29/04/2010 - The Man Flu

Average temp: 12ºC

I spent a fretful night last night desperately trying to breathe through my nose,.. yep, you guessed it, I have fallen foul of the infamous infection doing the rounds.  If my bunk and sleeping bag feel claustrophobic at the best of times, just imagine on top of that in the middle of the night, in pitch black being unable to breathe!  I am not a claustrophobic person, but I even got up and stuck my head out into the night air, just to take a deep breath!

 

Negotiating the salon at night is an interesting experience, the distracting noises emanating from people’s bunks apart, descending from a second tier bunk in the pitch black whilst trying to keep as quiet as possible is akin to trying to find your way home from the pub after a heavy night,.. you eventually get to where you want to go, but god knows how you managed it, and there are always a few unexplained bumps and bruises!

I have now found that if I part my curtains, push my forehead onto the ceiling, angle myself down a little and swing forward a bit my feet should hit the table,… then it is the small task of using my feet to feel my way around the benches before I drop to the ground and make my way across the room.  The inevitable collision of shin with bench or box is expected, but never correctly anticipated and the muffled groan of pain always escapes despite my best efforts.  When you’re feeling like I do this traverse is even more demanding!

 

Sleeping on board is very much like going camping in many ways, for those of you who have ever been camping in a forest the situation is very similar.  You lie there awake in your sleeping bag listening to the sounds of the forest trying to link the call to the animal. In the salon the situation is very similar, you can spend hours trying to guess who is making each snort, snore, sniff and cough!

 

Despite fully acknowledging that I have the legendary “Man-flu” (i.e. a sniffle) I still felt crap and so was glad when this morning I was reassigned a pet project of mine: the painting of the aft port cabin, this meant I was below deck out of the rain and wind, I could have my stereo and I was managing myself.  Even if I do say so myself, it turned out rather nicely and I decided to make the most of it and even took the door of its hinges to ensure nothing was missed! Maggie should be pleased (it’s going to be her cabin)!

 

In the afternoon, just as the weather closed in and it actually started hailing, we were ordered to practise setting the sails.  Maybe it was the man-flu, but I was incredibly slow and although not the only one, I grabbed the wrong line on more than a few occasions, I have decided that any spare time must now be spent dedicated to learning more about these lines and where they are, because if it is this hard to do when moored, I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like at sea with wind and waves to contend with.

 

Everyone still seems to think that we’ll be stripping off due to the heat within weeks, I remain unconvinced,.. at least this way I won’t be disappointed!

 

God I hope I feel better tomorrow!

 

Always rust to bust!

That's the T'gallant Yard being crossed!

28/04/2010 - Foremast yards

Average temp: 9ºC

As The Picton Castle reaches the “makeup” stage of her preparation (see blog entry from 26/04/2010 for the simile) there are less mundane jobs to do and us trainees find ourselves standing around requesting jobs from the pro-crew from time to time, or idly trying to learn our lines (i.e. learn which ropes do what and where they are – bear in mind we have to learn over 120 different rope/line names, what they do and where they go!)

 

Another complicated procedure was carried out this afternoon, the raising of the forem’st t’galant and Royal yards (the bits of wood that sit perpendicular to the mast that the sails are attached to) and it is here that one of my favourite sayings “when the sun sets over the yardarm” was finally explained; the Yardarm is the part at the ends of the Yards… I finally know exactly when I can have my first drink – with the added bonus that we have 4 yards on 2 masts from which to choose arms (Course yard, lower topsail yard, upper topsail yard, t’gallant yard and royal yard)!  The sun is bound to be over one of them by midday at least!  Anyway, I digress, my job whilst raising these yards was to hold the guiding ropes from the dock to make sure that they were kept taught, I’d like to think that my part in this operation was critical, but I am under no misconceptions and I think Chibley could probably have done a better job than me!  Despite this, I stood there dutifully for the half hour it took to raise the yards, letting the lines drift through my hands as the yard was raised higher and higher, the masts rise to a height of approx 35 metres above deck (add another few metres for the “above water” height) I’m sure I’ll be fine going up that high in a few months time but I was quite glad to be an inept trainee today,..

 

We also carried out a fire drill, this was chaotic to say the least, but I am sure that once we have practised it a few times we will know exactly what we are doing.  Every person on the muster is designated a role in the case of a fire, from collecting fire axes, to connecting the sea water fire pump to taking a muster.. I however, am one of the people responsible for organizing the sails, which means I walk rapidly (never run on board!) to the area of the fire to ensure the sails are set correctly to minimise damage from the fire, personally I think we did rather well.  I think the next drill is going to be the man overboard,.. that’s going to be an interesting one!

