Sunday 29 August 2010

Picton Castle alongside at Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands; Sunday 29 August 2010 בס"ד

Woke up and got ready to leave by around 0930. Dapper, Dave, and I went (the Kiwi dude was a no-show) and walked into town before hitching a ride to Muri. The guy who gave us a lift was driving the Deputy Prime Minister's car, and was running late to a church where he'd be making some sort of official visit. We got to the road, where we saw the map said the Turangi Walk was, but didn't know what to expect since there was no path drawn on the map to the tallest mountains. The road ended up being the whole path, and terminated at the Turangi water station. We decided to trailblaze up the mountains anyway, so I took off my sandals and barefootedly followed the Turangi creek for about 45 minutes. Then it forked, and in the center was a steep ridge, which we climbed. The higher we went, the dodgier it was getting, and the ridge was only about a foot narrow in most spots. When I knocked down a loose rock, it took about twenty seconds to hit the bottom and make a huge crash, and this was about halfway up to the summit. The ridge ended at a very steep, conical mountain peak, and we pretty much vertically climbed up it. It was a lot like a video game where you jump and the thing you touch disintegrates after a second, with loose, crumbly rocks and trees about an inch thick, many not firmly rooted. We finally made it to our summit, wit the three of us barely fitting on top of the peak, since it literally was a pointy point. It wasn't the highest mountain, but it was close, and it looked like a three hour hike to the bottoms of the valleys between our mountain and the others. After realizing we were total idiots, since we were virtually stuck on this tiny peak with a death-climb back down, we began our descent, which was extremely nerve-wracking, since one wrong move would result in a Jimmy-like tumble to our certain doom. Very slowly and carefully, we did it, and twice I was struck by falling rocks (once in the face and once in the left kidney). Luckily, after a three-hour climb down, we had survived and made it back. By the time we made it back to the main road, it was 1700 (again, too late to call the States), and we managed to quickly find an open store where we bought drinks to rehydrate a bit. We tried hitching for a while, and eventually got a ride. Back at the ship, we were telling of our adventure, when I suddenly felt nauseous. In about twenty minutes of rapid deterioration, I ended up puking about a half-bucket full. Don't know why, but I felt better afterwards and just hydrated and rested for a while. Woke up to our new doctor Vicki checking up on me, and now wrote this log. I feel much better now, just drained from 7+ hours of adventure climbing and then vomiting. Now maybe I'll type this up and possibly go to Telecom to upload stuff.

Saturday 28 August 2010

Picton Castle alongside at Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands; Saturday 28 August 2010 בס"ד

Thursday morning started for me at 0600, when I woke up for galley. Donald was already in there making batter and I asked him if he was making breakfast, to which he replied, “No boy, you cookin now.” So he handed over to me his pancake batter and I got to work making about 200 banana pancakes. Dapper gave me the radio because a few people had gone out in the skiff to go fishing, so not only was I galley but also radio watch while Adrienne checked chafe gear, did wakeups, filled out the log, and set up for breakfast. I went over to Telecom for a bit and used the internet, and met up with some people. Went back to the ship to meet up with Dave to go out biking, but I was late and he had left already. I helped Shawn get the massive speaker from our neighboring ship, the Infinity. It was my first time aboard, but other bros had partied there the other night when I was on watch. After, I went to go shopping. I stopped at this one stop and picked up some gifts for my Palmerston and Puka Puka homestays (ie; lotions, cookies, etc). While I was checking out, a huge crash came down from this room towards the back, and I heard a woman groan. I ran over and saw that a huge shelfing unit mounted to the wall had torn out and collapsed on top of her. It was in a craft-making office, so all of her glass jars full of beads and buttons and shells had broken and made a warzone out of the room. I helped get the unit off of her, with the cashier and the store owner. She was alright, just very rattled and concerned about her computer underneath the heap. It could have been much worse, as the shelves were quite heavy wood and filled with glass things. When I checked out, the store owner offered me candy to reward me for my assistance, but when she left I put it back. No need to reward me for being a good Samaritan, just doing what anybody else should do. I picked up a nice tropical shirt, a calculator, and a cool Cook Islands trucker hat for myself at the next shops, then went over to Telecom to meet up with Julie and Pania. We then took off and hung out on the shore under some palms off of the Maitai Boiler (all that remains of the shipwreck that is now a part of the shoreline by Trader Jack's). We had a liter bottle of Cook's Lager, and passed it around and exchanged stories. After we finished it, we headed over to the Cook's Lager brewery down the road, and bought plastic bottles on the cheap. They refill any container there and serve out their brew in soda bottles. Went back to our spot, chilled out, and went back to the ship so that the ladies could ready themselves for the Vaka party aboard later that evening. I ran into Dapper Dan, Dave, Davey, and Liam, and we went to get in on an all-you-can-eat pizza for $20 deal. We got there but the deal didn't start until 1830, and it was 1745 or so, so we just ordered a large pizza each for $18 a pop (New Zealand dollars, btw) and drank beers. Also drinking there were most of the Infinity crew, and they joined us for a bit. Then we went back to the ship, drank some two-liters of Cook's in the forepeak, and went up midships for a wild dance party that went on all night.

