At the change to the 4-8 watch, we turned to a lovely Caribbean Sea tradewind morning.
Most of half a moon was high on the port beam to our south, with plenty of stars too. Some of us saw the Southern Cross for the first time last night. There is a nice song about that. Seas small at two to four feet, and a fine modest breeze over the port quarter giving us four and a half knots. The winds had veered some so the watch braced the yards ahead to catch these winds better. And set the main t’gallant staysail. We may set the flying jib, see if it stands and draws. No need to let it flop around out there though.
Around five the sun is not yet up but there is light enough to check the rig and sails better. And so this is done. Before six the watch gets a cup of coffeee or tea. At six washdown begins. The watch leader looks around for spots that need cleaning. The trim of the galley door and the paintwork all around the paint locker is overly burdened with smudges and fingerprints, so these will be looked after this morning. What might be a brown booby bird is happily perched on the weather main ‘t’gallant yard arm. A white bird is flying about, swooping and banking around us as the sun gets higher in the sky on the Caribbean Sea morning.
It must be noted that tensions are running high for this Seamanship Derby this afternoon. Hands studying their lines and the compass rose. Coiling lines, something all think they can do just fine is going to be a key event. We shall see how good we actually are. Judges will be Donald, Dawson and engineer Julien.