Endeavour Sailing 21/2/25 Friday: Awesome day with lots of work in the rigging in the rain

I was awake at 3:30 a.m. for watch duty starting at 4 a.m. until 8 a.m. This morning, I am simply wearing a t-shirt and a woollen jumper, I have found now that we are away from the strong southerly winds in Bass Strait, the early mornings are quite warm.

The first half of the watch went slow, then I got an amazing views as the sun slowly started to rise in the east from 6 a.m.

The lights of Sydney were visible for the whole watch as we slowly sailed past the city of 5 million at a slow three knots. Today is Friday, so we have successfully travelled from Hobart to Sydney in under in a week by sail.

Around 7 a.m. I was asked if I wanted to go for a climb, to release the topgallant, the very top sail on the mainmast, which I have been very keen to unfurl since coming on board. So, with me on the port side, and Sophie the other big climber from my watch on the starboard side we headed up to the crosstrees.

I've spent quite a bit of time up here in the crosstrees at the top of the ship, but getting out onto the yard is something else and was not easy. As this is the very top of the mast all the ropes come up to this point, which makes this small area very crowded, and full of ropes. Getting onto the horizontal yard was tricky but fun.

Once on the yard I had a majestic view of the Endeavour below with a lot of sail. I do feel so privileged to be able to experience this.

After enjoying the view and of course taking photos, I started undoing the gasket lines which are holding the topgallant sail to the yard. As the topgallant is a small sail the rope I was standing on was quite close to the yard, so not only am I over 100 feet in the air standing on this single rope, but I was leaning over a yard just above my knees; a bit of a balancing act. I soon had the three gaskets undone, then I was squeezing back through the small maze of ropes, attaching and reattaching my harness clips as I did so, trying not to get tangled.

Back on deck, seeing that very top sail being set was awesome, it's like the Endeavour has become even more alive.

I then had a small rest before being called down for breakfast, having a shower and working on my diary.

The exciting plan for the morning was to set all the sails, then do a man overboard drill which would put the boat in the water so someone could take photos of the Endeavour under full sail, something which does not happen often.

I came up onto the deck and it was now raining so I wrote my diary in the historic 18th century deck for a change instead of being in the fresh air.

When I went back on deck at 11 a.m. everything had changed, the wind had died off and was now coming from the wrong direction.

I sat in the middle of the quarter deck while mizzenmast watch ran around madly turning sails to get the ship into wind, and they started to furl (pull-up) sails which was a shame. Looks like the wind has not behaved, and all the extra sails are not going to be used.

I just finished lunch when someone come running downstairs, the James Craig was coming alongside. The James Craig is another tall ship based in Sydney, is actually an original ship from the mid 1800's which has been restored.

Two tall ships meeting at sea is a real surprise, and a very rare occurrence. This was another special event for this trip. The James Craig was ever so slowly sailing up to overtake the Endeavour.

Ant, our master quickly gave the order 'load the port side canon'. The bosun quickly loaded the canon with paper (which is what is used) and of course the important gunpowder.

We all gathered around on the port side, us looking at them, and they all on their starboard side looking as us. Then the order was given ‘Fire the port side canon '. This resulted in a huge boom and a flash of fire as we fired on the James Craig, so very cool.

I can now say I have been on a sailing ship, and opened fire on another ship like a pirate - not many people can say that!

Being on a tall ship that actually has working cannons is a lot of fun and really adds to the experience. This trip really has had everything!

The James Craig then gave us three cheers and we cheered them in return. The James Craig then slowly sailed in a circle away from us and back into the distance.

A view of the Endeavour from the James Craig

At this point I had been up since 3:30 a.m., so at 2:30 p.m. I thought "I will put my head down as we are on watch at 4 p.m”. Fifteen minutes later I was woken up, our watch was being called back on deck early to furl the sails on the mainmast.

The next three hours were the most intense and physically hard time I spent on the Endeavour. It had started to rain, so I put my raincoat over my t-shirt, leaving my shorts on, so my legs were in the open.

Climbing up the mast in the wet and rain was an interesting challenge, the upside futtocks section was quite a thriller when wet. I enjoy climbing the rigging and this just added to the excitement. Those who find climbing the rigging a challenge are getting used to it by now, even if this is only their third or fourth climb. Most people only go up into the rigging when there is work to do, unlike say Sophie or I who go up on our own time, for our own enjoyment.

The first sail to be pulled up was the topsail, which is the large middle sail. I was on the starboard side, with Peter on the end of the yard, with me in the middle and Martin beside me near the mast. With Nico in the middle beside the mast guiding everyone. This is only the second time we have had the chance to furl a sail, and most people are not very good at it. I’ve have had some practice from The Breeze tall ship in Auckland where I volunteer, even if it is much smaller.

