

Thursday July 9th

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

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

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

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

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

New York: Working and Wandering in the Big Apple

Thursday June 25th

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

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

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

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

     

Friday June 26th

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday June 27th

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

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

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

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

Sunday June 28th

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

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

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

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

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

Monday June 29th

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

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

Tuesday June 30th

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

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

Wednesday July 1st

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

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

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

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

Thursday July 2nd

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

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

Friday July 3rd

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday July 4th

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

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

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

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

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

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

(fireworks photos courtesy of Mitch the carpenter)

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

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

 

Monday June 15th

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

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

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

Tuesday June 16th

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

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

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

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

Wednesday June 17th

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

(Me in the rig photos courtesy of Sarah)

Thursday June 18th

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

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

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

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

Friday June 19th

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

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

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

Saturday June 20th

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

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

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

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

Sunday June 21st

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday June 22nd

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Tuesday June 23rd

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday June 24th

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

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

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

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

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

Bermuda: Pricey Paradise

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.

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

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!