It seemed that from St. Helena to Fernando de Noronha that it took the Picton Castle at least three years to get there, it was in fact only 16 days. Why certain passages seem longer than others is always a mystery to me. But the crew of the Picton Castle were going slightly stir crazy […]
The Picton Castle‘s crew makes observations about the weather, wind, and swell, and records this information in an hourly weather log; this job is assigned to each off-going helmsman. In addition to the ship’s weather log, there is a special weather log that requires a bit more detail. The latter weather observations are voluntarily collected
The Picton Castle is still under full sail and sailing along nicely at about 5 knots. The weather today is gorgeous and a moderate/light breeze keeps the sun from feeling like it is scorching us. I feel particularly thankful for it, especially when I have just heard from our voyage coordinator that it is snowing
Happy Easter to all those folks at home; enjoy that chocolate and the long weekend! The Picton Castle is under full sail including stun’s’ls. It’s a sunny day out here—not too hot, not cold, and gorgeous blue skies. The Picton Castle is making just more than 5 knots and that’s a nice speed—not lumpy, just
We need wind. Not too much. Not a gale. But more than a puff would be useful. A nice Force 4/5 would do the trick. There are many superstitions that sailors of old and sailors of now still believe, if not overtly vocally, then definitely in their minds. For example, on board you never whistle.
The Island of St. Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic, besides being a striking piece of volcanic rock in the middle an ocean far from anywhere, is quite the cross-roads, literally. St. Helena is best known probably for the incarceration of Napoleon Bonaparte but on a larger scale of thinking that would have
Maybe we used up our allotted wind for the week during the gale on Monday, because right now there really isn’t too much of it! The main engine is on and we are motoring towards St. Helena, about 750 nm away. Yesterday the weather was beautifully warm, and shockingly enough most of us had our
Holy Moley! It is blowing a gale, no joke! Last night the watches took in royals. This morning t’gallants came in. I woke up this morning and we were blazing along at 9 knots. Since then the wind has picked up even more and we have taken in more sail; now the Picton Castle is
It doesn’t seem possible but we were in Cape Town for more than a month! The time flew by in a haze of contractors, dirt, dust, school children, family, receptions, sightseeing, visits to Christel house, wine-tastings, and way, way too much food! The crew have been busy comparing what we have started to refer to
The dominant and signature feature of the city of Cape Town, South Africa is, without doubt, Table Mountain. This huge flat-topped mound of ancient stone looms high over the bright lights, office buildings and neighborhoods of Cape Town. A soaring wall of stratified rock behind Cape Town, it seems more like a massive primordial fortress
