Diary 11 April 2006
This ship is an on-going work of art.
ROPE: The rigging is made up of hand made hemp rope. Now that may not be all the rigging, but there is a continual rope making production going on here. If you want to learn this skill Marie-Louise is the woman to see. She is the Bosun's Mate. Needless to say that means endless tarring of lines. A bit like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge, you could start at the stern of the ship and move forward to tar all the lines only for them to be ready to tar again by the time you reached the bow. If we are not twirling three or five strands together to make a line we are untwirling a line into 100 strands to replait them to make a stopper. A Stopper gets momentarily attatched to a line under tension to take the weight while that line is belayed on a pin.
SAILS: We have on board a genuine sail maker. Phillip is from Brixham England, I haven't guessed his age correctly but he has a lot of stories that date back to well before I was born. It's a pleasure to sit next to him as you never know what the topic of conversation is going to be. One day while we were waiting for the go ahead to eat lunch he was talking about a parlour game he used to play with his friends. Pick a subject and play. He was rattling the first and last lines of books. That didn't work for me but by the I loved "name a disease in alphabetical order". Alziehmers, Bulimia, Cancer, Diarrhoea, Emphasemia, Fungal- infection, Gout, Herpes,Impatigo....We had to stop, no one wanted to sit next to us. Mind you during the meal Phillip is still spouting lines like "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" Quite disconcerting, I thought he may have been talking about the meal, the best of times was eating it, the worst of times was leaving the table. Phillip and his offsider, Lars, are continually making sails. Big sails for the ship, little sails for the dories. They also give sewing lessons. Most people are in the process of making a sea bag. These vary in size from toilet roll holders to duffles. They are quite strict in the quality they want to see being produced on a practice cloth before they give out a larger piece of canvas.
WOOD: Anything that can be conceived of in wood. I'm sure Jesper the Timber man hears (although I quite like the title Snickare, it's a little more discriptive of his personality) would you make this, would you make that, would you mind I just have this small but urgent request. I think of him as the can do man. Apart from building the ship he is constantly building new bits to add to the ship. Racks to hold blocks, computers, utensils, hammock spreaders, curly bits of wood to catch lines that dangle along side the boat..... I was fascinated to see him start on a project that just had to be a rocking chair. "Is that for the Old Man" I could see Captain Peter sitting crossways on the sundeck rocking and rolling for dear life, especially when there is a change in sails or helsmperson and they haven't quite got their eye in. Yes he says, with an imperceptible snicker. It wasn't until it was near completion that I twigged it was a rounded table top for Phillip and Lars to rest the sails on while they work. My favourite is a set of dice we made to go with a Backgammon set. Oh yes, we have a Backgammon Tournament in progress.
FOOD: Magnus and David continue to come up with interesting treats. The Rose Hip soup was a little sweet for my taste, but it's supposed to be. We are week two at sea and we are still having salads with perfectly cooked fish. You can't beat the colour of the beetroot soup though. It's gorgeous, especially if there is a little yoghurt to swirl into it. Joy of Joys, the guys are making the yoghurt after consulting with the Old Man. Peter has made all sorts of products from goats milk. This yogurt is being made from powdered milk and has a whipping cream consistancy and a delicate flavour, a bit like Lahsie. Not the dog, the Indian drink. Having just spent another day as Backis I know a few cooks who would drool over the quality of the cooking gear. Probably a good thing they aren't on the ship.
HEADWAY: The Roaring Forties are treating us well and we are a little ahead of schedule. We may even make a stop at the French Island of St Paul, we are half way there from Port Elizabeth and St Paul is half way to Fremantle. That's if the conditions are right. Some of those conditions are financial, some are to do with the weather. It would be wonderful to have the chance to visit such a remote place. If we can't anchor I imagine we'll get a good view as we sail on by.
CONNECTIONS: My brain is finally connecting to the lines on the ship. I can find some of them in the dark. I am even getting the gist of some orders but I always like to double check that I have it right. Easing the wrong line on this ship could be lethal with the weight of the wood above our heads. I am having more conversations with my watch. It's hard not to chat to the helms people, they are a captive audience but I am reminded by Axel, the Officer Of The Watch, that it disrupts their concentration and also the Captains sleep. talk about getting it right, we set the Mizzen yesterday. This sail is on the Sundeck and has a yard that can be moved across the deck and it works like a staysail. I was easing the sheet when it ran through my hands. Woah, why did that happen, obviously the rope wasn't long enough. And that's another story.
Jenny17:>