27/04/2010 - The mizzen topmast

Average temp: 7ºC

Woke up today to an atypical Lunenburg morning,.. cold and wet! Feel like shit this morning,.. every day there are more and more trainees feeling under the weather and every day there is yet another person coughing up a lung in the morning

 

The morning chorus is slightly different every morning!  From the vantage point in my second tier bunk I have the equivalent of a seat in the royal box. The percussion section starts first at about 7am with someone in the toilet “pumping out”; a rhythmic shloosh, shluck, shloosh, shluck, shloosh, shluck sound which continues throughout the performance, the tune itself is introduced through a coughing fit from far left followed by a sneeze chorus from far right, then in unison we have a trio of sniffs from back right followed by the melody as someone lets out a loud drawn out yawn.  The crescendo is reached as more and more trainees wake up and clear their throats, jump out of bed, yawn, sniff and cough! Someone eventually emits a sound other than the yawn, cough, sniff variety and ends the recital!

 

Talking of bunks, getting into and out of my sleeping bag is becoming less of an issue as I am slowly perfecting the “knees up, roll out” manoeuvre, yet I do still feel like I am emerging from a chrysalis every time I try and get up in the morning,.. not that I am saying I’m a butterfly when I emerge at first light, more like an irritated wasp, I’m fine when it’s sunny and crisp out,.. but give me a bit of rain and mist and a poor night’s sleep and I am not the happiest of campers! 

My bunk has now been organized with a little “stuff” bunk hammock and some line strung up behind it in which I store books etc, and it feels a little more like home.  However, I now understand that we have to have our immersion suit AND our lifejacket in there as well and it is pretty cramped with just me in it!!  To give you an idea, our bunks are 204cm long by 90cm wide by 65 high and we have a separate small storage compartment for everything we own,.. a little claustrophobic to say the least!

 

There was a fairly big event today,.. the hoisting of the Mizzen topmast, there was a great deal of organization required to lift this 750kg hunk of wood into its place on the mizzen mast (furthest aft/to the back), I was volunteered as a member of the “capstan crew” which means we had to walk around and around a central winch pushing on bars of wood,.. if we had been wearing loincloths and had a large greasy man whipping us we would have been at home in an Ancient Egyptian film!  After 30 mins the topm’st (you’ll notice that a lot of vowels are considered extraneous by sailors and therefore omitted!) was in place and the sail checked… a job well done by the pro-crew (us trainees are still deemed too inexperienced for the complicated rigging – and a good job too!).

 

One of the bonuses of a trip of this nature is that we can help the remote islands we visit by bringing them hard to obtain items. To this end we are transporting a number of different articles, for example, the Pitcairn Islanders have requested (amongst other things) 14 lawnmowers (you have to bear in mind that there are 30 families on Pitcairn Island – we think they are planning to open a golf course!) and 80-odd bags of 25kg cement, so this afternoon was spent waterproofing the cement so it wouldn’t get wet during the 5 months it will take us to reach them. This involves putting each individual bag in a plastic bin liner and then gaffer/duct taping it closed and also a few extra turns to make sure the bag doesn’t break!  There were 7 of us taping up these bags and for those of you who have seen modern day gangster flicks you’ll recognize the production line we had going, essentially we looked like we were binding up kilos of illegal drugs in watertight bags!  I felt very Colombian!

 

After we had dinner Yohanna dropped into the salon wearing what can only be described as a fleece smurf suite, there really is very little reason for me mentioning this in the blog except that it is the most fantastic item of clothing I have ever seen,.. it even has a zip that goes all the way to the top (I mean, when the hell would you use that?)!  and she swears that people in Norway actually wear these out, I assume not fully zipped!!!  One of the benefits of such a multicultural crew!  I would never have known this sort of attire even existed if it weren’t for the Picton Castle!

My living space for the next 14 months!

Apparently this is very trendy in Norway!

26/04/2010 - Liferaft Training

Average temp: 9ºC

Today was awesome (I appear to be picking up Americanisms!), after a scintillating morning collecting and sorting safety gear, making “granny wibbles” or “flabby winkles” (or some other silly nautical name) out of bits of line (rope) and cleaning out drinking water containers, we were sent to the pool in Lunenburg for some liferaft and immersion suit training!  This was great! After arriving at the pool we sat in our trunks while the instructor gave us a briefing on the situations we might find ourselves in, the difference between the different types of survival suit and where and when we might need to use the liferaft and what it contained.  Once we had all donned the survival suits, not only did we look like bizarre yellow smurfs, but we began to sweat our little smurf arses off!  Some people even had to sit down as the instructor gleefully informed us he wasn’t going to let us get into the water until we were as hot as he was,.. apparently he was quite warm!  As the droplets of sweat on my back joined to form small rivers between my shoulder blades under the insulating layers of my immersion suit he finally told us we were going to get in the water. We were advised to evacuate all the air from our suits (otherwise we might end up floating upside down as the air in the boots rises to the surface!) by crouching down and hugging our knees, this resulted in many of us farting air through the face holes in our suits, comedic value aside, we learned this was a very useful procedure!!

