The commercial in which we sailed for on Saturday 27 August is now airing. There is in actually only about half a second of us at the very begginning, but a nice little accomplishment nonetheless.
Toshiba Tall Tall Ships Festival, September 10-12.
FIND YOUR LOCKER
It had been a long time since I had been to the royal on any ship. I stood on the port side footrope after having stepped over the yard from starboard. That starboard footrope was a good three feet above the last good ratline (or very short sheerpole as the case may be) for my foot. It meant a tall step and in the first time since I can remember, I clipped into the jackstay before making the transition. Once sure-footed on the jackstay, the step over and remaining transitions were no sweat.
We waisted no time laying to the fore royal.
It was “find your locker day” at the MMSD, slang phrase for the first day of sail training for the annual sail, which celebrates the Star of India’s launch birthday. This year, for the first time in several, the Star of India will back upon the Pacific Ocean. “Find your locker” implies that this first day of training will be more or less getting acquainted with fellow mastmates, captains, lines &c &c. Serious training is not to be expected this first go around.
Earlier we were treated to a video on synthetic line snapback owning that the Star of India is towed from her berth up the channel towards the Pacific. Although dated, the film was informative.
Aboard Berkeley, the crew awaits the start of Synthetic Line Snapback.
I have been assigned to the foremast. In part, a lot of the work I have done on the jib-boom and personal petitioning got me there. Personally, I have never considered the foremast as a place of recognition or preference, its just that that is where I have done most of my volunteer maintenance hours over the past year or so, so that is where I wanted to be.
Throughout the morning, the words of Jim D- continued to echo through my head. A few weeks back during the evening reception after the Parade of Sail for the Festival of Sail at the MMSD, Jim laid out very specific criticisms and expectations of me. I do not disagree with them in the slightest, in fact they encourage me in a new direction, a distant light that is not as yet defined or known.
Today, we were short of our crew. Apparently, the foremast is a place of some recognition and notoriety as several of the crew are from out-of-town, but have been such fixtures on the Star, her rigging, and culture that they have that place to their right. One, I was excited to note was Jamie W-, current director of the Texas Seaport Museum, former rigger of just about every surviving historical square-rigged ship out there. Although through email and facebook, I’ve talked with Jamie on numerous occasions, the chance to finally meet, talk, climb and furl with him has motivated me more so.
Susan B-, out aloft captain, and a new crewman whose name I don't know yet, put the starboard side of the royal into its gear.
Prior to laying aloft, with only five topmen available, Paul D-, our foremast captain concluded that working the royal would be the best place to get our hands dirty. That also included getting the pinrails shipshape, the coils evenly hung as things have gotten somewhat sloppy over time. Coiling also allowed the second step past the pinrail map to learning the lines. For the most part, the rules of thumb make things easier to find than others. The farther aft one goes, the higher on the mast the lines work. The upper topsail halyard on port means that the t’gallant halyard will be roughly in the same location on starboard, the royal back over on port, aft of the upper top.
The royal isn’t the hardest sail to put into its gear. Before furling, Susan B-, our aloft captain laid back down to the deck for some reason unknown to me. This gave us about 15 minutes to look aft and review a conversation we had on deck regarding how all the squares, except the royals were furled on the Star of India. Scott B-, former mast captain and aloft captain, who in the words of Paul D, has forgotten more of the rigging on the fore than he even knows, pointed out some issues (or mistakes depending on how you look at it) the “waisters” were making on the main upper top.
The waisters on the main upper tops'l.
The remaining squares get furled outboard to inboard, something contrary to those of us more experienced with Surprise, Californian or the Star’s royals. This first step is a critical one, a section of the leech being pulled onto the yard then furled. This first initial furl is what Scott stressed in that if done improperly, “teacups” form at the earring. And sure enough as he was pointing out, the “waisters” were doing just that. I cannot profess to be an expert on it, I did recognize what he was pointing out but I am sure my first time hands-on, I will make the same mistakes.
CALL ME “SCUPPERS”
Idle time aloft gives one time to take in the view, review your surroundings and for me, reflect. The weekend before I was in Dana Point with the Californian for the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival. The Saturday after the Parade of Sail, I wound up sleeping in much to the surprise of my shipmates. It surprised me just as well that they had let me.
