Endeavour Sailing 18/2/25 Tuesday: Great watch

The sun rising to the east over the Endeavour

Today I was woken at 3:30 a.m. with the rest of mainmast for what was an awesome watch. The first 30 minutes I was on lookout as we are adrift in the ocean with very little wind and calm swells. This weather is so very different than the wild four-meter swells and 30 knot southerlies, gusting 40 Knots from two days ago. The Endeavour was still swaying side to side almost as much as two days ago as she bobs about in the calm water.

I was on stern watch at one point and it even appeared we were even going backwards at one point as a lighthouse on shore was over taking us in the distance.

We then braced the ship which involves turning the horizontal yards with all sails on them. This means people are loosening the ropes on one side of the ship, while others are heaving the ropes on the other side to pull the yards around. This was a lot of fun in dark, loosening and pulling ropes, it is quite a surreal experience. It sounds strange but is quite doable under moonlight.

I’m glad I just got off lookout duty when all this rope work started so I could join in. After bracing the sails into the wind, the Endeavour is now moving forward a bit. The next hour was spent watching the sun slowly rise over the sea, an awesome lovely sight.

Once the sun was up, we got to "loose the reef's". Which involved climbing up to the topsail and undoing all the reef lines we had tied into the sails while on the wharf in Hobart. This is the first time I've had a chance to get into the rigging for an actual job while at sea under sail, and I was so glad I was free to do so. I was quickly climbing up the mainmast with the wind behind me, then crossing over the fighting top to the other side of the ship and climbing into the facing wind going up to the second sail to untie the reefs.

Climbing up into the rigging

Loosing the reefs to fully lower the sails now the wind has really died away

Watching the raising sun was great from the deck, but it was even more outstanding from up in the rigging. I even had a brief view of dolphins below us.

I was then back on deck to hoist the yard up. Undoing the reefing knots has doubled the size of the sail and it looks very impressive from the deck.

It was then time for breakfast, and of course a happy hour of cleaning. We then had a lecture on maps in the Great Cabin which I didn't actually need to attend as I knew all the content. When the lecture finished, I then went back to sleep until lunch. After lunch I went directly back into my hammock for more sleeping for another couple of hours and I woke up quite refreshed. It was very nice to wake up naturally without someone else shaking me awake me for a change.

The last of the afternoon was spent relaxing on the back of the Endeavor in the sun, lying on the stern reading my book. We are still going in circles as there is such little wind. At 3:15 p.m. I finished reading 'The Last Kingdom' by Bernard Cornwall, the first book read on my new Kindle!

With 45 minutes till I’m back on watch, I took the opportunity to climb up to the top of the mainmast for the best view on the ship. Up here the swaying is so much more extreme 100 feet up, but it’s reasonably gentler than the other day and I found it quite relaxing.

Looking down onto the foremast, with sails now fully extended.

Not a lot to stand on up here.

I finally tidied up a rope perfectly!

Then back down for my watch starting at 4 p.m. This was a short watch, until till 6 p.m. The first hour was full on bracing some yards, then with a surprise fire drill. As mainmast were already on deck as we are on watch, we had it easy for the fire drill. The second hour was very quiet with nothing happening.

Then dinner and back to my hammock and sleep until being woken at 11:30 p.m. for our next watch from midnight to 4 a.m.

The wind has picked up and the good news is that we are sailing in a straight line again, and not going around in circles. The challenge is that the wind is coming from the east and we are trying to sail north. The Endeavour can only travel 90°off the wind direction with her large square sails.

We have about 30 nautical miles on this track until we would have hit land. If the wind does not change, then the engines would have to be turned on.

For the next four hours absolutely, nothing happened. The highlight of this watch was an hour steering the ship at night again, but with very little moonlight as the sky was overcast.

I had dressed down for this watch after being so warm last night. No thermal underwear or rain gear and I felt comfortable, through all the Australians were feeling the cold.

Then back to bed.