Aloft in the dark and topsy turvy -2- Young Endeavour Voyage

1827 31/1/17

Watches Kept:

• 0000-0400 Middle watch a.k.a. "the guts"
• 1200-1600 Afternoon watch

• Was watch leader for white
• Undid gaskets on t'gallant s'il
• learnt how to set square s'ils
• 1st round of rope races
• chef's assistant

Imogen and me, climbing in the dark.  Photo credit: Jimmy Potter

How am I feeling?

Still very glad I haven't succumbed to seasickness, however there were a few dizzy moments while idle below deck.  But right now the wind is still pushing us along quickly and the sun is shining so I'm happy.  Proud that I climbed to and undid the gaskets (the ropes holding the sail down) so high up on a tilting ship.  

The seasickers all lined up on the lee side of the deck and slept like the dead there.  They still look utterly hopeless.  The ones who didn't lie in the string of 5-8 people but sat up, staring silently at the horizon, were almost worse.  

Though of course the MOST exciting thing was undoing the gaskets on the t'gallant.  It was by far the scariest thing I've ever done.  

View of the deck from aloft.  Photo credit: Jimmy Potter

Getting under Sail -1- Young Endeavour Voyage

1830 30/1/17

• No watches kept yet.  

• Climbed to the topgallant (pronounced t'gallant)
• Learnt calls ("White watch standby to set the main s'il") and tacking positions (heads'ils). 
• Got the ship under sail- Yay!

The t'gallant is the top horizontal beam (horizontal beams are called yards). The heads'ils are those at the front of the ship.  You can see one of them (the jib in fact) flapping in the foreground here.  Photo credit: Jimmy Potter

How am I feeling?
At this point I'm glad to be under sail.
Can't help my awe at the size of the sails.
Very glad not to be seasick.
We're on a pretty steady 15 degree keel, bobbing over the swell and its pretty comfortable until you're under the ship and trying to eat dinner or put on a harness.
We can see Victoria on the left (port side) and are on a starboard tack through/across bass strait from Port Phillip Bay.

The ripples and smooth whirlpools of THE RIP out of Port Phillip Bay were quite spectacular.

We got the entire Youth Crew on to haul on the jib sheet (i.e. a rope connected to the jib sail).  At the same time as 17 people were trying to pull on one rope the ship tilted towards them.  I rescued two drink bottles that made the leap for the sea.