At Dana Point, the mooring structure was a more intimate affair.
The Dana Point Festival is much more intimate when it comes to how the vessels are moored. Two groups of four vessels moored bulwark to bulwark. I spent my 1200 to 1400 watch helping visitors step from the Exy Johnson onto Californian. Dana Point Harbor has an odd an active tidal surge to it, the boats and their companionway alignments were constantly changing. I chuckled after my shift at the number of “pirates” that were frightened somewhat of that ever-changing stepover, both men and women.
The gun battles as well were planned out differently than at San Diego, where pairs went out at a time and slugged it out on the bay. Here, at four o’clock, all the ships save Pilgrim, put their sails in their gear made for the ocean, priming their guns for a few hours of sulfur filled amusement.
Amazing Grace comes within range.
Much to my dismay, I was put on the braces. I have started sailing more in the hopes of getting more experience on the headrig, manning the braces, especially on the Californian, while important, is considered a menial position somewhat.
Irving Johnson overtakes the Amazing Grace.
Swapping sulfur with Bill of Rights
Still, one can’t deny even with the lack of a good breeze, gunfire isn’t exciting.
American Pride gets a handshake from a six-pound gun.
Spirit of Dana Point
That evening a crew reception was held aboard the Pilgrim along with a potluck dinner. Sea shanties crested across the full deck and after a few beers, the moment I recognized one that I knew, my mood changed and I joined in.
Shanties aboard Pilgrim.
As the dinner broke up, the festive nature simply moved over to the American Pride, which one could nickname the “party boat” of this group. They are certainly generous on a repeated basis, both with food, conversation and a concoction simply titled “rum punch.”
With the rum punch I decided to take a left turn at common sense, as Paul D- departed I mentioned that I wouldn’t be too far behind. The remainder of the Californian crew had headed back to the schooner on the early side.
“No you won’t,” said the rum fervently. And the rum was right, the next thing I knew we were aboard the Exy Johnson switching over to Jameson’s if I recall properly. I would also learn that we were keeping up my own shipmates.
Eventually, I had the clear enough of a mind to ask for a cup of coffee. But that cup of coffee changed things dramatically, or perhaps it was simply too late. Heaving over the side of the vessels, well mostly, I was done with dinner.
“Brad, you need to pull yourself together and get cleaned up.” I heard Paul at some point early the next morning. I opened my eyes to find myself in the scuppers of Exy with a pillow and blanket of all things. Exy doesn’t have a true waterway or scuppers as one imagines them on Star of India, but a later comment by Bob R- made me like the description.
Luckily, after cleaning up myself, the charitable bedding, and joining in on the Californian’s morning washdown, the day was for the most part free to me until the gun battles. I was not assigned any watches during the fest portion thankfully. Recovery time, although except for a bit of a fog, I wasn’t feeling all that badly, just embarrassed.
It did finally give me the opportunity to find a wi-fi location which I found down at Beach Cities pizzeria. I got a little work done but returned after a couple of hour to nap in the fo’c’sle.
A better breeze had struck up this Sunday for the gun battles. Better yet, I was assigned the inner jib sheet. I had managed the sheet before but it had been awhile and learning as much of the head gear as possible was one of my goals with each sail.
The inner jib also provides some interaction with the stays’l, which has more of a science to it than the other heads’ls. Malcolm S- provided a lot of insight, but at the day’s end I’m still scratching my head slightly. The stays’l is trimmed more with the preventer than simply the sheets. However, as inner jib sheet, I eased the lazy side sheet so the preventer could then be appropriately hauled on the weather side. Some hands-on experience with the stays’l will probably clear up some of my confusion.
The gun battle itself was more action filled than the previous day. For some reason, however, the last remnants of my drunken fog caused me not to have the enthusiasm not to pull out my camera. As well, I was discussing the heads’ls with Malcolm through most of the trip.
Heading back in, aloft on the tops’l the American Pride had dropped off her passengers and was already heading home, passing us to port and giving three hearty cheers as their bare crew could enable. With us still with a full load of passengers a resounding return echoed from Californian’s deck.
