Endeavour Sailing 13/2/45 Thursday: Reefing the sails

I’m excited to be climbing up the rigging, Sophie is keeping it cool

During the night I kept waking as I tried getting used to sleeping in a snug hammock. My location is proving to be awesome with little disturbance from my fellow watch members, unlike what I remember from my last trip as per my last blog entry.

I awoke at 6 a.m. and headed downstairs to the modern 20th century deck, to start rearranging and sorting my very crowded locker, and write yesterday's blog.

After breakfast I found out that we have 'Happy Hour’, i.e. cleaning the ship. Each watch is given one of the decks, my watch had the traditional 18th century deck which involved mainly sweeping to save water, so nice and simple especially with 14 people involved (including Mark and Nico our professional crew).

The big exciting thing for us during the morning is reefing the main topsail. Or put simply pulling up the lower half of the massive middle sail on the mainmast (middle mast of the ship). This is done by pulling up sections of the sail canvas and attaching them to the horizontal yard using ropes called gasket lines. Doing this makes the sail smaller and is used during rough weather, and tomorrow when we head out to sea the weather forecast is expected to be very rough. The knot used to tie the gasket ropes to hold up the sail are called a reef knots, and is where a reef knot comes from.

I of course, asked to be at the very end of the horizontal yard, the furthest from the mast hanging over the edge of the ship. But in doing so I discovered that my legs are too tall to be standing on the rope near the end of the yard for extended periods of time, and we were out there for a long time.

This is Nico our watch 2IC (called the upper-yardie) first time as professional crew, he has lots of tall ship experience, just not on the Endeavour. As such Nico had to be taught how to attach the end of the reefing line to the horizontal yard, which just took a long time while I along with the rest of mainmast watch were standing out on the yard.

In addition, the rest of the watch up in the rigging had to learn, first how to get onto the horizontal yard which can be quite scary for the first time, and then how to pull up heavy sail canvas and then tie up the gasket lines with reef knots.

All of this took time with my legs standing on a single rope while my body was leaning forward over the yard just above knee height, not a comfortable position to be in as the rope gets near the end of the yard it rises towards it.

Plus, my knee was sore from banging it hard against the mast last night during my evening climb. My legs were really tied when we finally got the chance to come down. I thought maybe I am actually getting too old for this at 53, but after resting during the afternoon I felt much better and was feeling keen by the end of the day.

I’m on the right of the photo, in the red t-shirt

We had hamburgers for lunch and then spent the afternoon doing more drills including lowering the boat, but a modern boat. Not the long boat which apparently never gets used. Lowering the boat is all done using traditional pullies and ropes along with people power which is very cool but time consuming.

Then most of us headed into town for the last time. I brought some sea sickness tablets which I’m told we all need and a small thermal mug so I could take a cup of tea up onto the deck during the trip.

My final ice cream at the pub with other Endeavour volunteer crew

I then got a last ice cream before joining the others at a nearby pub. It’s great to relax and get to know each other in a relaxing social setting.

During the pub conversation I got talking to McKenzie, who is a reporter for a major Australian newspaper; The Australian. It will be fascinating to see what she writes. Together we discussed the best way to share group photos. I suggested WhatsApp as people from different countries will be able to access the photos easy enough. She agreed and this became the way everyone shared photos during the trip.

We were all back on the ship by the 5 p.m. curfew. By 5:20 p.m. it was time for an early dinner. After which I headed up for a climb in the rigging, this time onto the foremast, which is located at the front of ship. The foremast is a bit smaller than the mainmast which my watch is associated to.

I find it very calming up on the mast on my own, through people started following me into the rigging but, onto the main mast.

No matter how nice the view over Hobart is, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when we will be at sea even through the weather is supposed to be very rough. It will be interesting to see what the Endeavour is like in rough seas, and importantly, how I cope with it!

I had a solo watch between 8 to 9 p.m. as we are still on the wharf. I went downstairs for a shower while the ship is not rocking about. Plus I spent 20 minutes sorting all my stuff in locker space. I created a system so I can find clothes and my bits and pieces. And I’m assuming I will need warmer clothes for tomorrow as we head out to sea.

I’m looking forward to the real thing, tomorrow at sea!

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Endeavour Sailing 13/2/45 Thursday: Reefing the sails