The Picton Castle and her crew stayed in Bali for 12 wonderful days. Since then I have been striving to find connections to link the stories of adventure and relaxation the crew have been regaling me with since we left that beautiful island. It turns out that the key to my own brief writer’s paralysis …
We sailed from Benoa, Bali December 5th in the Picton Castle bound for Reunion Island 3,500 miles away across the wide Indian Ocean. The new crew joining the ship in Bali had several days of orientation in this ship including our safety procedures. Once at sea we conducted fire, abandon ship and MOB drills including …
We love sailing the Picton Castle to and visiting Bali with our crew for many reasons… For starters the approach to Bali from the sea is a bit mystical. Cones of volcanic mountains rise up from the opaque mists on the horizon like examples of ancient oriental art pained on silk. As the ship closes …
The Picton Castle has sailed from Bali bound for Reunion Island across the Indian Ocean. After 12 days at anchor in Benoa Habour with the crew spread out across the island exploring, no doubt there are some stories to tell about our times in Bali. Some of these stories will find their way onto our …
The sea has been a sheet of sheer calm for the past few days. It is so unperturbed, so unruffled, that it acts like a mirror – reflecting the clouds, sun, moon and stars and creating an illusion that we are sailing through the sky and not over a great ocean. The only wind we …
What started out as a discussion between Paul and Nadja (about auctioning off the overflowing lost & found bin) hatched an idea which grew up to be bizarre. A Bizarre Bazaar that is! You see, we keep a lost & found tote in the salon. People inevitably leave a book on the foc’sle head when …
Light winds has been the lot of the Barque Picton Castle of late. We have been motoring along here in the Timor Sea off the north side of Australia for seven days now, ever since Cape York, the top corner, hot too, 39c hot, that’s 100F. I cannot believe that we have been motoring almost …
By Michael “Fred” Weiss We bros of the forepeak on board the Picton Castle, aka “brocave”, have been known to come up with some unique ideas. Actually that’s not true. In reality we’re just a bunch of dirty, stinky, sweaty, hard-working kinda guys trying to keep things simple. Well, we did hang up mini disco …
The temperature in the Coral Sea continued to escalate. The sun bit down ferociously and we responded in turn by smothering our skins with sunscreen and wearing progressively bigger straw-brimmed hats. Captain is always telling us to wear shirts. Squalls frequently moved in on the ship with little forewarning – and provided a strange kind …
We learn a great many skills on the Picton Castle. Some we expect to learn and others, perhaps not. We learn how to set sail, take in sail, furl sail, unfurl sail, brace the yards, wear ship and tack. We learn how to box the compass, how to be a good helmsmen and how to …
