Wednesday 8 September 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Wednesday 8 September 2010 בס"ד

Stood 0400 anchor watch, and the weather was relatively nice. Lit the galley stove at 0430, and nothing of note except the wind shifted from ExN to E 1/2 N. Woke up at 0715, and at our 0800 muster, we heard the yachties talk over the radio that they were going to come over also for our farewell deck party, and there were about ten yachts taking shelter in the lee of the atoll from the nasty trough, which has made rough seas. Did domestics and deckwash, and started recoiling all the coils to look nice. Then the dory Sea Never Dry came back under tow and I was atop the galley house guiding her back with others. We saw some more humpbacks at this time. After this, yachties started showing up and boarding. I met a British couple, and when the asked me my name, I said, “Fred,” and the guy was like, “Okay, so what's your real name?” So I guess it's a British thing to call guys Fred when they're not Fred? I also met a Brazilian lady from Fortaleza, and I gave her a tour in Portuguese. I'm a bit rustier than I'd like to be, but I can definitely still speak it, which is good. All the islanders came aboard and we had a nice gathering. A few guys and girls did a recap of our dance on the hatch, myself included. I gave Paul some wood glue and my copy of “The Old Man and the Sea,” since sharks bite his fish in half all the time. I loosed the fore topsls, and when the call came to weigh anchor, I went to the chain locker (I guess it's not that popular, but I love doing it all the time) and taught Leonard how to properly flake the chain. Getting out was easier than the Captain expected, he later told us, since the anchor was wedged in good. Headsls set, then the courses and tgallants loosed and set, and our staysls too. We pretty much sailed off the hook, and once out of the lee of the atoll, the seas became quite lumpy, and with the wind blowing freshly, the new trainees got their first taste of sailing ship sharp on a starboard tack. We are now headed towards Nassau, where we'll unload some cargo but as of now there is no intent to go ashore. Then we head to Pukapuka (which has quite a reputation for voracious man-hungry women it would seem). We got a new trainee from Palmerston, Taia Marsters, who will be with us til Bali or possibly Lunenburg. Stood down at 1600, and worked on making a pillowcase from my fabric. After dinner, I got ready for the new year, said the lehadlik ner shel yom tov brakha in the galley over two matches with Megan. Blowed into a fake shofar made from an aluminum foil roll, and briefly explained Rosh Hashanah to those with me in the forepeak. It's not easy to be very observant of my traditions and customs at sea in a goyish ship, but I try. I'll probably wear my kippah for the rest of the holiday, weather and windforce permitting. Right now it is gusty, rainy, and quite rolly, so I'll see. Plenty of our passengers here have already upchucked, but I'm still doing fine as always (knock on wood). Finished my pillowcase, now going to try to get a quick nap in before morning watch. Shouldn't be too hard even though the baby in the salon has been crying for a long time. לשנה טובה