Thursday 3 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Thursday 3 June 2010 בס"ד

Woke up today at 1115, since I didn't have to stand morning watch. Work today started with doing some touch-up painting on the skiff, followed by wire brushing and corrosealing the port windlass brake. I stood third helm, steering WxS, and it was quite erratic, swinging as much as a point in either direction of course in as little as two seconds sometimes. So although I had a snake in the wake, there was no worry about being taken aback since we're no longer sailing close-hauled but rather have a nice strong breeze from astern. We've been making 7kts or so, which is great speed. After helm I varnished some capstan bats, then we were stood down. At 1630 we had an all-hands workshop on the hatch taught by the Captain. The subject was eye splices, with the west coast taper and the sewn taper. Everybody received their own length of three-strand manila rope to keep and work with. I did quite well, having practiced before. Worked out a bit after dinner, and trying to figure out about my black rose.