 

Once in the water we were all told to get into the liferaft which is easier said than done,.. but one by one we formed our little castaway groups and enjoyed the cooling effect of being immersed in water without actually getting wet! (these were drysuits!)

 

We’re not sure exactly why, but the pool’s water was a little opaque to say the least, so after the demonstrations and trying on our PFDs (personal flotation devices i.e. life jackets in nautical speak) most people had had enough and we were on our way back to the ship where a brief stint of helping out was required before another of Donald’s spectacular dinners.

 

The weather today was again brilliant and so a game of Ultimate Frisbee was suggested.  There were a lot of takers and we picked up a few more en route to the park.  2 pretty evenly matched teams fought it out and the game was awash with dives, daring jumps and I even managed a somersault over Michael in a vague attempt to avoid kneeing him in the head as he careened towards me at full pelt.  Personally I think it was a draw,.. others might disagree, but a pint in the Banker afterwards cured most ailments.  I had a brief talk to a couple at the table next to me about the trip as I overheard them chatting about the picton, and they bought me a pint just for being on the crew and letting them know about the blog!  Gotta love Lunenburg! J

 

Tomorrow the mizzen topmast goes up,..  (that’s the top bit of the mast at the back of the ship for you non-nautical types!)

 

I have discovered that ships are named after women for a very good reason.. rigging the picton is very much like a girlfriend getting ready to go out for the evening; there is a huge amount of preparation, certain areas have to be painted, others covered up, others exposed, various paraphernalia tied on and adjusted “just so” and it always takes longer than expected, (But she always ends up looking gorgeous!),.. we are now due for departure on the 8th May,…. The gulf stream and warm weather beckons!! Can’t wait!

Ultimate Frisbee!!

Shawn and I survival suited up!

From L to R: Shawn, Adrienne, Sophie, Robert!

Bob! (Kate!)

25/04/2010 - Lazy Sunday

Average temp. 9ºC

A beautiful grey, vaguely rainy Sunday (and an irritatingly chirpy Clark!) greeted me as I peeked through the curtains in my bunk at 7.45 this morning.  I had decided that today was laundry day. My supply of clean socks had run out, people were gagging as I walked past them on the breezeways and I am sure my Carharts growled at me when I put them on yesterday.  After 2 weeks hard at work with no clean clothes, it was definitely time, and in order to make the most of the day I had agreed that I would go first thing in the morning to get it out of the way!

The 10 minute walk through the near deserted Lunenburg woke me up, and sitting watching my laundry go round and round was akin to watching the average brit soap opera, so I felt quite at home and my hangover reduced with every rotation!

The afternoon was spent relaxing, writing entries for the blog you are now reading, finally setting up my bunk (see below) and watching Hot Fuzz,.. possibly the most perfect Sunday hangover film ever.  I was however informed that I definitely look like Simon Pegg,.. great actor he is, stunningly good looking he is not,… is this a compliment?.. not entirely sure!  You can make your own mind up!

 

24/04/2010 - Bending Sail

High temp: 10.5ºC
Another blue sky,.. this is great! And perfect for bending sail. The morning was spent transporting the sails from the warehouse to the ship and preparing them for lashing to the stays and yards.  Robans (string made from sections of unwrapped rope) were made by the hundreds as they are used for the lashings and distributed around the ship.  I was left in charge of the inner jib, which despite meaning I was not going aloft meant I was out on the bowsprit, which was almost as much fun.  We were attaching the hanks (metal circles) to the sail using the previously mentioned robans using the traditional “wrapping, frapping and seizing” method,.. God, I hope I did it right otherwise the jib is going to come flying off in mid-journey!

The captain turned up mid afternoon to have a look at her and for the first time we unfurled all the sails that had been “bent on”.  She looked pretty impressive sat at the dock with her sails set, and we had a small posse of admirers grouped together on the next dock taking photos and muttering amongst themselves. 
Obviously what goes up must come down and so once things had been checked over we had to furl all the sails; orders were shouted on deck and we rushed around like decapitated poultry trying to figure out which ropes did what and getting used to where they are. Uphauls, downhauls, halyards, braces and sheets were slackened off or tightened depending on the sail and I was sent up the main mast to tie on the main course sail and the main lower topsail, this time the nerves were pretty much gone and I managed to complete my task without any drama, There was a hint of the shakes on returning to deck, but they were banished when news of a barbecue and a dory shop party was circulated!

A new trainee arrived, another brit!  Now, despite no-one actually knowing Jimmy, there been a superbly detailed picture of him taped to his bunk in the “Bro-cave” for a few days and he was famous throughout the boat before he even arrived, so now he was finally here and jokes about the 4 limeys colonizing the boat and teaching everyone the Queen’s English abounded.