Friday morning at 0900 I walked with Liam to go do the Cross Island Path, a hiking trail that goes through the mountains north to south. We had been walking a short way down the road when Dapper pulled up on a scooter with Megan on the back, who wanted to join us. She did, and we began the hike that would take us about three and a half hours or so. On the trail, which was rugged enough to be a challenge but light enough so that most can do it, I went barefoot, since sandals were less than ideal. We went through some neat jungle, and at one point we went to Te Rua Manga, aka “The Needle,” which is a massive rock part on top of the mountain that summits at 413m. We climbed around the base using ropes that were shackled to bolts in the rockface, but didn't ascend it because the rope that went straight up was too high to reach and even if I managed to climb up to it, the climb down would be too dodgy as I only had a 1m-wide rock path along the cliffside to land on. So we went along and eventually made it to the south end, which had an awesome waterfall pool, called Papua or “Wigmore's Waterfall,” that provided a refreshing swim. Walked out to the south road and started walking anticlockwise (one road around the island means you either go clockwise or anticlockwise, as the buses are labeled). Hitched two rides to get us back to the ship. Then I did a massive beerrun for the forepeak and refilled 12 liters of Cook's Lager. Returned, then caught a ride with Dapper to the bookstore next to the Post Office. Bought two books, one called, “From Kauri Trees to Sunlit Seas,” by Don Silk and another that is, “NCEA Level 3: Physics,” which is a New Zealand study guide book for their high schoolers. By the time I made it to Telecom, it was too late to call the USA, which I wanted to do, so I wrote some emails and Facebooked quickly and headed back to the ship. Met up with Dapper again as he was going out to eat, and joined him at Trader Jack's for a salmon burger (first salmon on the voyage, because Vassos is deathly allergic). Returned to the ship, and got ready for a government and maritime reception, which included some of the island's most famous Polynesian dancers doing an awesome show on the hatch. Met a Kiwi who was interested in climbing the highest peak with us Sunday morning, then got a headache so I left to go back to Telecom. I found out that videos load pretty fast, so I put a ton on Facebook until about midnight and returned for bed. Shabbat Shalom.

Saturday I had the watch, and so after a deckwash and domestics, Siri, Brad and I painted the black and white trim lines along the top of our forward topsides under the focslehead until lunch while tours went through. After lunch, we split into two groups to go for a ride on the Vaka MaruMaru Atua, which is down in Muri Lagoon on the east side. I went with the first group, and the Mate drove us down in the back of a flatbed pickup. We took the tender out, and once aboard checked out the ship. It's like two huge canoes with a deck across them acting like a catamaran-type hull, and it has two triangular sails. I filled their gas can, and we motored out of the lagoon and began sailing through the channel. Then we set sail, and I tended the starboard fore sheet, which was cool to participate in even though it took a second. We went out for a bit, but lack of winds took us not very far and we motored back when it started to rain. Got soaked, but dried out on the truck ride back where we swapped groups. I then stood on the focslehead giving tours of the foredeck to tourists for our open house, and concluded at 1700. I stood deckwatch at 2000, and saw some guys in a flatbed scoping out our dockside cargo, and stared them down with Dan until they took off. I wrote a sticky note in the log, adjusted some chafe gear, and did my log and shipcheck. After watch, chilled in the forepeak exchanging travel stories with Dapper, who has been to a ton of places and done some crazy stuff. Bedtime.

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Picton Castle alongside at Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands; Wednesday 25 August 2010 בס"ד

Yesterday I was night watch for 0400, but Leonard woke me at about 0415 because he was slacking lines from the rain. By the time I was on deck, it was time to light the stove, so I did that. Slacked some lines, checked some chafe gear, and then was relieved by Meredith. Woke up at 0715, and after we were relieved, I had my laundry sent out with a laundry truck that came by, then went to the internet hub Telecom with Dapper. Paid for two hours of internet and thirty minutes of telephone, and so I uploaded photos and logs and called Karla. It would have been nice to call other people, but half an hour was about $20. Walked around town after that, then went back to the ship. Organized my stuff, and when on deck I saw a couple on the pier checking out the ship and so I gave them a tour (since tours were being given by us during this time). Helped Stein, a new trainee, with lines and tried to help him understand not just where they are, but what they do and why. In this way, I realized I'm actually quite knowledgeable about stuff that a few months ago was completely foreign and overwhelming to me. Typed up some logs, then gave another tour to a man and his young daughter after I ran over to Palace for a burger. After more typing, I went with Dapper to meet up with others at the cinema, and we watched Robin Hood. Then we all went out for a beer at Whatever! Club, only to end up buying each other rounds and rounds until close. Had a good stumbly walk back home to the ship, then passed out.

