Wednesday 16 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea (Pacific Ocean); Wednesday 16 June 2010 בס"ד

A very busy day began with all-hands for 0800. We started with breaking into duties with our new watch groups; the 4-8s went to lash down the hold. I worked in the hold with Brad for an hour or so doing that (and lost a few gallons of sweat in the process) and then laid in on deck with various jobs. We had to exchange a lumber delivery since we received untreated wood and Pitcairn needs treated wood, so there was a lot moving wood to and from the ship to shore. After lunch, we waited a bit for all of the customs and immigration business to be taken care of, then we were underway at around 1530. Once out of the harbor, 4-8s took the watch and I was put on first helm. Paul (the mate of my new watch) told me right off the bat, “Fred, don't slouch!,” and so I put my A-game steering to work. It was awesome because I had to manuever around many vessels anchored offshore, and Paul would give me new courses frequently. While on helm, we simultaneously caught two fish, which very much excited Mate Mike and Paul. I was relieve and wrote in the log, but made a sloppy transcribing error and heard about it later (although that was my only mess up of the day). I helped scrub the hawsers and Nadja taught me the best sea-bucket technique, so I became bucket man. Of course, I slowly got soaked as the buckets kept coming over the bulwark, but it was okay. We then had dinner and afterwards I helped clean the galley. I made a pot of coffee that Shawn later told me was very well-done. Pretty much did that for an hour and then had a quick muster to discuss how things work on 4-8. I did final shipcheck, and we were stood down. I stayed up an hour to do forearm workouts with my squeezer things, and now off to bed.