I enjoyed getting my gasket line ready quickly (the rope which ties up the sail to the yard) and then helping Martin and Peter. Not only is the sail heavy but the rain certainly was not helping. It took several attempts but we finally had the sail up and tied to the yard.

We then climbed down the mast to pull up the large bottom sail, the course. This sail has not been used for the whole voyage but had been unfurled by another watch for the every sail photo opportunity which never happened. The course had not been set and had been hanging loose for most of the day.

I was on the end of the yard this time. Not only is the view awesome hanging out over the sea standing on a single rope, but the end of the yard is actually easier to fold up with less sail material than in the centre of the sail.

Those in the centre were really struggling with the massive sail and it took a while to get the course sail up. As the yard is physically large and round, and there is a lot of sail, passing the gasket rope underneath this big yard to grasp with your other hand, was very difficult.

Martin kept swinging his rope under this large yard, trying to grab it with his other hand. On the topsail I had successfully helped Martin by grabbing the end of his gasket line. Here on the course sail with the larger yard it was a lot harder. Peter was finally able to successfully help and grab the gasket line. It was not easy, swinging the line under the yard and trying to grab it.

Finally, the course sail was tied onto the yard and down we come, my arms were very tired by now after climbing up and down the rigging and pulling up these large sails.

Since I'm keen, or a bit mad; as everyone else huddled together in the rain. I instead quickly asked if the highest topgallant sail also needed to furled as well, and permission was given by the officer of the watch.

Just Nico and myself were sent up. As I was climbing back up the mainmast, I was thinking to myself, I have not even given myself 5 minutes to rest and recover. Getting up to the top narrow crosstrees was a challenge in my tired wet state.

Getting onto the yard was not easy, same as this morning, but pulling up the topgallant sail was a lot easier than the two sails below, even just by myself on one side of the mast. This sail is a lot smaller and has no vertical bunt rope lines to get in the way plus the yard is physically a lot smaller so was much easier to tie the sail to.

There are three gasket lines I had to tie up, unlike below where I did a single gasket and helped others. I did all three, one after the other, great practice which I really enjoyed.

Another special highlight was a seaplane which took off nearby. As it climbed, it was still lower than the foremast of the Endeavour. The passages and pilot would have had a great view of the Endeavour.

Seaplane taking off in front of the Endeavour

Climbing back down to the fighting top was easy, but I had to rest for a minute as my arms now felt like jelly, so I could get the energy to climb down the upside futtocks. Back on deck I started to rest. I was quite wet by now, with the rain now coming through my raincoat.

All the staysails, the triangle sails which had been undone for the photo opportunity where still flapping about in the wind, and since it was now after 4 p.m., we were now officially on watch.

So, everyone else went below out of the rain as our watch started to tidy up all the remaining staysails.

What was awesome is that Mark our watch leader got me to go onto the bowsprit to furl the staysail out the front of the ship with Eli, with no supervisor. It felt great that Mark trusted me to be in charge of furling up this sail. This was an awesome vote of trust in what I have learnt over the last week, especially as I have never actually furled this sail, though I did undo it the other day with Mark. With Eli and I doing this sail, this meant Mark could work on the large staysails with the rest of the watch.

Eli and I headed out onto the bowsprit, a part of the ship that really requires the use of your arms, which was hard for me in my tired state. And as I was on the side where the sail was, I had to pull the sail up to Eli on the other side of bowsprit. Not only hard on my arms, but my lower back was feeling it now as well. Eli and I got the sail up onto the bowsprit, along with the sheet lines, with the block and tackle successfully tied in as well. Not pretty, but totally functional.

Back on deck in the pouring rain with less to do I started to get really cold along with everyone else in mainmast watch. For the rest of the watch we were hauling on lines, to square the yards and to get the last of the staysails secured. We were mostly done by 5:45 p.m. and were standing around in the rain waiting for the next watch to appear to relieve us. They finally turned up, so we could head downstairs to dry off, put on some dry clothes and have a nice warm diner.

The few three hours were so much fun! Lots of climbing into the rigging, going up the mainmast several times, furling three sails on the mainmast, and being trusted to go out on the bowsprit to furl the staysail was quite an honour.

And the rain was an added exciting cold bonus.

And as our watch left the deck, the new watch gave us a guard of honour and clapped us down which was nice. I was in bed not long after seven, to be woken at 2 a.m. for a short hour long an watch as we are at anchor, were I spent time talking with Eli, Martin and Mark then headed back to bed again.

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Endeavour Sailing 21/2/25 Friday: Awesome day with lots of work in the rigging in the rain