Sunday 21 November 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Sunday 21 November 2010 בס"ד

Woke up at 0330 very exhausted, which made no sense since I went to bed early. I had first helm, dammit, and steered NW*W [Note: I'm going to type it that way from now on]. Some ships were visible while steering. After helm, I went immediately to the coffee station and literally had eight cups of coffee, which had minimal effect, dammit. There was distant lightning on our weather side, so we were waiting for the word if we would set sail or not at sunrise. Also we didn't want to arrive in Bali today, and wanted to curtail our speed of advance. Squalls were everywhere on our weather side and closing, but we set fore-and-aft sails anyway and began a deckwash once it looked like they'd miss us. I went on the galleyhouse and took down the old top boards, then swept and cleaned the galleyhouse roof. Then TAKE IN ALL SAIL!, and the rain started pissing down on us. We altered course to ride the squall, and were watch below at 0830. Had breakfast below, and after the squall had passed we heard the call on deck to UP AND LOOSE COURSES AND TOPSLS. Then a huge crack of thunder rattled the ship. Sails were loosed and set and after breakfast the engine was shut down for the first time in ages. In the salon, I quizzed DB on geography with the big map for a bit, then passed out DTW. Woke up for lunch, and the sun was shining and sails were set. I spoke with Clark (whose birthday it was) about firing torpedoes at ships astern of us, which got us both excited and talking about history and WWII and other things. I made a paper flower from some colored paper Siri had to give to my date for the dance, and made an excellent Poindexter/Urkle outfit and taped my glasses appropriately before taking another nap. Watch at 1600, and since the water was almost totally calm but there was a slight breeze and we were trying to kill some time before Bali, we prepared to go on rides in the rescue boat and ride around the ship with all sails set. Our watch set the remaining sails, and I overhauled the gaff topsl before we set it. I went out on the second boat ride around the Picton Castle, and it was really cool to see her sailing from an outside perspective. I returned after taking photos to take the helm, and in doing so I ended up being in the photos of subsequent boat rides steering the ship, which made for excellent action photos to steal. After all the boat rides, the dance party got started. I got all dressed up in my nerd outfit, and enjoyed the dance while we constantly swapped people on and off helm and lookout. I had good fun in character, and after watch and the dance, I passed out for the remainder of the evening.