A gorgeous pink sun arose on our port quarter this morning, the age old saying “pink sky in the morning, sailors take warning” was not in effect today. Another beautiful sunny day on deck, with white puffy cotton like clouds dispersed throughout the baby blue sky. At 0630 lead seaman Dustin of Nova Scotia noticed that the starboard fishing line had become taut, he reeled in the line and pulled up a sizable mahi mahi. Annie of Ontario and Colin of Nova Scotia filleted the fish outside the galley for our cook Donald to marinate and fry. It was a delicious addition to our steak dinner – yum! The day is always off to a good start when we catch a fish.
As the work day began to unfold, the tar locker opened up for the riggers, and the paint locker door was lashed open and the tarp laid out. Anne-Laure of France returned to her task of tightening up ratlines, the lines that run horizontal up the shrouds which we sailors use to climb up and down the rigging. Made of hemp, they’re extremely strong and durable. Carpenter Carlos hopped up on top of the galley house and began scraping the old paint off of the bottom of Sea Never Dry, our Nova Scotia dory, with the help of Valerian of Belgium. The port side counter top that sits on top of the veggie locker on the aloha deck was removed to be buffed up and re-varnished. Our veggie locker counter tops were last varnished during this past winter, it’s time for a fresh coat. Also on today’s work list was to swap out old, worn out sail gaskets, starting with the fore mast. Annie and Dustin removed the old gaskets, cut new ones from a fresh rolls of manila, added eye splices and whippings to the new lines and set them back up. It’s an excellent time to replace gaskets, as we have been and will continue to be under full sail for a number of days now. And last but not least, the sailmaking team continues to work vigorously away at the new spanker, finishing off the grommets on the head earring.
The grande finally of the day was when we set all sails and the Captain announced that we would be launching the skiff. Each crew member who wanted to would have the chance to motor around our ship in the small boat. The seas were perfect conditions for the boat to be safely launched, the sky was picture perfect and our vessel looked magnificent under full sail – the ideal photo shoot moment. Everyone was in awe. It was a healthy reminder of what our world looks like from an outsider’s perspective. Every day at sea we awake in our bunks, get ready for the day, digging out clothes from our sea chests and come onto deck, which resembles that of yesterday. There can be an almost groundhog day like effect. Today we were able to finally “look in the mirror” and remind ourselves of the bigger picture. That being the 37 of us, from all different parts of the globe, are sailing a three masted barque around the world.
From: Bali, Indonesia
Towards: Rodrigues
Date: Thursday December 27th, 2018
Noon Position: 16°14.1’S x 083°59.5’E
Course + Speed: W + 4.7′ kts
Wind direction + Force: SE + 3
Swell Height + Direction: 1m + SSE
Weather: Sunny
Day’s Run: 106.1 nm
Passage Log: 2171.5 nm
Distance to Port: 1191 nm
Voyage: 15942.3 nm
Sails Set: All sails including stuns’ls