Woke up today at 0715 for duty, since I'm back on regular 8-12 rotation. Loosed all sails first thing, then I was put on galley duty with Adrienne. The laundry returned and so I grabbed that, put it away, and got to work. Was cleaning breakfast, maing a salad for lunch (Donald was helping for lunch), and setting up while several groups of about 300 kids came aboard and had a field trip. When on the quarterdeck, the skylight would open and I'd see several kids stick their heads in and say hi. The school teachers gave us all sarongs, and I got to learn some Polynesian dance moves from the kids on the hatch, which was awesome. David Brown told the kids to ask me where the beach and gym were, to flex my muscles, and again, the kids get quite a rise out of it for some reason. When they all left, we served lunch, and I catered to the officers and VIPs having a meeting in the Captain's mess while a large load of cargo was delivered. We also then received a fuel truckload of diesel. For dinner, we made stirfry chicken and salad, which was finished quicker than I had hoped, but it was good. Cleaned, and made banana bread with Adrienne for breakfast, but we burnt the outside crust. The bread was fine though. Now did a massive bunk clean, took a shower, and wrote this log. Probably going to type this up now so I'm caught up.

Monday 23 August 2010 (RAROTONGA)

Picton Castle alongside at Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands; Monday 23 August 2010 בס"ד

Another port triple entry. Bad habit. Anyway, woke up at 0715 on Saturday and at 0800 mustered with the 8-12s for General Quarters. We were stationed on the well deck, and everybody had to wear their blue Picton Castle World Voyage 5 official t-shirts. There we saw the Cook Islands Voyaging Society's vaka (which is an traditionally-fashioned Polynesian sail canoe catamaran-type vessel) sail around us. We reduced our sails gradually and did plenty of handling. At one point I made my largest and stupidest error of the whole voyage yet; the call came to lower the fore royal, and for I don't know what reason, I started to ease the upper topsl halyard instead. I know damn well which halyard is the royal and which is the upper topsl, but I can't figure out why I jumped to the wrong one. Of course, the Captain saw this, and I could hear him say something from the bridge regarding my conduct. Luckily, I stopped after only about a foot of easing, and fixed it quickly. Still, I worry now that I've tarnished my image as a competent sail-handler in the eyes of the Captain, and can only hope to repair it as quickly as possible. We maneuvered into the harbor, and I was on the well deck spring hawser and threw the heaving line to shore (the first time I'd ever done that). Put on chafe gear, then we had a small ceremony signing off the trainees who were leaving, and welcoming the new trainees aboard. After we were cleared in, I went ashore with the Batcave girls and had some drinks at a bar across the street. Walked with Dapper and Jo into town and helped Jo find a hotel about 3km away (all the closer places were booked out). Also managed a three minute phone call to Karla to let her know I'm alive. Came back to the ship, and then went with a big group of us to Trader Jack's for dinner and dancing.

Got back to the ship the next morning at 0745 for breakfast. Jo wanted me to escort her to the airport, so at the last minute before watch I approached Shawn with a trade option, since he's on 12-4 and I'm on 8-12 for port watches. He and I cleared it with the Mate, and got the go ahead. I discovered that I received mail from home, and found a big box of candy from a certain “Fredmom Weiss” addressed to Michael Fred Weiss, and also a letter with some official business shtuff. I helped Jo pack up her gear, then Ti came by to the ship and I went with several batcave girls to provide moral support while they got tattoos from the world famous artist. Then came back, had lunch at Palace burger shack with them, and got a cab for Jo and I to take us to the airport. Her 1745 flight was delayed an hour, so I chilled with her a bit and then finally said about three separate goodbyes before she took off. I will miss her. Started walking back to the ship when Bracken passed by on a motorcycle and did a 180 to pick me up. We went to Trader Jack's looking for people, then picked up Pringles and CornNuts from the gas station and went to Frank LeTank's place. Frank is a former trainee and friend of the Captain, and several of us were there having a get together drinkin beers and tellin stories. It was also Chris and Bob's birthday, and they were both there too. While there, a young lady walked in and it turns out she's Pirate Pawl's daughter Pania who had sailed World Voyage 4. It was cool especially for David Brown, since they grew up together and he hasn't seen her in years. Anyway, we drank all evening and had some takeout burgers from Palace. After a while we all piled in a pickup truck and went to Trader Jack's. Unfortunately, they closed down shortly after, so I went to the ship and went to bed.

