Emerging from a foggy early morning we once again find the temperature slowly creeping upwards. It is with pleasure that most of us have shed one layer of clothes though the foulies are not far out of reach. As the day progressed we set one sail after another until finally there were none left to […]
Blue skies sighted this morning!! While the temperature has been slowly getting warmer, to the delight of all, today is the first blue sky we’ve seen since our departure from Lunenburg. Even though the clouds soon closed in once more, the crew went about daily activities with an extra smile and a little renewed vigor.
After crossing out of the Gulf Stream the water temperature plummeted from 26 degrees Centigrade to 12.5 overnight – feels freezing after a year almost entirely spent in the tropics. Warm hats, long underwear, boots and jackets have been dug out from sea chests, and under-bunks, and everyone’s all bundled up and waddling around like
We’re sailing when we can and then steaming when we can’t – the wind is starting to come fair following the most recent low pressure system, but we still have changeable currents from eddies in the gulf stream. The fog has come down this afternoon, though not thick. Delaware is off our port beam. SHIP’S
After a wet and squally morning the sun came out again in time for noon sights. We’re pushing to get back to Lunenburg in time for our homecoming this Saturday – we’re excited to get back and see family and friends! SHIP’S WORK: Replacing paralls on the spanker gaff, roping a new course sail with
Another gorgeous day’s sailing. It’s been a great passage so far and we’ve built up some good time to allow for the calms we’re expecting overnight tonight as we meet a windless ridge of high pressure stretching out across the Atlantic. It was a busy early afternoon on the quarterdeck today with Ashley at the
A fantastic sailing day, watching fluffy white clouds blown across the blue skies as our own cloud of sail fills happily with the steady breeze. We’re making good time getting north, and surprisingly little lee-way. In the afternoon Captain and Chief Mate Sam Sikkema gave a talk about world-wide wind and weather and specifically what’s
We just sailed by a small fleet of Haitian fishing boats, here in the Jamaica channel, just seven miles from the coast of Haiti. Being sailors by choice, we think its super cool that they are using sail power and oars in their hand-built wooden boats, but we suspect that they would actually prefer an
By Kate “Bob” Addison As crew on Picton Castle you get pretty familiar with long ocean passages, two or three thousand nautical miles, maybe a month or so out of sight of land and often whole oceans between port visits – all pretty standard, pretty cool but no big deal. But it’s pretty novel to
By Kate “Bob” Addison After a few days to relax, decompress and do nothing in Carriacou after so long at sea, we made the short passage to Grenada, which is just a perfect daysail away with sunny skies and fair winds. It’s a fair amount of work taking a square rigger out for a day
