Monday 8 November 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Monday 8 November 2010 בס"ד

The clocks were retarded an hour now that we were observing ZD-10. I was on galley, and so I got my wakeup at 0615 and was told it was raining. I got on deck, and it was raining, and the sea was a bit lumpy, and my watch was slacking rigging. Donald told me to refill the flour, so I went to the hold with the flour bucket and did so. Then I returned to deck and it was MADNESS! The call ALL DAYMEN ON DECK went, to get more hands on deck. The call to take in the tgallants had gone, and somebody had cast off the sheets, so that the sail was flogging wildly before the yard. Once that was under control and bunted up (with no damage, thankfully), ALL HANDS ON DECK IN BOOTS, as there was lightning cracking about us. The seas got lumpier and lumpier and we had some good swells tossing us about. Everything was in a state of orderly chaos, but quickly the situation was sound and off watches were sent below. I set up for breakfast in the salon with Frankie and Taia. Pretty soon the rain passed, but the wind was still blowing freshly and the seas were still turbulent. Lunch was set up on the aloha deck, and we had to stand soup guard to make sure the big pot of soup didn't pour out when the ship rolled. In between lunch and dinner, I stuck around the aloha deck cleaning dishes and refilling coffee and hot water and juice as needed. I hung out with Sophie, Chris, and Shawn for hours there, just shooting the shit. Dinner was also served on the aloha deck, and it was starting to calm down now. After galley duty, had a beer with my team, read for an hour, then went to bed DTW.