Next morning, woke up for 12-4 port watch at 0730. After a serious deckwash, David Brown and I painted port topsides while Tiina tended the boat. At 1000, a group of about fifty kids came to the ship and we gave them a tour. The funniest thing happened at the end when we were giving out Picton Castle stamp “tattoos” to them, and I got one and they saw my muscles. They all were like, “Show us your muscles!” and so I flexed my guns and they were like, “Ahhhh!” like it was the craziest thing they'd ever seen. I told them that my muscles were tiny until I met Shawn, and that he taught me everything I know. So they asked Shawn to flex his muscles, and he did, and they went absolutely ape. It was really, really, really, hysterically funny. When the kids left, we loosed all sail, then after lunch, David and I resumed painting topsides. I then ospho-ed some rusty spots on the well deck and painted the breaks in the welldeck and quarterdeck for a rapid monkeyshine effort in anticipation of the Windward Isles Sailing Company's presentation afterparty cocktail reception thing that we would have aboard. When they arrived, threw on my nice clothes, and mingled with government officials and prominent businesspersons who would be interested in the Zebroid as a regular transport and cargo vessel servicing the Cook Islands out of Avatiu. Did gangway watch to help them off towards the end. I was slated for 0400 night watch, so went to bed.

Friday 20 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Friday 20 August 2010 בס"ד

Woke up at 0600, took a shower (using a new beard shampoo I got as a gift), and relaxed. At the commencement of work, we caught two Mahis*, and I learned how to decapitate, gut, and chop them up correctly from Bracken. Then I affixed my thumbs to the boom and mast for Sea Never Dry. I stripped two of the screws like an idiot, but it was okay. We put on the hatch battons, and they fit nicely and looked sharp. Designed a juice rack with Jan, and workd on building it until 1500. Today was one of those days, and I kept screwing up the small stuff, which was annoying. For example, I sawed a terribly unstraight line, then tried to plane it even, only to plane it down too much. Anyway, cleaned up and at 1530 had a workshop on stoppers and Chinese fingers. We all had to tie a stopper onto a topsl halyard, which was neat. Then a brief lecture on Polynesian navigation, followed by a sarong fashion show to demonstrate how to wear sarongs. I was a model, and I sported the “working man” style (as the instructional book dubbed it). After the show, a sarong marlinspike party with good dancing and fun. After, had a DMC with Jan, and then played a good game of Monopoly in the forepeak with Dan, Dave, Davey, and Niko. Now bed.

Thursday 19 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Thursday 19 August 2010 בס"ד

Woke up on my own at 0630, worked out a bit, then worked after breakfast. Remade the smaller thumbs (formerly known only as thingydingies) which I had botched before, but this time it was straightforward now that I knew what I was doing. Once finished, put a coat of penetrol on them all. Helped Jan and Bracken til lunch, then after I was told by Paul to get the battons, the gaff, and the propane tank rack and treat them all. I set up a big tarp on the hatch and got all the battons and the gaff and the propane tank rack from the hold and set them up. Meredith McKinnon had Georgie start coating the propane rack on a white paint/penetrol mix, while I penetroled the battons and put another coat of white toplac on the gaff where we had fixed it. Georgie had to go to second helm, and since there were no other carpentry projects for the day, I took over coating the propane rack. It was a beautiful, hot day, but just when I finished everything it started to rain. Meredith was going to have me paint the stepladder Jan had built, but instead we just cleaned up everything and put it all away. I also cleaned the workspace and the forward part of the hold where a lot of work has been going on. At 1615, we had a quarterdeck discussion with the Captain about Rarotonga and learned about it, and also about what events will be happening aboard and in town. After, I worked on the picture frame, then told my waterballs story to Meredith Spratt, Cheri, and WT after dinner. Helped Lauren get her photos on her computer, and typed up some logs before a chess game.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Wednesday 18 August 2010 בס"ד

Started today with sanding down the edges of the battons that had since dried in the stackhouse. Bracken came and belt-sanded them because the weather was intermittently raining, so we needed to bust it out quick during a dry period. Then we took them to the hold, where I coated them with Penetrol and set them up on the catwalk to dry. While doing this, I missed coffee break at 1030. I started working on my thingydingies again, and finished the four large ones. The two small ones I cut before were all screwed up, so after lunch, that was put on the agenda. First I painted the fiberglassed repair on the gaff with white toplac in the hold. Then I cut out new small bits, but ran out of time to bore the holes out because of a scheduled workshop. Getting work done today was tricky because it was raining, so there were about ten people in the workspace trying to get stuff done, myself included. A workshop was scheduled for 1615, but at the last minute it was cancelled due to rain. I worked on a picture frame out of a piece of shelf pine I got in Panama until dinner, then after dinner (which was Pitcairn goat), I read some Catcher in the Rye and Chapman's Piloting. Had a DMC with Shawn, and now bed.

bed.

