For the past few weeks, Picton Castle has been taking part in a series of tall ships events called the Tall Ships Challenge, which is organized by Tall Ships America. Tall Ships America moves the Tall Ships Challenge around to different areas of the North American coast every year. This is the first time that …
By Cara Lauzon We had the most amazing sail yesterday afternoon into the night, the stars were gorgeous. We starting steaming around midnight to be in time to pick up our pilot for the transit up the Mississippi River to New Orleans for the final tall ships festival in the Gulf of Mexico Tall Ships …
By Cara Lauzon Pensacola was fun! The city was beautiful and the tall ships festival we just participated in there over the weekend was a little smaller so all the ships were close together and it was easy to wander and see them. The crew made the most of their time off enjoying the sunshine …
By Cara Lauzon Beautiful sunset last night, becoming the first sunny day of the passage. Now that the sun is out and conditions are calming down, the Chief Mate is making sure lots of teaching is happening, helping the new hands learn lines. The wind was in our favour for a little while today so …
By Cara Lauzon We had smooth yet chilly and foggy departure from Galveston yesterday, we left early just as the sun was rising. There was a magical moment when the monomoy, the double ended boat we use for rowing practice, came out of the mist making her way back to the ship to be hoisted. …
By Cara Lauzon We are approaching Galveston, Texas through a maze of oil rigs and tanker ships. At night the oil rigs are lit up like giant Christmas trees, and the tankers appear out of nowhere, massive looming structures. Last night we were overtaken by the topsail schooner Lynx, she slipped up on our port …
By Cara Lauzon We had quite the Easter celebration yesterday, we had a Easter egg hunt with eggs and chocolate that we got in Bermuda! Then the Easter egg hunt became a dance party on the hatch, with everyone dressed in their Sunday finest. It was a lot of fun but the crew seems happy …
By Cara Lauzon Another beautiful sunny Sunday! Yesterday we had a workshop with Chief Mate Susie on the topic of long splicing on the main hatch as the sun set. Today is Easter, Sunday at Sea, and April Fool’s Day all rolled into one, which is making for lots of highjinks. We have a Easter …
By Cara Lauzon Another exquisite night full of silver moonlight, turning into another clear sunny day. The flying jib has been bent on and test set with success! With the sun returning, the sailmakers are back on deck filling the quarterdeck with white canvas cloth, and ship’s cat Fiji is enjoying sprawling on the cloth …
By Cara Lauzon Last night was another clear and beautiful night, the moon was so bright it’s hard to tell when it’s dawn. Ship’s cat Fiji was slinking about in the moonlight she seems to be enjoying it. Towards 5:30 it started to cloud over and there were lightning flashes beginning. As the morning wore …
