Seas laying down, yards braced almost square to the faired winds, the ceiling of the sky lifting and becoming blue. Happy Fourth of July and Tonga Day! An overcast, yet bright sky blanketed the ship this morning, grey clouds parted as blue pierced through, making for a sunny afternoon on deck. The sailmaking department is […]
The wind has faired as expected. Now it is no longer abeam but well aft. Ocean ocean everywhere. This morning began with gusty winds and larger seas than what we’ve had on this passage. Picton Castle sailed beautifully through the slightly heavier conditions. Light rain on the quarterdeck as the moon was fading off into
Yesterday’s South Seas Seamanship Soiree was a big success. First a neck and neck game of pin rail chases, where a member from each team stands at the ready as the chief mate calls out a line and the three scurry to beat their opponents to touch the belaying pin first. Once each member of
Rolling down to Pitcairn. Almost halfway. A fresh wind on the port beam, yards braced just so, all sails full and drawing, a white noise as the seas rush by the waterline. Blue white-capped seas as far as we can behold. Shoals of flying fish taking to wing to get out of our way – just like yesterday. An
Picton Castle: AM position – Latitude 10 degrees – 03 minutes South, Longitude 104 degrees – 23 minutes West The islands of the Galapagos lay 1,000 miles astern, Pitcairn Island is ahead 1,700 miles. Between is nothing but the winds, sky and blue ocean of the South Pacific. The large seas and swell have laid
Picton Castle made great headway last night, averaging 7 knots, staying on a southwest course falling off when the wind picked up. The advantage of being the only vessel for 1000+ miles, we have ample ocean room to play with. This morning the rigging gang headed out into the head rig with tar buckets tied
An absolutely beautiful South Pacific tradewind day. All sails set, sailing mile after mile, in the groove. Gorgeous blue sky filled with puffy cotton-like clouds surrounding the ship and sea. Sounds of rust busting steel rails on the foc’sle, scraping and sanding Fijian mahogany pinrails on the quarterdeck, brushing on varnish and paint and sawing
Pitcairn Island is a pretty small spot on a very big ocean. First discovered by Europeans in 1767 and named for the midshipman who sighted it. They came close, looked about, recorded its location inaccurately due to not having sorted longitude quite yet. By the time Bounty sailed this had been solved. The island had
Blue sky, seas laid down, a tropic bird passing over head, easy winds, ocean for as far as the eye can see on this clear South Pacific day. The wind has calmed down today, the ship is sailing at a speed of about 4-5 knots. Work on deck is in full swing, calmer seas allows
Only 2,000 miles to go to Pitcairn Island. Misty rain squalls that leave us rolling in short calms and put a damper on paint projects as well as slow down the sailmaking. But all is good enough. We are headed the right direction with warm fair winds. Lots of rigging, sailmaking and small carpentry jobs