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Tuesday 17 August 2010 בס"ד

Began work today by finishing planing the edges of the wedges, then powersanding them all down so they're nice and smooth for when we soak them in linseed oil. Then I helped Bracken and Jan epoxy on some fiberglass to the gaff over top the dutchman. After coffee break, I began to work on my first independent project: making fairlead thingydingies for the spars of Sea Never Dry. I had to measure out what I needed, select my own wood from the wood pile, plane it down, and draw out the shapes. I did all this before lunch. After lunch, I waited a bit for Ollie to finish grinding down mother-of-pearl shells, because he was in my working area using the grinder. Then I cut out the thingydingies (two each of three different kinds) with a coping saw, and got to work planing, rasping, and sanding them so that they're identical. We were shut down at 1500 by WT, because he needed to penetrol the galleyhouse hatches before our 1600 workshop, so we finished cleaning up at 1530, or so we thought. At 1550, WT came to us on the aloha deck and said that if people are still cleaning, we're still on duty, so we went back but it was pretty much all done. At 1600, we got a demo from the Captain on flaking out halyard coils so they run freely, then Mate Mike and Bracken demonstrated how to take in and set the royals, tgallants, and courses quickly with just two people. A few pairs of people got to do it, but by the time I was ready to go, the call for up and stow came, so I donned my harness and stowed the foresl. After dinner, played chess and studied geography. Tonight we retard the clocks an hour.

Monday 16 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Monday 16 August 2010 בס"ד

Yesterday, being Sunday, meant I had the day off from work completely, since I'm a dayman now. Still I woke at 0600 and took a shower, charged my laptop, typed up the rest of the Captain's Log, and finished reading TCOMC by about 0930. I spent most of the day hanging out and before lunch there was the infamous “F or F” incident, which I won't relate here. At 1630, there was a fouliespike (though I just wore my sandwich mask), and the Captain explained why we were steaming instead of sailing: weather, headwinds, and a Raro deadline to meet. Collected lots of photos in the evening, then off to bed.

Today, I worked first on repairing some trimwork in the port aft cabin, then to planing down the corners of the batton wedges. Once planed, I started to beltsand them down, but the Captain came by and said that we need to have the corners planed down much more. Though the wedges were pre-cut in Canada, many of them are oak, and the Captain said that the US Merchant Marine guidelines state that softwood should be used for batton wedges. Who knew? But we'll keep using these since they're already cut to size. Pretty much worked on that while Jan put a dutchman (a Dutchman puts in a dutchman, haha) in the gaff and began work on a new rudder. At 1600, we got ready for a sail-handling workshop. We all split up to get snappy on fore-and-aft sails, since I guess a lot of people still aren't confident. I rotated with the 4-8s first on the main staysls, then the headsls, then the mizzen staysl. After dinner, I worked out a bit, then decided to make a picture frame for Jo instead of the boat model (which I won't have time to complete) and Michael Zachmann let me print a small photo with his portable sticker printer. Then I taught Jo how to play chess. Now off to bed.

Saturday 14 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Saturday 14 August 2010 בס"ד

Last night I tried getting started on the Captain's Log, but had difficulty, so Jo helped me and actually wrote a lot of it. This morning, Jan and I spent our time in the workspace cleaning tools with steel wool and then oiling and reassembling them. Nothing too exciting, but this is the extent of our Saturday morning duties, and after lunch we were finished. I read TCOMC for a while, when I was surprised with a most thoughtful and meaningful gift: a handmade carpenter's pouch with “FRED” stitched in. This was from Jo, who treats me far more nicely than I deserve. I began work on a gift for her, with the aid of Jan, which is going to be a model smallboat. The hull is made from my Mangareva stinkwood (it started to smell up my seachest so I lashed the logs in my bunk to dry and air out). I split the one log, chiseled and spokeshaved out the curvature of the deck, sawed out the corners and rasped down the edges of the bow and stern. I did this until dinner, then resumed reading TCOMC. At 2030, David Brown and I went to the “no pants” party in the Batcave: he in a sarong, and I in my underpants with my pouch on. We stayed a while, but it was very crowded and hot and so we left. Came back to my bunk, read more, and bed.

Friday 13 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Friday 13 August 2010 בס"ד

This morning I awoke at 0600 when the generator came on, and took advantage of this to plug in my computer to charge. Then, instead of returning to bed, I brushed my teeth, took a shower, and read more of TCOMC. When my work hours began at 0800, Jan and I went to work repairing the broken Monomoy gaff. First, we had to take some 2x4s and make clamps for the spar, and I learned how to use a curved chisel to knock out the rounded parts. Then we made some epoxy and bonded the two pieces and clamped it to the port catwalk. Then we began work on the propane tank rack, which took us the rest of the day. Today we had a very significant hell on this starboard tack, and that made work interesting. Several times we had squally bits, and during a strong one we went into the hold and organized the wood pile. At lunch, I came up with a design for a juice/water jug holder that would mount against the stanchions in the breezeways, as right now they're lashed to the lumber in the starboard breezeway which won't always be there. Anyway, I learned lots of stuff today which outwardly seems quite simple but I probably would never have thought of. When I finished the propane tank rack, Jan fixed the small office item, which was like a letter holder thingy. Read more TCOMC before and after dinner. Cleaned up some water that crashed over the well deck in through the salon skylight hatches. Now I'm going to type up that Captain's Log for Maggie.

