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Hi there,
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ODDS AND ENDS The Great Pacific Lure Contest ended today. My lure was the last creative wonder used to entice the fish. Although it produced no fish, something must have found it interesting because the lure and HOOK were missing. As John noted, we need heavy duty fishing gear for these dudes. This officially makes Andy the winner having landed a 52" mahi mahi with his lure. Jason's 23rd birthday was Monday, January 26. To celebrate, Andy made a cake and we had a party on the aft deck. John piped some music on deck. We tried to rig a bucket of water to dowse Jason, but he keeps too good an eye on things for a trick like that to work. He spied Summer attempting to tie a bucket up a few feet in the rig. Imagine having your birthday in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You could say later in life, "I remember celebrating my 23rd - I was at 12 : 11.9 N and 133: 12.6 W . . . "
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At Jennifer's suggestion, I plopped onto the yard and strapped in to look around -- and down at one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. The sails were full and I could see the bow below me plowing through the water. The horizon stretched forever with nothing but the endless swells of the deep blue ocean. Even from this height, we couldn't see Hawaii. It is still hundreds of miles beyond the curve of the Earth. Looking down on deck, the crew looked like action figure dolls. And by the way, Andy was right. It is Leather World up there. There is leather chafe gear all over the place. Jennifer moved out onto the yard so I could take her picture. I am still amazed that the crew goes out to the end of the yardarm to set or strike sails - and this was a nice day. Imagine inching your way out under those yardarms in the rain, the dark, or a hefty breeze! My log today is about deckhand skills. This is what it takes to be a deckhand. MAINTENANCE Weather permitting (when the seas are reasonably steady and the winds are moderate), the crew spends their time during their watch maintaining the ship. On tall ships, there is an effort to maintain the flavor of history. In doing this, crew members use skills that are similar to those used by mariners of long ago. On a sunny afternoon, projects are "happening" all over the deck. Andy came on deck to soak up some sunshine after lunch and appropriately named the setting "Camp Sea Watch." Let's take a look at a few of the skills used to maintain a tall ship. CHAFE GEAR
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BAGGY WRINKLE
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TARRING THE RIG
BRIGHT WORK (wood)
Some of the wood on the ship, such as the wheel, boom, and gaff, are varnished with a clear substance which leaves a permanent shiny finish. However, much of the wood receives a lot of chafe from lines. This chafing tends to wear away the varnish. These wooden areas, such as cleats where lines are tied off, are regularly scraped, sanded, and oiled. This work can be done underway as long as the wood is dry and we are not using that piece of equipment. The end result is that all the wood should look shiny and "bright." Hence the name - bright work. SLUSHING THE RIG
LINE MAINTENANCE
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SAIL REPAIRS
Amy is frequently perched on the cabin top with a sail in her lap. The sails, which are made of Egyptian cotton or synthetic (man made) cloth, may need a patch sewn over a small tear. A needle, thread and leather palm are used to stitch around the patch. Afterwards the sail is carefully "flaked" or folded, then sewed to the spar or wooden support for the sail. Sewing is also used to make canvas covers and small ditty bags in which to stow gear. All this maintenance is done by deckhands in addition to their regular responsibilities while they are on watch -- responsibilities like trimming sails, recording weather, doing boat checks, standing turns at the helm, and recording the ship's position. So you can see that during the day "Camp Sea Watch" has a full schedule of activities for the crew at sea. KELLY LANDEN - Deckhand
When I first met Kelly, there was something strangely familiar about her. She stands tall with long straight hair and has a quiet elegance about the way she presents herself. She's an interesting mix of refinement, and yet she's a great outdoors woman. Learning of the wide range of experiences in her background has shed some understanding on why this is so. Her major in college was music which she pursued with course work at universities in California and New York. During this window of time in the music world, Kelly worked with record companies to promote concerts for new artists. The work proved interesting, but the people and lifestyle were not really to her taste. After graduation, her brother, who lives in Alaska, invited her to visit. During her visit, she found a job working on boats that assist big game hunters. In subsequent trips to Alaska, Kelly worked on wildlife tour boats. During this exposure to the Alaskan wilderness, Kelly gained a unique perspective and appreciation of nature. In her descriptions of the way of life of the Alaskan whales and bears, it is easy to see her caring, gentle side. A good likeness would be Jane Seymour in the Medicine Woman - a wilderness kind of gal with polish. Perhaps it is this small resemblance that I find familiar.
Kelly is also well traveled. She grew up in Grand Island, New York. Aside from having spent time in California and Alaska, she has recently returned from a trip to Egypt. This was not her first trip across "the pond" (the Atlantic Ocean). She had previously traveled though Europe and happened to be in Berlin when "the Wall" was coming down. Her favorite European countries, however, are Portugal and Spain. She vividly describes the crowds running in the streets before the bulls during the Festival of Saint Fermin in Pamplona, Spain. For a year, Kelly also lived in Florida where she worked on SCUBA diving boats. She videotaped divers exploring wrecks along the coast. Now that we are closing in on Hawaii, she is looking forward to exploring the marine life inhabiting Pacific reefs. But this is a long way from sailing tall ships. When she learned about the opportunity to sail aboard the Lady Washington off the west coast of North America, she volunteered and subsequently signed on as cook for four tours. Her travels on the Lady Washington took her from Mexico to Alaska. After her tours on that ship, she obtained her master's license for 100 ton vessels for coastal waters. Now she is sailing to Asia on Pride of Baltimore II -- climbing into the rig to set sails, standing her watches at the helm, and helping to maintain the ship. In her quiet moments off watch, I have found her sitting on the bow writing to her dad who lives thousands of miles away in New York. How different it must be to have a daughter who travels the world and sails tall ships to Asia! Next time we will talk briefly about charts. This will also be a good time to get to know Captain Parrott since he's "our man" for finding a spot of dry land in the midst of all this water.
So (to quote Andy) YOUR THOUGHTS
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Chafe is our enemy once again. Pride II has two huge wooden masts. These masts hold up the sails. The sails are attached to the masts with wooden rings called hoops. The bottom of the mainsail is attached to a wooden boom, and the top of the sail is attached to a wooden gaff. The boom and gaff have U shaped jaws where they attach to the mast. To reduce friction between the mast and the jaws and to enable the hoops on the sails to slide more easily, the mast is greased with Vaseline. This is called slushing the rig. A crew member sits in swing-like chair, called a bo'sun's chair, which is raised to the top of the mast. They grease the mast and jaws with a spatula and their hands as they are slowly lowered. Samantha and Kelly slushed the rig in Panama. Needless to say, they sported some lovely outfits by the time they were back on deck.
