Days just run one into another on a tradewind passage under square sail such as the one we are enjoying now. Apart from wearing ship we barely touch a line for days. Routines become routine. Sun rises and sets, stars come out, moon grows fuller, winds pull us along over gentle seas at a rate of 4 to 5 knots.
A blush on the eastern horizon foretells the coming of a new day. The sun climbs the sky screened a bit by the occasional fluffy cloud. Ricky the cat catches himself a flying fish and eats it all, head included. Daily some crew do their laundry and hang it to dry on the laundry lines in the fore rigging. Bosun Line is up at 0600 to start her day and the crew and ship are better for this.
Watches change. Spring of the 4-8 watch turns the watch over to Dirk of the 8-12, then Dustin and Pol on the 12-4. Around the clock, night and day. Donald keeps us well fed and often has a small treat for Dawson or others (cold and out of the freezers!.)
Under the hot sun and easy breeze we find we can keep awnings set much of the time, nice to do. All sorts of good varnishing, ratline replacement, rigging and small carpentry jobs get to windward. Steering is easy and lookout up on the focsle head at night is a treat, as we sail ever westward bound for the Torres Strait north of Australia and south of Papua New Guinea.
Onward Part 2
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023 – almost halfway to Torres – just after midnight it started to rain, just poured until about dawn. No crazy wind changes, some puffing up of wind and laying down some minor direction shift, but not bad. We had taken in the royals the previous afternoon. They remained furled until midday today. Replacing a fore shroud turnbuckle, further ratline instruction for lead seaman to pass along to trainees. Sailmaking on the hatch, yards almost squared making 5+ knots, not bad. Later afternoon sunny and some blue sky, some flying fish.
Nov 22 – beautiful sunny day with fluffy clouds and blue skies. Rolling down to Torres Strait. Making 4-5 knots in Force 4 tradewinds, under all plain sail in modest seas. Seas have built some but that only stands to reason in sustained winds. It is pretty hot, 80F/28C in the shade. Sun is strong. Sailmaking apace on the hatch with Rachel and Liam, Edmund varnishing quarterdeck boxes and Jeremie the bridge rail and bench, Nate painting oars too. Danielle and Amelia overhauling a starboard fore-rigging turnbuckle and chainplate. Workshop instruction in the ins and outs of serving rigging. Worm and parcel with the lay, turn and serve the other way. Marlin, parcelling, grease and goops – all to preserve the rigging nd keep it safe and strong.
Nov 23 – another fine sailing day westward. Force 4, 4-6 knots, winds fine on port quarter. Need to head NW more but can do tomorrow when we wear ship around. Second serving workshop, all hands get tarry this time with wires stretched out all over the main deck.
Friday Nov 24 – Donald declared today Turkey Day! Work eased off this afternoon, a small awning set over the hatch. At 1600 a cold beer each and popcorn, turkey dinner at 1700. Wore ship around this morning, wind on the starboard quarter now. 320 miles east of Cape Flattery, Australia, 1000 miles west of Vanuatu, some 200+ miles south of Papua New Guinea and a bit over 400 miles to the entrance to Torres Strait. Beautiful day, hot and sunny but good sailing. Some new varnish did not set up and remains sticky, acetone and paint thinner did not help. Maybe just a fresh coat of varnish on top will do the job (it did). Dawson going to school and playing Monopoly. Plenty flying fish, small seas. Big Turkey Day evening supper. Set the awning, pareau hatch cover, signal flags decor as well as Danish flags – in Denmark Danish flags mean a celebration is going on, birthdays and parties and the like, not some national thing. The gang got dressed up properly in pareaus (aka sarongs, lava lavas), and cold drinks were nice it being pretty warm hereabouts. Good time had by all.
Nov 25 – day comes in fair and nice quartering breeze as we steer northwesterly. At this rate three days from the entrance to Torres Strait. But never count your chicks before they hatch. Hauling all the carpenter shop tools out for a good cleaning, sharpening and oiling up. Finishing up a big awning for the helmsman for passing the Strait in the strong sun. Painted it green to block the sun even better. Sorting out our sticky varnish. Ditty bag advancement. Passage discussion this afternoon. From here to the Torres Strait and on to Bali. Small seas – hot. Will get hotter.
Nov 26 – day comes in with lighter winds, Force 3 but still making 4 knots. Dawson sleeping on quarterdeck at night – he likes being near the watch. Ricky the cat in M-H’s arms, soon time to retard the clock, now dark at 0600. The last South Pacific marlinspike ce soir. Mandatory pareau atire and Sout Pacific music. Both “Gurlz and Boyz” performed their Palmerston Atoll dances. And some excellent Tahitian music before ABBA took over. Fine sailing weather and small seas. And full moon on the rise.
Monday Nov 27 – winds laying down. Approching Eastern Fields, a sunken atoll-like set of reefs to east of what is called Bligh’s Entrance to the Torres Strait. Can’t shake that guy, can we? Working on sails and awnings. Varnishing here and there. Tarring here and there. A discussion this afternoon on the developments in the age of sail as this relates to the industrial revolution in Europe and America. Last night we sailed past a 1,000 foot long tanker all lit up and “not-under-command” light signals hoisted. I though it was a cruise ship at first. Probably a ship just awaiting her berth in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Soon we will be under power pushing through Torres Strait. In days of old it could take a sailing ship weeks to pass through. Why? Well, no charts, and it’s shallow, water visibility is poor as the waters are all stirred up due to the strong currents of 5 to 8 knots in this bottleneck between the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. The waters are opaque, no eyeball piloting through these waters. Olde Tyme sailing ships had to make their way through this strait very slowly, frequently anchoring, sending a boat ahead taking soundings every inch of the way. Then of course waiting for fair breezes and tidal currents to cooperate. Now, well marked and buoyed, under power we can get through in a day or possibly two, depending on the currents and how we catch them. If we are facing a 5 to 8 knot head current we will need to anchor until the tide changes or goes slack. Depending upon what we use for the ends of the strait, it is about 175 miles long. We can expect frequent flyover visits by the Australian Border Force checking in on us and other ships to make sure we are not doing things they do not like.