Thursday 12 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Thursday 12 August 2010 בס"ד

Got my 0715 wakeup for my first day as carpenter. At 0800, Paul told Jan and I our first assignment: to make new battons for the hatch. We measured the spaces and went to the wood pile in the hold to get some Espave woodthat we acquired in Panama. We took out three boards, one which Jan cut while still in the hold. On deck we power-sawed one into six inch planks, and luckily WT caught that I plugged into a DC outlet instead of an AC outlet (which has GFI and runs from the generator). Mate Mike told us to test it with six inches, so after we planed down the surface and rounded out the edges, we tried putting it in place at the hatch. It was too tall, so it didn't slip into place easily enough. We then took another inch off and made all the battons five inches after testing it and it worked fine. The wood was quite wet, even though we'd gotten it in Panama, so planing it was difficult at times and it would gum up the blade. It also gummed up the skilsaw blade when power-sawing, so we resumed with a handsaw. After lunch, Jan took me to the engine room and taught me how to sharpen the planer blades using the grinder and then finish with the whetstone. Maggie asked me during the day if I'd write a “Captain's Log” entry about the small boat expeditions for the website, since neither she nor the Captain had gone. I don't know why she chose me of all people (I'm certainly not the most well-written aboard), but I accepted the task. There were a few light squally bits throughout the day and when they happened we took in our tools and dried them off, then waited until it stopped raining to resume. When we finished the battons, we lashed them into the port breezeway so they could dry out a bit before we sand them down and treat them. After this, Jan and I dug out a duffel bag from the wood pile full of wedges, since some of the old batton wedges are in poor condition. I learned how to tell the difference between oak and pine by their grains, but we didn't end up working on them. Instead we cleaned up our massive shavings and sawdust mess with some of the 4-8s. Then we put the rudder and tiller into Monomoy and lashed it in place so the mates can look at it and figure out how to improve it. Then Paul told us a list of projects we'd be doing. Tomorrow we'll probably fix the broken Monomoy gaff, then over the passage we'll build a propane tank rack, similar to the bucket rack, an improved rudder indicator for the helm, fix something in the office, finish the battons, and maybe other projects too. After dinner, wrote my logs and played “Name All the Countries in the World” with Cheri. Just got up to lash the beacon light that was dangling from a freshly-painted lifering in the hold because it was smacking against the catwalk and that can't be good. Now gave Jo bandaids and talked about organizational skills. Night.

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Wednesday 11 August 2010 בס"ד

Another triple entry. Monday morning I stood anchor watch from 0200 to 0300. Before me, Liam told me the wind shifted around eight points or so towards the end of his watch and he had woke Paul. After about half an hour on my watch, I noticed that we were moving much closer toward shore and a nearby German yacht, and on the chart plotter it showed we were in a spot we'd not been before. I woke Paul, and after check it out he said at the rate it was going we could wait a while before we'd need to weigh anchor and move, but that I should keep a vigilant eye in case it changed. It didn't, and after seeing a shooting star that was huge and looked like it was as low as a jet streaming across the entire night sky, I went to bed. All-hands to the windlass at 0715, when we couldn't wait any longer. We pumped away at the windlass, got the anchor up, and relocated to drop it again. After breakfast, I betan to sharpen my machete with a file and whetstone, but after a while Paul told me I'd have to have Chris take the grinder to it (since it had absolutely no edge from the store), so I abandoned the task and packed up my stuff for the expedition in the small boats. I got in Monomoy and we set off first by rowing. We were sailing into headwinds, so for a few hours we tacked around and occassionally rowed. I learned a lot about small boat sailing, which is both very different and quite similar to sailing a large vessel like the PC. It took us about six hours to beat up past “goat island” to “uninhabited island,” which turns out to be inhabited. The dory Sea Never Dry had given up on trying to tack around the dangerous coral heads, which surrounded the channel in, and was towed by the skiff. We ran up in the beach, and I joined most of the bros at bro-camp, a site down the beach a bit from base camp. It was son dark, and we ate around the campfire. Two local guys, Raimi and Jean-Marc, joined us, along with their dog, Tuki. We learned the name of the island we were on was Akamaru, which means “go slowly” in Mangarevan Polynesian . I spoke a lot with Raimi in my broken French, and he in broken English that he learned while living in St. Martin in the Caribbean. He told me Tuki, the dog, is named for a mortar and pestle-type thing because the dog has a big dog member, which resembles said tool. After a few hours of sitting round the fire, I went off to bed in my cloth Panama hammock (I had lent my camping one to Jo the night before). Fortunately it did not rain.

