The Picton Castle is six days and 730 miles out from Namibia, southern Africa. On a bright sunny day we sailed from Luderitz surrounded by the most barren of dusty desert with no sign of rain or green vegetation to be seen. And straight into a thick wet fog bank to rival the shores of […]
By Meredith McKinnon There are moments in time that if frozen, would forever remind us that life on the Picton Castle is amazing. Sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in the Barque Picton Castle and then into Cape Town were two such moments, moments that will be forever etched in my memory. It was
The Barque Picton Castle is under sail and outward bound once again across a great ocean – this time from Luderitz, Namibia north west towards the West Indies sailing the South Atlantic on what is, apart from a small pit stop at St Helena, our longest sea passage of this voyage. Even with the short
The day comes in overcast and grey, cool with a strong fair wind on our starboard quarter. The ship is sailing along fine in following seas with a few seabirds soaring about the stern. The royals are taken in and furled and the mainsail is made fast up on the main yard for ease of
Before Picton Castle arrives in a port, the Captain always holds a muster in order to give the crew some guidance and instruction on what to do and what not to do, local customs, places to go, things to see and people to meet. These briefings are always in balance – giving the crew enough
At 1100 the pilot came to the Picton Castle alongside West Quay in the inner Alfred Basin to take us back out to sea. We had spent three weeks here at Cape Town, surrounded by lovely wooden fishing boats, ships coming off the synchrolift and right next to the very posh hotel the Cape Grace.
Voyage planning is a fascinating process. Generally it involves charts, dividers, pencils, calculators, calendars, pilot books and cruising guides, along with vast amounts of caffinated beverages. As part of the process, ideas and imaginings become real, places I’ve heard about become familiar to me through their details. I found that particularly true while working on
What an honour it was for the crew of the Picton Castle to light the cauldron at the Canada Games opening ceremony on Friday night! The ship is still in Cape Town, but back in Nova Scotia we were invited to be part of the opening ceremony for the Canada Games, Canada’s biggest multi-sport competition
While the crew are having a fantastic stay in Cape Town, South Africa we have some exciting news from our home office in Lunenburg as well. We’ve been keeping the news under wraps for a while, but now we can share with you that Picton Castle will be participating in the Canada Games opening ceremony.
Picton Castle to Participate in Canada Games Opening Ceremony Read More »
On the afternoon of January 26th the Captain held a lecture on ship handling. The rains had subsided that afternoon – and so the crew settled onto the quarterdeck to learn a thing or two. Primarily he discussed docking – a daunting and fascinating job. There are many factors one must account for including, but
