Saturday 13 November 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Saturday 13 November 2010 בס"ד

I was first helm in the morning, steering W3/4N, then W/12N. People then shot stars for morning twilight, but there weren't enough sextants available for me to as well, so I scribed. Then a very productive focslehead deck scrape, where I tackled a good ten square foot area by the starboard ladder. Several sea snakes were seen slithering on the surface. We also caught some fish. I was fourth lookout, and reported two squally bits off of the port bow. I saw a pod of dolphins as well. The sea was a dead calm, and the dirt and algae were visible in the water. After watch, I overhauled my harness buckles by removing the corrosion and applying aluminum primer to them. Then I asked WT and Sophie if it was okay if I TSPed, scraped, sanded, and repainted white my bunk, which was starting to be really nasty. It was, and so I did that for about two hours, then put a coat of black paint on my harness buckles. At about this time, we had seven fish caught at one time, all five lines being hit and the first two to go back in after being de-fished were struck again instantly by skipjacks. I then reassembled my bunk until watch. At 1545 I helped rig up the power shower. At 1615, we had a discussion about our passage to Bali. I had second helm steering W1/4N, during which the watch planned more for our skit we'd perform tomorrow. Dinner was sushi and sashimi, which was excellent. Cleaned the galley, and TSPed the square things cabinet doors and repainted the blue trim. Saw another sea snake, then shot stars for evening twilight, which is more difficult because you must find the stars as they appear, versus already seeing the star for a while and shooting it before it disappears. We realized we hadn't ground coffee, so I did an emergency fast grind before being stood down. I got a copy of Full Metal Jacket put on my flash drive by WT, so that I could give it to Bracken. We'd been talking about it all day and thought it would be funny if he imitated the drill instructor for the skit, but only he and I were familiar with the references, so we need to search out a copy to demonstrate. Finished reassembling my bunk, then did a well deck forearm workout, and slept on the hatch, since it was becalmed enough to do so and way too hot to sleep below. Today the temperature was 102°F on deck in the shade, and there wasn't a breath of wind except our own apparent wind we made as we motored along the becalmed sea.