The Picton Castle has been along the coast of North Island of New Zealand for a spell now. It has been interesting and different for us to sail along the coast this way. And very pleasant and delightful too. After sailing from Australia through gales in the Tasman Sea and into Auckland for a Tall […]
Picton Castle sailed from Prince’s Wharf in downtown Auckland on a sunny morning after the recent gathering of beautiful Tall Ships we had joined. Now we were going to sail the famous Hauraki Gulf. It had been a long time since we had sailed among islands close together, sailing in the daytime and anchoring at
By Cheri Davidson After all of our Seamanship Derby fun on Saturday, Picton Castle motor-sailed around the northern tip of New Zealand and into the Bay of Islands on Sunday. There were lots of lovely green hills and lush mountains and rock coming right up out of the ocean. It all looks a lot like
By Cheri Davidson October 22, 2013 Last Saturday we had the 8th Biennial Picton Castle Seamanship Derby to test the skills of our trainees and have bunches of fun. It’s best to do this kind of event on good weather days, and boy did we have it. Sunny skies, light winds and a temperature warm
Ahead in the east the rosy loom of a sun below the horizon is fading the stars out of the sky – except for the Southern Cross and its pointer stars. These points of light in the deep dark blue sky above the growing morning on the starboard seems to drift or hang over this
17 October 2013 All day the winds have blown a steady Force 4 to 5 just aft of the port beam of the Barque Picton Castle as we sail east. Our ship has been making a steady six to seven knots under topgallants and all plain sail on a cobalt blue-sky day. The gang has
16 October 2013 Coming on deck of our barque this morning for the morning watch of 4 to 8 we find the Picton Castle sailing along with fair winds just aft of the port beam. The ship is sailing east in the Tasman Sea along the 34th parallel south of the equator at about 163
By Cheri Davidson 14 October 2013 We’ve heard stories of Picton Castle being a tough sea-going sailing ship, but now we know first-hand and have our own stories to tell. After sailing from Sydney Harbour in the company of 15 other ships, six of us are continuing on to New Zealand as part of the
By Cheri Davidson Picton Castle is now on her way through the Tasman Sea, bound from Sydney, Australia to more Tall Ship festivities in New Zealand. We spent a whole week in Sydney, and it was such a hub of activity with both ship related work, as well as having fun on our time off.
Those of you who have been following the Tall Ships Regatta race across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand may have noticed that our race status is “retired”. We assure you that all is well aboard. Last night the wind was calm and the sea state was lumpy and we had almost no
