Picton Castle sailed from Summerside, PEI last Tuesday, bound for Iles de la Madeleine. Twelve new crew members joined us in Summerside and they were all oriented to the ship and began their instruction in safety procedures and the sails and rigging while at anchor. We did two drills on Tuesday, one simulating a man …
Summerside was hardly all work and no play. Each crew member had a couple of days off to explore the town and the beautiful countryside of Prince Edward Island. A group of our crew had tickets to a big concert on the day the ship sailed in, so they drove across the Confederation Bridge (which …
Picton Castle sailed in to the inner harbour and the anchorage at Summerside on Thursday and dropped the anchor, all under sail alone. As the crew furled sail, Ron Casey, the Executive Director of Downtown Summerside and host for our visit, came out to meet the ship along with his team in period costume representing …
The distance from Pugwash, Nova Scotia to Summerside, Prince Edward Island is only about 40 nautical miles. Picton Castle sailed from Pugwash on Sunday morning, following Fair Jeanne, Roseway, Mist of Avalon and Pride of Baltimore II out of the harbour at high tide into a sunny and very calm day. Pugwash was the final …
The Bosun School, Picton Castle’s shore-side marine skills development opportunity, is quickly approaching. Starting September 1, young mariners will come to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to advance their development by learning skills that are often difficult to master while at sea. An irony in modern sail training and sea education programs today is that it is …
Manoeuvring a big ship in and out of the harbour in Pugwash is a bit of a challenge. Small, narrow and there is a strong current running through the harbour at about five knots for a good part of the day – the only time that a ship like Picton Castle could enter and leave …
Picton Castle sailed out the long fjord-like river from Sydney on Monday morning with our Sydney harbour (and all of Cape Breton) pilot, Captain MacKelvie, aboard. All in a flat calm. We would have sailed the night before but we could not get the required pilot to take us out. Pictou, the next port on …
Picton Castle sailed out of Halifax harbour with the other ships at the start of the Tall Ships Race, but bound for Port Hawkesbury instead, about 150 nautical miles away. The grand fleet of sailing ships that had been together in Boston and Halifax was breaking up at this point, with some of the ships …
After a fair passage from Boston, Picton Castle sailed around Chebucto Head, boarded our pilot Captain Shawn Dauphine and sailed into grand Halifax under grey skies on Thursday afternoon. We sailed the whole way under sail in the fair breeze, only taking in sail off Georges Island right by the downtown waterfront. We quickly got …
The crew of the Picton Castle had a great time in Boston. It’s a big city full of things to see and do, many of the crew have talked about returning there sometime to visit again and see more of the city. The ships are tied up at various facilities, with us at Charlestown Navy …