Jo woke me up at 0645 and we went for a walk to a nearby pig farm. The woman of the farm was out and about and very friendly to us showing off her swine, which included several piglets. It looked like the bulk of the pigs' diet was coconut, and I noticed that they didn't smell whatsoever, which is not like our smelly pigs back home. We then found a dell path that led to a small church. The grounds around the church were beautifully maintained, and as we were walking around, a local woman greeted us. Jo speaks basic French, and they talked a bit while I tried to follow along, and in about one minute's time the woman had us back to her house sat down for coffee, juice, and toast. We chatted with her and another woman, and learned she had lived in mainland France for twenty years and her children and grandchildren live there now. She told me that when I am Captain, I must return for coffee (in French, of course). At around 0800, we told her we had to be leaving, but she wouldn't have it until she loaded us up with more toast and a big box full of fresh fruits and vegetables. I believe this woman's name was Maka, although I might be mistaken, but her hospitality was unparalleled. We returned to base camp and shared our fortune with everyone for breakfast. Soon after, we got underway (I in Monomoy again) and rowed out past goat island before we set sail and prepared to “shoot the chutes” (as from the film “A River Runs Through It”), through a very, very narrow channel in the coral reef. This time we had the wind on our quarter, and were ripping through the water. Jo taught me how to trim the jib sheet for speed (she's a small sailboat racer in her hometown and at university), and so the ride back was around an hour. We executed what I thought was very cool docking with the PC, having “both pages open,” as they say, and then tacking around, taking in the jib and then taking in the main. Switched out the one group for another, had lunch, and then set off again, also in Monomoy. We were making a better course this time, and I was on bailer duty, and had an uncommonly good time scooping up and pouring out the bilge water as it came over the floorboards. Coming around goat island in the coral, there was a snafu with the main halyards and we found a defect in the wood of our gaff when the one halyard was hauled while the other was still fast. The result was our gaff cracked in half, so we rowed in the rest of the way. It was still only about four or so hours this time, and so I set up my camping hammock for Robert at brocamp, and went on a quick search for wood. Had dinner round the fire, and after I was quite exhausted, so I went to sleep in my hammock. About an hour later, Paul came over and woke me up telling me that I was requested at the camp. I got up, then Paul told me that I should get some hardwood to bring back and that he made me dayman carpenter for the next passage. I was naturally very happy with the news and went over to basecamp to hang out. Chiled for a bit, then went back with a hatchet and saw to go to work on my hardwood. I had just finished cutting it up when Brad told me I must return as I was again requested at basecamp. So I did, and Vassos insisted that I dance. Although I'd probably be the first to propose this normally, it was not my idea this time to go skinny dipping and then run around the beach naked with flaming palm fronds. That doesn't mean I didn't do it, but I was quite tired and went to bed after a bit. I was in my Panama hammock, and it drizzled very lightly about three times in the night, but not enough to get me wet.

Woke up at 0630, started packing up camp and left at 0815 in Monomoy. Rowed out of the coral around goat island, then shot the chutes again under sails and made it back to Picton Castle in no time. When rowing, I thought I was the stroke oar, and then Paul was like, “Follow Yo,” and I said, “Oh, I thought port side was the stroke oar,” and he said, “It is,” and I was like, “WTF?” so I dunno if Yo is really good or I'm really bad or they're just screwing with me? When we returned, we completely downrigged Monomoy, removing the sails, the spars, and all the rigging. Then, back aboard, I helped hoist up the old skiff, then Sea Never Dry, then upon the quarterdeck the Monomoy back into the boat davits. I rigged up one of the snatch blocks, which was the first time I had actually done that, and although I used the strop correctly and properly moused the hook, I did it a bit low on the rail post, and so when we were hauling on the stern falls we bent down at a weird angle near the snatch block. I didn't make the same mistake later when we hoisted up the rescue skiff. The Captain mustered us and explained about how we were going to leave on a rising tide near high tide, so that if we hit coral, the tide would lift us off of it rather than lower us onto it more. He also explained more about Polynesian navigation, which is really very interesting. Then I helped lash the boats atop the galleyhouse to the strongbacks for a bit, and also wood, spars, bamboo chutes, and the gangway. While there, [person] asked me what watch I was on, and when I told [person] I was dayman carpenter, [person] replied, “How did you get that job? I wanted that!” in such a [explicative] tone, that I very, very, very, very nearly lost my cool for the first time and told [person] to [do something not nice to] themself. I refrained though, and just vented about it on the well deck to a few of my confidants. Then I was over it. We had a fire in the paint locker drill and then an abandon ship drill before we loosed sails. I remember loosing the fore tgallant and course, and I don't think I did any others, but I may have and don't remember. On our departure, we motor-sailed and tacked a few times as we gradually set more and more sails. When safely out of the coral reef, we killed the engine and sailed away. We then had a MOB drill. Later, Paul pulled me aside to explain a few things about being carpenter. Once everybody was stood down, I organized my bunk and wrote this log.

