A lovely Tuesday on board, the sun is bright and the sky is painted blue with collections of cumulus clouds. In order to arrive at Vanuatu by tomorrow, the Captain ordered our main engine to be fired up at 0600. Lots of work to be done today, the spots on the foremast that were rust busted are receiving a coat of primer, the oars from the Monomoy (our longboat) that haven’t yet been overhauled are being scraped on the well deck. The scullery porthole is also being scraped in preparation for paint, and sailmaking/ditty bag completion continues on the hatch today where a bit more shade lands on deck with the help of the sails to block the sun.
Sailmaking may seem like an easy task yet, on the contrary, it takes many hours of practice to get the skill of seaming down pat, along with the multitude of other skills that are required in order to complete or mend a sail. On top of the physical labour put into sailmaking, there is the managing and organization of all 20 sails plus the extras we keep stored on board. The sailmaker must track when a sail was made, ie how old it is and the numerous repairs it had done to it, these factors will determine when a sail needs replacing.
Everyone is looking forward to exploring the islands of Vanuatu and learning about a culture that is, for those who’ve never been there, very unfamiliar to us. There’s a rumour on deck that we will sail past a volcano, the crew is keen to lay eyes on it. This afternoon there will be a power shower at 1600! This way we’ll all be squeaky clean when we arrive tomorrow.
From: Suva, Fiji
Towards: Vanuatu
Date: October 9th, 2018
Noon Position: 16°23.5′ S x 169°11.8′ E
Course + Speed: WbN 1/2 N + 5.3 knots
Wind direction + Force: SE + 2
Swell Height + Direction: 1 1/2 m + Southeasterly
Weather: bright, sunny
Day’s Run: 124.6nm
Passage Log: 126.0nm
Distance to Port: 127.2nm
Voyage: 10196.8nm
Sails Set: Tops’ls, all heads’ls, main t’gallant stays’l, main topmast stays’l