Back from Voyage
As you may have gathered from the posts on Z+, I have returned safely to Hobart from my voyage. I head out again on Friday. Voyaging’s a good deal of fun, but a lot of work. Everything is a big production. Getting in/out of bed? Big production: Carefully spider across the dry store (compensating for roll, of course). Eating dinner? Big production: feeding 3 watches means food is served on a strict schedule and carefully rationed. Dropping/weighing anchor? Big production: the anchor needs to be carefully controlled by adding and removing lines, the chain needs to be hosed clean when raising it and someone needs to climb onto it to get it back on deck:
Some other highlights, in bullet form:
Climbing the rigging to gasket sail in 25kt winds and a noticeable roll. I assume a veteran mariner would laugh at that, but it was quite tough for me. It was my job, however, and it got done.
Celebrating something (possibly a different climb, I forget) by changing to a fresh pair of socks ahead of schedule.
A pod of about 100 dolphins rocked up one day and played around the ship for a while. They’d just jump out of the water, surf the bow wave and generally muck around. Later that same day, a couple of whales turned up and came within a couple of metres of the ship. You’d never get that close on a whale-watching voyage.
It’s going to be pretty busy for the next few weeks, but hopefully I’ll get time to continue writing.