The party was great fun, with much dancing, a bit of singing and, thanks to Fred, a considerable amount of booze!  It also coincided with Michael’s Birthday,.. and he thought he’d got away with it!!!

Things wound down pretty quickly and by 10.30 a group of us decided to head for the pub in search of more booze and a nightcap….  And then bed in anticipation of a chilled Sunday ahead of us!
Apparently the First Mate is also a stereo technician! Even my Bose couldn't compete with this speaker tower!
Lugging sails
A thoroughly unimpressed Birthday "Prince"!
Givin' it some!
She's looking good!

Jimmy!

23/04/2010 - 2 week anniversary

Average Temp: 8ºC

Yet again a blue sky greeted me as I emerged from the salon, I am beginning to think spring really has arrived, the fog and rain that welcomed us 2 weeks ago seems to be in the distant past!

This morning was going to be fun; fire, first aid and equipment training is the order of the day! We were the first to do the “fire extinction” training and with the basics covered (i.e. types of fire and how to extinguish one) we were let loose on the fire tank with a chemical extinguisher,… fun!!!  (mike W – aka Fred – demonstrates a perfect fire fighting technique in the photo below!).  Next came the first aid and then the equipment training, I became “Captain” for a brief period as I suited up and the real captain took us through the breathing apparatus.  I found it ironic that immediately after the training, the fire crew went onto the well deck for a smoke!!  Aren’t these people meant to be setting an example?.  Now some of you may be thinking “why do you need fire training on a boat, can’t you just pump water at it?”, the answer is no!  Fire is one of the single most dangerous issues that a ship can have and we have to be prepared!

That afternoon my good humour was dashed as Joani and I were sent to scrub down the inner topside with my favourite liquid “Green Knight”,.. the first hour was spent in much the same way as with my previous green knight experiences, however as one tub was emptied and we started with a new one my opinion of Green knight was reversed, I take back all the nasty comments I previously made about it, the first bucket we had used had either been mislabelled or was so diluted it was little more than coloured water, this new one was something else,.. the rust literally melted off the steel!!!   Although not as fulfilling as rust-busting with a hammer, there was a certain satisfaction in being able to complete this rust-banishing task!

So today is my 2 week anniversary in Lunenburg and looking back it seems like I arrived months ago,.. I have learnt a huge amount, acclimatized myself to cold I never thought I would be able to and accepted that my hands were never again going to be the same colour as before!  Looking down at them now I have more small cuts, blisters and splinters than I can count, my nails and cuticles are black and I took off the top part of one of my fingers a few days ago on a piece of rusty iron and it refuses to heal, bleeding every time I use it!  My fingerprints are non-existent due to the industrial cleaners we are using and make it impossible to grip anything when they are wet!

 

So am I enjoying myself? Hell yes! I go to bed exhausted every night, I wake up wondering what new things I am going to learn and what I am going to be doing, am I going to be beating the crap out of the ship with a hammer?, painting her up?, going 15 metres above deck to attach stuff? Or just hauling stuff from one place to another? Every day teaches me something new and gives me a new experience!  Did I know what I was letting myself in for when I signed up? In retrospect, No! Am I glad I am doing this? Definitely.

 

Bending (attaching) sail tomorrow,.. should be fun and hopefully means more aloft time!

 

Relaxing after training with Donald

Fred showing us how to do it!

Fireman Liam

22/04/2010 - On Watch

Average temp.  13ºC

As I write this I am perched on the edge of the fo’c’sle (shiptalk for “forecastle” i.e. the bit at the front of the ship) just after being told by Clark that there may be a wireless connection up here to the pub we go to (that’s how close we are!),…. And he was right! Only 2 bars, but it means that while I am “on watch” I can also be up here connected!  I just heard some splashes behind me and as I turned I saw our otter friend from the other day playing around in the water between the two docks (well, I assume it was him, I’m not too hot on otter identification!).  The sun is just setting over Lunenburg as I go over the events of the day in my head.

 

It was actually relatively relaxing, on galley duty today again so up early to prepare everything, unfortunately it also meant that we were busy doing indoors stuff most of the day.  Despite this, we were also able to make use of the beautiful day, with most people stripping down to t-shirts it got so hot, we still spent plenty of time painting, hauling, climbing and learning as well as making sure the meals were ready on time, that Donald’s famous fried chicken was cooked through and everything was cleaned away and made “well” (ship talk for “good”) before the end of our shift.

 

The Picton is beginning to look really nice (and I thought she looked impressive beforehand!), we’ve painted the port side, the galley and the charthouse and the rigging is almost complete with the Gallant and Royal yards (top-sail wood thingys that hold the sails out for non-sailing-types) going up tomorrow.