NOTE: I've started typing Monomoy as the name of the vessel, instead of “the monomoy” like before, because I asked Maggie for typing in the Captain's Log and she said the monomoy is named Monomoy.

Sunday 8 August 2010 (MANGAREVA)

Picton Castle at anchor at Rikitea, Mangareva, French Polynesia; Sunday 8 August 2010 בס"ד

A triple entry. Friday morning we braced in a bit during the second hour of watch, the I stood third lookout and at sunlight I was able to sight Mangareva and other small islands. On my lookout we took in all sails but fore-and-aft sails, which I helped with, and after my lookout we took in the fore-and-afts as we motored through towards the reef surrounding the archipelago. We also braced around for windage and did plenty of sail-handling, even though we had no sails set. When I was doing my shipcheck, I checked the boatgripes and the Captain saw me on the quarterdeck and called me over to say, “Fred, you're enough of a seaman to know when you look at the gripes if they're tight. You don't have to feel them like a wanker.” So we had no deckwash or soogie. After watch we had about an hour before all hands were woken up and on deck. We came in by the ATONs and at around 1030 we were at the harbor of Rikitea. The Captain told me to check out what the Mate was doing on the focslehead, and so I ran up and helped to unlash the port anchor, which had been catted up since Lunenburg. We dropped anchor and the harbor here is so tranquil, I'd believe the ground was rollier than our ship, which was completely still as if in drydock. While we waited to be cleared in, we got all of the stuff off the galleyhouse, so that we could rig up some tackles to hoist off the two boats we had up there: Sea Never Dry (our dory) and the old skiff. We got them in the water, and all the spars and sails for them came out and got rigged up and they really look awesome. Lots of work was done getting this ready, and I went ashore at around 1700 to check stuff out. We were walking around in a big touristy group (which those who know me know that makes me anxious) and pretty much the scene was that everything was closed in the one street town except one or two places that didn't take US dollars and/or didn't speak English. We mananged to find a place that sold wine, but I had a bottle of wine aboard, and I was hungry and it looked like we wouldn't find a place to sleep ashore, so Jo and I returned and had dinner leftovers and some vino, then just chilled and slept.

Saturday morning, I took the 0900 skiff run in with Liam, Bob, Brad, and Robert. Our goal was to find black pearls and climb Mount Duff. We walked by a store with Paul, Paula, Logan, and Meredith Spratt sitting against the outside wall drinking beers like bums. I decided I'd hang out with them doing that instead and was able to make change from US to Polynesian francs when I bought a beer. We were hanging out there for a while and locals would drive up and hang out, and I got to speak French for the first time since none of them speak English, only French and Mangarevan Polynesian. After a bit, some invited us to a BBQ and they offered us beers and brought out a huge, freshly caught, and cut us out big chunks to eat raw. They were also chopping up a sea turtle, and told us that A) we're going to have some fresh turtle soup, and B) don't tell the police. We took a ride in their boat back to the ship, and gave them a quick tour before we returned and I ate the sea turtle (not kosher, I know, but you can't go to French Polynesia and get offered illicit soup and say no). Hung out at a park for a bit, then went to a little store and partied behind it with even more locals. I made very good friends with two, and my new name is Leon, or also, Roi Leonidas, since they said I look Spartan. We were talking for a while and I brought out my English-French dictionary every so often, and the one guy very sincerely wanted to learn English, so I just gave him the book as a cadeau. Well, in exchange, he insisted on giving me a huge black pearl (he is a pearl farmer, as are most of the locals), which was awesome. Soon after, though, some wannabe tough guy tried starting a random fight with Logan, so we just left and went to another guy's house. There I got a gift of a black pearl and shell necklace, and we sat around and chilled. By this time, I was speaking French treis bien, but probably was just drunkenly mumbling. I went back to the dock with some other PCs, and there were about twenty or so teenagers having a party there and I chilled and talked with them while I waited for the 2100 skiff. Came back and passed out.

Today, right after breakfast, we were all-hands to the windlass as we took in the anchor. There was concern that we may have fouled the chain around the stock, and if we drag we've but a short way to the reef. It's my on-watch day today, and after domestics we broke into ospho-ing the forward bulkheads to remove the rust streaks. Pretty much did that until 1530, when locals came aboard to visit. I gave a tour of the ship to a gendarme, aka the fuzz. The Captain asked me how to say “sailor” in Hebrew, and interestingly enough it is מלח (mAlakh), just like מלח (mElakh) which means salt. So, “Old Salt” is older than I thought, since we say it in the Book of Jonah. I went on a quick skiff run to rescue some stragglers that we saw on the dock who wanted dinner. Just did dishes in the scullery and I'm standing anchor watch at 0200-0330. Tomorrow we go on small boat expedition and maybe hunt goat. Time to sharpen my machete.

NOTE: I learned yesterday from the locals that today the island of Maruroa, which is 280km away, will be nuked by the French military, turning it from an O to a C. Hope I don't melt?