The fest was now officially over. We were heading out bright and early Monday morning. Crew that had driven up departed and we headed to Beach Cities for dinner. As many time as I had been to Beach Cities with the crew of Pilgrim last year, I had never actually had any of their pizza. It turned out to be the best pizza I have had in a very long time.
ARE WE THERE YET?
The moon sets early Monday morning as we head home.
Even the Exy and Irving Johnsons had hit the hay early. Bill of Rights was all quiet and the morning came quickly. Amazing Grace, moored outboard of us departed just ahead and we kept them in sight for most of the day.
As the moon set, the sun rose.
Along the way, a decent breeze came off the ocean and we set all fore-and-afts, eventually killing the engine and sailed most of the way home. There does come however, that point when home is in view and the urge to kill the sails and motor in high-gear the rest of the way kicks in.
With sails set and the watch started, a quiet deck greets the sun.
Furling the heads’ls underway was a new experience. There’s a simple exhilaration to it. However, I also discovered I finally understood just how to furl these godforsaken things. The “burrito” concept to the furl has always escaped me, but it seems my hands had finally figured it out. I can’t describe how to furl a heads’l, my intellect in some way still doesn’t get it quite properly. My hands seem to know and along with a few other crew to help, the job got done.
Malcolm S- furls the stays'l.
Eventually, we rounded the point, motored on into home and my mind was already racing past some down time to the next chance I could find to get back to sea. Once home, I looked up Californian’s schedule for my next available Saturday. September 24 looked promising but Californian was going to be sitting idle at the Chula Vista Harbor Days. The thought struck back to me of an open invitation to continue crewing the Bill of Rights. A quick email answered and I’m heading back to Oxnard for a day. A hefty drive which will probably involve sleeping aboard the prior night, but there’s a lot more to this opportunity than just sailing and learning a head rig.
Point Loma, then hang a left into the channel to home.
'Nuff said.
Waking myself back from thought on the royal, I was doing my own rough job on the snake fold right at the buntline. Although not terrible, once on deck, it was apparent and gave us an opportunity to review, critique and evaluate what best to do next time around. I can critique the waisters job on the upper top, but have to remind myself that I have my own issues and learning to do.
Evaluating our furl on the royal. On starboard, the earring is a little messy, while on starboard, my take on the s-fold left a bit of a dead body.
Bert C-, assigned to the mainmast made similar comments regarding the mainmast once they had returned to the deck. We are all currently learning some old things in a new way. Some of us are remembering it, shaking off the rust.
Although I sailed and crewed the Star of India back in 2006, it was the year the USCG had yanked Surprise’s COI only weeks before the sail. I was included onto the Star’s crew for one day, assigned the mizzen, but did nothing more than tail on lines. I had not trained for her and I was still new enough to the entire program that I had virtually no clue as to what was going on. This go around, I’m an earned part of this sail.
Tall Ships Festival Returns to Dana Point, Sept. 9-11
Tall Ships Festival Returns to Dana Point, Sept. 9-11
via The Log.com News.
San Diego Chief Petty Officer Selects Learn About Naval Heritage
San Diego Chief Petty Officer Selects Learn About Naval Heritage.
SAN DIEGO (NNS) — Chief petty officer (CPO) selects from various San Diego commands participated in the naval heritage team-building portion of chief indoctrination Aug. 29 aboard the sailing ship Star of India, part of the San Diego Maritime Museum.
USS Constitution gets underway for a cruise for about 300 chief selects every year. This year, the induction team on the West Coast wanted to give their selects the chance to attend a one-day event like that on the Constitution.
“This is the first time the chief selectees have come to the Star of India for training,” said David Swanson, instructor at the Star of India. “It’s a very unique opportunity for the chiefs to be a part of.”
Aboard the Star of India, 62 selects learned sail raising, line handling, gun drills, oar practice and boat rowing. They then toured an old Russian submarine.
“It’s very important because chiefs are pretty much the keepers of the flame of the Navy’s heritage,” said Master Chief Avionics Technician Paul Tuck, coordinator for the Naval Air Station North Island CPO induction process. “It is our duty and responsibility to train our junior troops and our junior officers in the Navy where we have been, where we are and where we are going in the future.”
“It’s been an honor teaching these chiefs,” said James Bourdon, San Diego Maritime Museum education director. “I think the chiefs took a lot from the training conducted.”
The View From the Deck 