 

I realised that there are 2 more or less distinct groups on the boat; one made up of the 18-25 yr olds, then a big jump to the early 40s-50s group, there are barely 4 people in my group between these 2 demographics.  I am trying to figure out why that would be. I guess most people my age are beginning to settle down, whereas those under 25 are still free enough to travel the world for a year before looking for a career, and those over 45 are perhaps looking for a change in direction, have gone through a breakup and looking for a fresh start or maybe just fancied going away for a year after making enough money to afford it!  Whichever, everyone here has as much right to be here as anyone else and I am still amazed at the amount of philanthropic behaviour that everyone demonstrates here…. While on galley duty at least 5 people just volunteered to help out (although I personally think that is down mainly to my ipod being the galley’s music system!).  I hope that continues!

 

I didn’t think I’d be able to get away from people on the boat, and maybe I won’t when we’re at sea, but at the moment, despite there being almost 50 people on board, finding a space to yourself is definitely possible (as long as you don’t make much noise as someone will always be able to hear you!!)  Up here on the fo’c’sle with the otter playing in the water behind me, and people milling around on deck I really feel I have my own space!

 

The Scullery dance while washing up!

21/04/2010 - Working Aloft

Temp: 10ºC

This morning as I left the salon (where we all sleep (& eat when it’s too cold or wet to eat outside)) I was passed on the stairs by one of the pro-crew; Caitlinn, walking down with a violin, this seemed a little bizarre and did surprise me as a) I didn’t know she played the violin and b) it was 7 in the morning,… but what an awesome wakeup call for those still asleep!!!!  Exactly what everyone needed on the first day we were going aloft to actually work! And we couldn’t have hoped for a better day. Breakfast was accompanied by a beautiful blue sky and a light wind, a perfect “ship preparation” day.

The morning muster was carried out in the traditional “Mate Mike” manner, with people being sectioned off for various tasks and concluded with the normal comment of “well,.. let’s go” mumbled into his beard.   I was sent aloft to lay blocks with Paula who ensured that I had everything correctly attached to my harness, a bit tricky as each block (which is one of the wooden blocks with a wheel inside it) weighs a good kilo and a half, our job was to lash (tie) these onto the “jackstays” (metal rods) on the yards (long booms that hold the sails on!),.. Once up and over the devil’s elbow I shuffled nervously out onto the yard clinging on as if my life depended on it,.. which it incidentally did! I’m not sure how to adequately describe my sideways shuffling motion without offending either Parkinson’s sufferers or old people, but if you can imagine a very nervous crab shivering from cold whilst walking along a very narrow tightrope, you’d probably get the idea. 

Now came the tricky part, letting go of the jackstay to clip on, then deftly removing the first block from its secure place on my harness without dropping the rest onto unsuspecting crewmembers 10 metres below,.. this is where my temporary Parkinsons became an issue, not only did I have to let go with both my hands  but I had to undo the complicated knots we had used to secure the blocks!  I surprisingly completed this feat without too much trouble, as once doubled over the yard I found my centre of gravity meant I could push out on the footrope and grasp the blocks quite easily without feeling like I was losing balance.  Once off my belt the lashing was quite straightforward, a nice and easy “wrap”, followed by a “frap” and tied off.  Now that might sound complicated, but it just means you loop the 2 object together and then cinch the rope back on itself,.. still confused? Look up wrapping and frapping on google!). 

With the first block safely in place I had to venture further out onto the yard,… this may not sound too exhausting, but with the stress and the effort, my muscles found themselves tiring quickly and my parkinsons moved from my hands to my feet,.. not good when 10 metres up.

As I grasped the jackstay and shuffled along the footrope towards the far end of the yard I remembered I had clipped in,.. damn it! Shuffle back a bit, unclip, reclip, shuffle out again a bit more, unclip, shuffle, reclip, unclip, shuffle, reclip,.. I was beginning to understand why Captain Moreland was of the opinion that harnesses were a pain! 

I Reached the second point and attached the block, my Parkinsons reducing as I relaxed, and focussed on the job in hand.  By the third block my clenched jaw had loosened enough to actually shout down to deck to ensure that I was lashing the blocks in the correct place.  I even began to look around at Lunenburg from my new vantage point and make the most of having a bird’s eye view of the place for the first time, a small but quaint fishing village. With my shakes banished, I relaxed as I made my way back to the mast and down to deck,… task one aloft completed! J

Along with 5 or 6 others, I was then recruited to help raise the Spanker boom and Gaff.  Now this is no punishment device as the name would suggest, but the intermediate mast and boom for the sail at the back (or stern) of the ship.  I assumed that being wooden these large circular posts would be relatively light,.. I was wrong, it took all 5 of us pulling on the uphaul to lift them off the deck!

