And the wind finally came, a Force 4 breeze filled in a little North of West last night and we shut down to sail. We will start to pull away from the Iberian coast but continue to sail in a southerly direction in search of the North East Trade winds.
As we clear away from the coast the ship’s anchors were stowed for sea today, the starboard anchor pulled firmly up into the haws pipe with a heavy chain hook and rigging screw, and the port anchor brought up over the rail and secured with many heavy lashings. After all is said and done with securing the anchors, the heavy fish tackle (which hauls the 1,500lbs port anchor up to the edge of the foc’s’l head) is sent down from the Fore Topmast and secured below.
With the wind being moderate into the night we continued to drill the watches in sail handling and brace for every small wind shift to get the most out of the ship.
SHIP’S WORK: Shift bunt blocks on the Fore Lower Topsail, end for end Mizzen Topmast & Main T’gallant Staysail down hauls, re-lead Gaff Topsail gear, set up Gaff Topsail jackstay, send down Fish Tackle, measure and splice ends for Main Topmast Staysail halyard whip, replace fore and aft boat gripes, sailmakers begin grommets on new Flying Jib and continue tabling on new Upper Topsail.
FROM: La Rochelle, France
TOWARDS: Quebec, Canada
TIME ZONE: GMT
NOON POSITION: 38°57.1’N / 012°24.2’W
DAYS RUN: 105nm
PASSAGE LOG: 770nm
DISTANCE REMAINING: 3851nm
COURSE AND SPEED: SSW, 4.5kts
WIND: WNW, F4
WEATHER: Overcast, air temp: 22°C, water temp: 19°C
SWELL HEIGHT & DIRECTION: N’rly, 2ft
SAILS SET: All Sail