15/09/2008 - Lord Nelson

Day One

15th September

LN706 Southampton to Weymouth

Well, we’ve had blue skies and sunshine all day; giving way to a glorious sunset over the Solent tonight – what a welcome change to the weather and there are promises of more of the good stuff to come! Fantastic! And, what a lovely sight to greet our new voyage crew too! STS Tenacious and the Lord Nelson sitting together on the quay. They really make a charming pair!

So ‘joining day’ commenced with the familiar signing on, issue of foul weather gear and getting to know each other, before Captain Clare Cupples invited everyone to the lower mess and introduced the permanent crew.

Namely, Steve the Mate, Roger the 2nd Mate, Peter the Bosun; Marco the Chief Engineer with Rachel the lovely 2nd engineer; Gerry the Cook with his able assistant Rosie; Rachel the Medical Purser and not forgetting the super Bosun’s mates Alan and Matt.

Once all the introductions had been made, Steve began the training and safety briefings. This was followed by a welcome cuppa as ‘smoko’ was announced. Following the refreshments, we then prepared the ship for getting underway. First the gangway was hauled back onto the deckhouse roof. Next the mooring lines were released and the fenders brought back on board and with everything safely stowed, we made our way down the Solent. Our crew included one or two stowaways from the ‘Go Ape’ magazine, who had hitched a ride in order to photograph us all in action for an article about the JST.

It was lovely to be waved off by some of the family and friends of our new crew too - no doubt we’ll see some of you in Weymouth – look out for us!

Then, we all settled down to a very welcome dinner of gammon, peas, new potatoes and homemade parsley sauce, followed by fruit cocktail with pistachio ice cream. Having hitched a ride and enjoyed a good dinner, of course, we had to make sure our stowaways had a safe delivery to Cowes on the Isle of Wight. So Peter, assisted by Diana, launched the DOTI boat and once they’d all said their goodbye’s, climbed down into the boat for their short journey. Then with dinner over, everyone who wished to, got into their climbing harnesses and made their way aloft to the first platform. Now as I type this, Peter and Diana are safely back on board and it is time for the night watches to begin. Not long now before we should be at our overnight anchorage off St Helen’s giving everyone a chance to find their sea legs and there is also a wonderful buzz coming from the bar as our new crew are chatting, giggling and getting to know each other already! Watch this space for more news in the coming days!

Update By: Rachel MP