That afternoon I “went below” (smutty jokes about “going down” are now a thing of the past as we use the correct vernacular!) to find one of the more experienced trainees elbow deep in shit as he attempted to unclog the head (toilet). Always keen to learn something new (and being a bit of a sucker) I decided I felt badly for him and offered to help.  I am not sure exactly how much help I was, but I definitely learnt a lot about the toilet pumps, the path of our “donations” and we successfully cleared out 2 segments of the shit tube!  Pretty disgusting, but interesting in a bizarre kind of way!

 

On galley duty again tomorrow,.. at least I’m guaranteed first pick of the food!!

 

The girls, painting and singing at the same time,.. quite a talent!

The Caitlinn wakeup call!

20/04/2010 - up and over!

Average Temp. 10ºC

 

As I was having my daily cup of tea, before everyone gets up and ruins the peace and quiet, I noticed something moving in the water, I assumed it was a bird and resumed my quiet contemplation of the horizon, that is until I realised it had a tail!  It never occurred to me that we would have otters up here, but a nice surprise nonetheless, and I could follow his progress through the tiny ripples he left in the mirror-like water.

This morning was going to be an interesting one, first we had orientation of the ship, where we were shown all the areas of the boat and how to carry out a safety check when we were on duty, and then going aloft!! 

The captain gave us a 30min prep talk on going aloft, and how a harness doesn’t keep you safe, only you can keep you safe and how when you hook in, you have to hook in to an adequate anchor point (illustrated with the tale of a young fella who hooked into a line that basically became a death slide – in more ways than one – he fell and slid down to the focsle where he cracked his head open!).  His little motivational speech did its job and scared the hell out of us, and made us appreciate that the usefulness of a harness is dependent on the preparedness of the seaman!

Now for those of you who aren’t aware of what “going aloft” is,… imagine 3 human size spider webs stuck to the side of a 40 metre flagpole decreasing in size as they reach for the clouds.  For those of you with a fear of heights, this is not the career for you…  even when you’re only a few metres up, with the height of the boat you feel like you are on the top of a cliff looking down at the water and the boat.  I have never had a fear of heights, but I won’t pretend that I wasn’t a little nervous as I laced up my harness (which incidentally is connected to absolutely nothing until you are at your working height!) and primed myself for my ascent to the main yard only 10 metres up!  We each took turns with the pro-crew ensuring we felt safe, and muttering words of encouragement as we passed them. I admit to having tunnel vision as I climbed up the ratlines (ropes that go up the mast!) focussing only on the line I was hanging onto at the time and ensuring I had my 3 points of contact!  The most nerve-wracking element of the climb was when you have to essentially hang at a 45º angle when climbing up onto the platform (via the “futtock shrouds” – yes that is “f” as in “f&*k I’m a long way up” and “uttock” as in “I’m an arse, what the hell am I doing”!, oh, and I have just discovered that it is also known as “The devil’s elbow” (can’t imagine why!).  As I completed the “up and over”, the “good job” comments from our friendly and supportive pro-crew helped my nerves, but I was still a little trembly when I returned to deck,.. apparently it gets easier with practice!

After lunch we took the Monomoy for a row (large rowing boat), now this is not rowing as I knew it (i.e. little dinghy rowing), this is professional rowing with associated nautical commands, pace setting rower, looooong oars and obligatory synchronization if we didn’t want to look like a drunken daddy longlegs…  we looked like a drunken daddy longlegs.  I continuously punched Siri in the back on each upstroke as Robert seemed intent on smashing my oar in two as the first mate yelled orders at us!  After 20 minutes, we seemed to find a little harmony in our movements and were even able to turn around (quite lucky as we were headed out to sea and seemed en route to Panama 2 weeks ahead of schedule!).

Once we were safely back on dry land (or deck) I was put to use greasing the shivs (sic) (wheels that ropes move around) with lanolin,.. imagine if you will using your entire hand to slather margarine in someone’s letterbox and you’ve pretty much got the sensation, was kind of fun,.. and very messy!!

 

On galley duty again tomorrow,.. at least I’m guaranteed first pick of the food!!

Greasing the shiv wheels!

Captain telling us about the one that got away (oh, and explaining the harnesses)

Clark and me 10 metres up!

19/04/2010 - rust busters

Average Temp. 5ºC

 

Today started off as most mornings here have over the last few days, stepping up the stairs from below to be greeted by a sky that is so grey it could give John Major a run for his money and drizzle that makes sure that everything is damp, yet not quite wet!

 

My morning ritual now begins with the “layering” ceremony.  This is a simple, yet necessary dawn-time procedure which consists of initially preparing the lower part of my body with socks, pants (that’s underwear for you north Americans), long johns (again long underwear for the NAs), and finally trousers (pants).  This is swiftly followed by the top half; short tight sports t-shirt, long sleeved thermal shirt, long sleeved t-shirt, jumper (sweater) and then fleece.  This part of the process is then topped off by the application of a woolly hat (toque for the canadians).  This morning, the foulies (waterproof foul weather gear) were also required, I feel I looked like a little like a Teletubby would do had he ever decided to go into space and with the mobility of a sea cucumber, but I am warm!

