Day’s Run – 30 January, 2019

The crew were close at hand on standby last night, anticipating sail handling under the dark, cloudy sky with groups of stars peering through, as the moon beamed through the cumulonimbus clouds with a gorgeous orange/yellow colour. This morning has come in overcast and we had slight periods of rain, which stopped the sailmakers’ work on the quarterdeck. Once the rain cleared, John of Massachusetts and Tammy of Nova Scotia continued their work on the new spanker’s brail patches and leech patch.

In between sail handling, bosun Anders of Denmark has been busy overhauling the main topmast staysail sheet pendants. Cutting off the old chafe gear, inspecting the serving underneath, and finding to his delight it looked remarkably well, the old chafe gear was doing its job. Applying tar onto the serving, Anders cut a new piece of chafe gear and sewed it into place. This morning’s 8-12 watch worked away at securing the deck, adding extra lashings to our deck boxes, vegetable and fruit lockers and of course the kitty litter boxes. We are headed for the Cape of Good Hope and the Captain says it could get rough. The seas have calmed down today, yet more busy waters lay ahead. Luckily for the galley team who are cooking dinner tonight, it’ll be a calm afternoon cooking. It’s a wonder how our cook Donald manages to create delicious, filling meals when the ship is rolling side to side as well as up and down.

From: Reunion

Towards: Cape Town, South Africa

Date: Wednesday, January 30th, 2019

Noon Position: 23°18.7′ S x 051°30.0’E

Course + Speed: NW by W + 5.8 kts

Wind direction + Force: SSW + 3

Swell Height + Direction: 3m + S bW

Weather: Overcast, bright

Day’s Run: 138.8 nm

Distance to Port: 1847 nm

Voyage: 17978.7 nm

Sails Set: Spanker, fores’l, tops’ls, t’gallants, royals, main topmast stays’l, main t’gallant staysail, fore topmast stays’l, inner jib, outer jib, flying jib