Dawn at 13-02 N and 72-50 W. About 150 miles off the coast of Colombia, sailing WSW under shortened sail bound towards Panama in the Barque Picton Castle. The wind is blowing hard.
Beaufort scale Force 7, sometimes 8. Seas piled up and four to six meters high and coming at us at speed. Steering is a challenge but many of the new hands are meeting that challenge just fine. The ship’s beautiful North Sea counter stern meets the seas and lifts, just like she has since her days in the North Atlantic fishing in good weather and foul for decades.
Stretch ropes are rigged fore and aft on the main deck to hold on to in these tumultuous seas. The watch remains on the quarterdeck between tasks. Large foamy, whitecaps seem to cover almost one third of the sea. And the large seas marching ever on, sometimes spray blowing off them. We still need to sail the ship and keep hauling braces. The ship, she swoops. One may ask “how does she ride? why, she shames the gulls!” Chief Mate Dirk Lorenzen and Captain Moreland are splitting the watches for back up as the gang gains in experience. Getting some of that today. No painting today. The wind comes in pulses. We see ripped seams in an upper topsail, that will have to come down for replacement and repair. Donald in the galley, rock steady.
But in the scullery we are still learning that the surface of a counter in a ship in a seaway is different than one in your kitchen at home – it turns out that it does not stay still – and thus it is likely that coffee cups will not remain where you put them, but will, with a good roll of the ship, slide off said counter, crash and break. We will learn these things. Hopefully before we run out of coffee cups. And we got the strong industrial type coffee cups. Nice ones they are.