 

When you bear in mind that the average temperature that I indicate every day does not factor in the wind chill factor you will understand why all these layers are necessary!  Have a look at the photo of me below to see the effect of the wind!

 

The silver lining on the cloud that is getting up in the morning is Donald’s breakfast, the smell of fresh bread, porridge (I know it doesn’t really have a smell, but we can imagine that bit) and whatever other delicacies he has dreamt up waft through the drizzly morning air and into the salon.  This morning we were treated to “meat doughnuts”!  Now I had never even heard of these, but I can tell you that a corned beef doughnut is actually one of the most delicious breakfast foods I have ever tasted, dip it in porridge and we are looking at a dish that Egon Ronay (possibly even Jamie Oliver) would marvel at!

 

Breakfast was followed by a morning’s “green Knight” application on the rusty areas of the topside (top bit of the outside of the ship) by leaning over the rails,.. now this “miracle” formula is meant to be applied to rusty areas and within 5 minutes should allow the rust to be scrubbed off, this, however, is bollocks…. 2 hours into the task the rust was winning, the team was not convinced any rust had been removed at all and disheartened by our ability to make any headway we decided to clean the storage areas in the main hold. Picton Trainees 0 – Rust 1.

 

The afternoon however was a different story, 4 of us boarded the skiff (small boat) to apply the same miracle liquid to the lower half of the topside (that we couldn’t reach from the deck)… we were already disheartened at the thought of a 2-nil tournament, yet the first mate had told us to and as good trainees we were obliged to follow orders. As we neared one of the freeing ports (holes in the side of the ship that let the water out) with the bottle of this impotent liniment, Yohanna and I noticed a thick layer of rust along the bottom, “this will require rust hammers” we decided in unison, and began to slowly chip away.  Within hours we had decimated the red menace; oh how we grinned as satisfyingly large chunks of rust flew off our beloved ship, how we laughed as this ferrous foe broke down under our onslaught and how we guffawed from behind our safety glasses as the corroded steel tried in vain to attack us. We even had to stop and ask for permission to continue when Yohanna actually broke off a large piece of the boat,.. “good, keep hitting” was the Mate’s response, we gleefully followed his orders.

Exhausted, wet, cold, yet triumphant, we returned to clean off the skiff and reviewed our afternoon’s achievement; apart from having rust in places I didn’t even know I had places; in my ears, down my shirt (which bearing in mind the quantity of layers is quite an achievement),  I had learned 3 valuable lessons:

1)   Always keep your mouth closed whilst rust-busting

2)   When it’s raining, wear boots

3)   Rust CAN be beaten!

I have no doubt that rust will be an integral part of my life for the next 14 months, but with my rust hammer by my side together we can beat it!  I laugh in the face of this ferrous opponent,.. mwahahahahah (pron. á la comic book villain)

 

Picton Trainees 1 – Rust 1

(but a moral victory for us I think)

Windburn!

Flourescent Foulies

Rust Busting!

Coffee Break

 

18/04/2010 - lazy sunday

Average temp. 5ºC

 

I woke up with a surprisingly clear head, memories of attempted salsa dancing in the confines of the Zebroid batcave and previously undisclosed secrets meander their way into the breakfast conversation and are hazy to say the least, but since everyone was in the same state; no shame involved (or at least not much!).

 

A very relaxed day inside due to the bitter cold and continuous drizzle that made everything damp and permeated everything.  Topic of the day: the Gulf Stream and how when we entered it a week or so into the voyage the temp would increase by a number of degrees daily… apparently it is 30º in Panama.

 

Picton is not designed for the cold, the heating system is non-existent (basically it is our body heat!) and she has very little insulation, however we are all aware that we’ll be moaning about the heat soon enough! (and looking forward to being able to!)

 

A chilled out day was topped off by a dvd night on Zebroid (including popcorn!)  Yet again my speakers proved their worth and everyone retired early as there is sure to be work tomorrow and unfortunately the forecast indicates rain for pretty much all next week!

 

Quote of the day: Why are ships female? If you do everything right, they come first!

 

17/04/2010 - moving in

Average temp. 2ºC

Despite the booze from last night most people were up and about for breakfast on the Picton Castle and moving in started immediately after muster at 8.  People emulated human tennis balls as they bounced backwards and forwards from dock to dock moving bags in many cases almost as big as the person carrying it.  The salon was awash with plastic bags, clothing and general stuff as people slowly organized their belongings in their bunks and lockers.  Mini bunk hammocks were bought, mini shelves fabricated and hardware shop runs carried out to make the most of the small spaces each one of us had been allocated.

