It may have been the revered British Admiral Horatio Nelson or perhaps Captain Joseph Conrad, the renowned mariner and eloquent author, who said, and I quote, “ports rot men and ships.”
This means, of course, that mariners can lose some of their edge if remaining in port too long not engaged in seamanship activities. All too true. So many distractions. Seafarers of old were called “seamen,” men of the sea – not “guys on ships sometimes.”
The fact is that after a long period of a ship in port some marine skills or snappy effectiveness can degrade in any ship’s crew or individual seafarer. This is true enough on every ship, every crew, every voyage ever undertaken, ever back to the dawn of seafaring time. But there is a simple fix, extra training, and also extra exercise. Just do it. My guess is that Mick Jagger knows all the words, and Keith Richards knows all the guitar licks to “Satisfaction” but even the Rolling Stones rehearse before a concert. Do they need to as experienced as they are? Yes, they do. So can the Picton Castle crew rehearse some. Why not?
So here in Picton Castle, that’s what we are doing over a couple days before setting sail again. We have been at lovely Reunion for over 10 days, watching the weather, getting some good work done on the ship, exploring the island, so now we have split the crew into two watches and getting some ship refresher drilling before setting out again soon. We have about 2,000 miles to get to get past Madagascar, around the Cape of Good Hope and into Cape Town, and the beginnings of the South Atlantic Ocean.
Additionally, on such a training day plan we also can take advantage to move crews sailing skills up a notch or two, building upon the significant experience they now already have as a crew members of this blue-water sailing ship. Most of our crew have 20,000 miles and 9 months at sea. That’s a lot. So, let’s build on that. Much doings of things where it does not hurt much if we make a mistake. We learn more from mistakes than getting it right every time. Mistakes can be good in a training exercise scenario.
It’s also important to switch people around so all hands are pretty decent at any part of any evolution – setting/taking sails, trimming sails, bracing yards and so on – and lead seamen and mates are holding back so the less confident can get more involved.
It’s hot here so while we set sails and brace around like maniacs, we will also take a break 10-15 minutes in every hour.
Here is a brief list of what we are doing aboard Picton Castle here in Reunion these two days:
- Setting and taking sails swiftly. Setting and taking in sails swiftly as if there is a nasty squall bearing down on us. Some sails are more complicated than others. Spanker might need to come off pronto, flying jib and t’gallant staysail too. Need to be snappy. Halyards, down hauls, sheets, out hauls and so on need to be effectively managed.
- Gobble up furls – and harbour stows. Sometimes we just need a gasket around a sail as fast as possible, doesn’t need to be pretty and smooth. Git ‘er done! At other times a nice neat “harbour stow” that takes longer to make is in order. Be good at both.
- Bracing, trimming, quickly with few hands: this is easily done with a good mate and many hands. Let’s be good at it with few hands and just trainees.
- The 23’ double-ended wooden pulling long boat called the Monomoy is always good to row around the harbour. Much teamwork and command skills so enhanced by being part of a pulling boat crew. Good for all hands.
- Hoisting and launching boats. Important this. We have davits that extend over the ship’s side, best kind. Not handy for going alongside or for canal locks but best for launching boats at sea. The gang is good at this. Can always be better.
- Heaving line practice: Heaving lines are thin light lines with a bit of weight at the ends used to get bigger mooring lines ashore as a ship comes alongside. While not a critical skill at sea, they can be pretty important when docking. Need to throw a heaving line 70 feet or over 20 meters, accurately. This is tied to a mooring hawser which gets pulled up on the wharf, dropped over a bollard and then we tie up. Good show. Always have a spare heaving line ready in case the first one misses. The first one misses frequently, does it ever!
- Review all abandon ship gear: In addition to what is stocked within our SOLAS certified life rafts, we have extra waterproof containers of flares, rich foods like peanut butter, jams and jellies, granola bars and so on. Fishing gear and 80 liters of extra fresh water. Not much H20 in a life raft.
- Use both portable fire/bilge pumps: While the engine room has plenty fixed pumps we also carry two large powerful portable bilge/ fire pumps on deck. It is obviously essential that as many crew as possible can be well trained in their use and exercised frequently. We won’t wear them out by this. It is good for them and good for us too. Damn good gear too.
- Immersion suits: These suits provide both floatation and insulation from colder waters. As we delve outside the tropics, they become more important – so, in them we will drill again. They are not required gear in tropical waters for obvious reasons. But in cooler waters, a must. Need to be handy at donning these things.
- And basic drills and damage control gear and techniques.
