This morning the crew awoke to a gorgeous bright orange sunrise on the port quarter, filling the sky above it with every colour in the rainbow. Yesterday’s Thanksgiving celebration was a grand feast, as tradition would have it we overfilled our stomachs with turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries and to top it off chocolate ice cream and pumpkin pie! Delicious. Everyone was full to the brim when the call came “fish on!”
A few people sauntered aft to witness what was being reeled in, once it was known that a shark was on the line everyone came to have a look. When the shark was about 4 meters from the ship he let go, revealing the head of a tuna on our hook! The shark had eaten the entire body! Meanwhile, a second line was being hauled in, revealing it had a baby shark on the end of its bait! We hauled the little guy up, safely removed the hook and tossed him back into the sea.
This morning as groggy crew members sipped their morning coffee, slowly beginning to wake up, Colin of Nova Scotia was busy reeling in and sending out line, two bites on the rod but nothing hauled in yet this morning. After breakfast, our avid fisherman had an assistant, six-year-old Dawson, also of Nova Scotia, who was advising Colin which lure to use. The two made a great team choosing which bait to fasten on the line and casting them over the side.
As Dawson was busy awaiting a fish bite, the riggers, Abbey of North Carolina and Rhyanne of South Carolina, unbent the outer jib for it to be sent in and repaired. Once the jib was out of their hands and into the sailmakers’, the all-star women rigging team brought down the fish tackle, a large hook that is used to haul up the port side fisherman anchor, in order to redo the serving below the three-part block. Annie, of Ontario, added a serving to the fore upper topsail downhaul wire and replaced the port upper topsail inner buntline block.
With the outer jib spread out on the hatch under the protection of the awning, the sailmakers, John of Massachusetts, Clara of Denmark, and chief mate Erin of Bermuda, inspected the canvas sail and began the process of applying a few patches. It is an old sail but there is life in it yet.
The carpenters, Carlos of Ontario and Mandy of Colorado, have continued to take over the quarterdeck, reefing out old caulking around the deck planks, bumping down the old but good oakum and paying the seams with putty. Niko of Colorado, was given the splendid job of grinding the capstan that was taken apart at the beginning of this week, giving it a thorough rust bust/paint removal. The 8-12 watch osphoed the propane tanks, cleaning them and prepping them for the 12-4 watch to paint them. And Stephanie, of Victoria, gave the coffee station back aft on the Aloha deck its first coat of forest green paint.
Our hot, busy morning was saved by a noon power shower, cooling everyone off and giving us a break from the heat. As we motor sail towards Bali, the ocean water looks as calm as glass, crew members have spotted many jellyfish and sea snakes swimming past the ship, making the temptations of a swim call far less appealing.
From: Vanuatu
Towards: Bali
Date: Friday, November 16, 2018
Noon Position: 11°32.6′ S – 126°20.2′ E
Course + Speed: W by N + 7.2 kts
Wind direction + Force: Calm
Swell Height + Direction: 1m
Weather: hot hot
Day’s Run: 170.2 nm
Passage Log: 2614.4 nm
Distance to Port: 700 nm
Voyage: 12983.8 nm
Sails Set: inner jib, fore topmast staysail, main t’gallant staysail, main topmast staysail, mizzen topmast staysail