My Bose speakers are being put to good use and are now the official stereo for the boat, my musical taste has been commented on as I have veto power on all music played on them, I maintain that everyone loves Britney it's just that no-one admits to it!

 

The captain briefed us at afternoon muster on what we were to be doing that afternoon in his normal light-hearted manner.  It continues to surprise me how softly spoken both he and the first mate are.  When talking to the group they seldom look at us in the eyes preferring instead to glance distractedly at the mast or the deck and their voices are very soft, especially bearing in mind we are outside and they are explaining things to 40+ people.  However, having heard them yelling orders from the quarterdeck they are obviously men of extremes, as their voices in that scenario are incredibly clear and loud as they glare at the person they are yelling at!!!

 

After everyone had settled, the afternoon’s antics consisted of “Bracing the yards”, now, this might sound like something you do in your back garden in a strong breeze, but out here it means moving the large wooden beams that hold the sails up, forwards and backwards! We learnt terms such as “haul starboard main brace” this meant that 3 people had to all grab a line and pull as hard as they could until the first mate yelled “that’s well”.  The wind was biting and despite the physical effort everyone was cold so at 4.30 we were discharged,…

Since flowers had begun to wilt as I walked past I decided I needed a shower, and since Picton only has cold showers at the moment I had to walk to the warehouse,.. The tan I thought I had acquired over the last few days working in the great outdoors washed straight off!!!!

 

As it was Saturday the evening entertainment consisted principally of the Trivia quiz; we kicked Canadian arse,.. even “crazy Dave” (who is the local trivia god) couldn’t get close to us and we scored a record 82 out of 100!  Since The Grand Banker’s prices are extortionate we retired to the zebroid batcave to reminisce and finish of the remainder of the 3 cases of beer bought earlier… the “I’ve never ever” game ensured that we are all now aware of each other’s dirty little secrets and  some quite legendary catchphrases were uttered (and noted down much to everyone’s dismay the next morning).  At a blurry 3am, we retreated to the Picton, endeavoured to find our bunks and the lights went out!!

 

Quote of the day: “Anybody can sail around the world, but only a real sailor can do it drunk!”

Our bedroom for the next 14 months!

Half the winning team

Other half of the winning team

Group Photo

Beastie Boys?

Both Chibley and Donald joined in the party

16/04/2010 - Introduction and cleaning

Average temp. 3ºC

 

The morning was spent lanyard making while we waited for the Picton Castle to be refloated and all the necessary security checks made on the work under the waterline.  Only one fault found and the Picton was moored up on its dock by 1pm… we then spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning absolutely everything on the ship!  I have been castigated on a number of occasions for landlubberly comments and have now learnt; “downstairs” is “down below”, “floor” is “deck” (or “sole” depending on the context) and “walls” are “bulkheads”, I really need to practise these things!

 

At 5.30 we had our official welcome to the boat and the voyage, the captain said a few words and we then each signed the “articles of the voyage”, which is basically an agreement to abide by the rules of the ship.  As the captain stated, “everyone needs to live by these rules, the cat, however, seems to be indifferent to them”, we were given a “Picton Castle” cap and a “welcome to the ship” by the captain! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, I’m happy and settled on Zebroid, we are now to move ships, the picton is a different environment, a new bunk, it’s cold and the trip is very much a reality.

 

Dinner followed immediately on deck (see I’m getting it already ;-)), our first dinner of 240-odd on The Picton Castle!!

 

Since it was Friday and our last night on Zebroid, it was generally decided that a bit of a party was required and so Fred, Joanna and Georgie disappeared off to the liquor store to invest in some booze whilst everyone else went to the pub to have a quiet drink and “internet”.  On returning to the batcave (yes, we actually used the phrase "To the Batcave")we discovered at least 15 people crammed into a space that 6 would find cramped!  It quickly became evident that the single crate of beers was not going to be anywhere near enough so a consensus was reached and off we went to the pub again.  Since it was quiet down the pub we decided to investigate further afield and en masse wandered off in the direction of “The Knot Bar”.  On arrival we all got ID’d,.. I thought I’d have some fun and so gave in my ‘toilet paper’ pink stapled Spanish driving licence,… it took the poor woman a little while to realise what it was and even my offer to remove it from the plastic cover was met with a derisive comment,.. “don’t you have a driving licence?”, “that IS my driving licence” I replied,.. I think at that point she gave up and just asked me what year I was born in, “yep, that’s good enough” she said with a vitriolic look that said “damn weird Europeans!”.. 

Since not everyone had ID, we decided to return to the pub for the third time that evening,… to find it had closed… the night had ended, at least we had tomorrow and trivia night to look forward to!

 

Quote of the day: “You always do things the third best way, the second best way is too expensive, and the best way, you thought about once you finished!”

 

 

Jo and Dan demonstrating how to get fresh water on board!

Party in the Bat Cave

Lunch on board