Hello shipmates old and new
Sorry for the lack of blogs, we have had an amazingly busy few days since I joined the ship on Friday. When I arrived, fresh and smart… there was action stations in every area, and it was like being time transported back a few weeks to the Canaries ! No sign of the bilge babes, but a hoard of grubby, overalled, hard working maintainers…. And an impressive amount of work has been achieved since I was last here, on deck and below decks there have been all manner of improvements and changes.
As it was the end of the maintenance period there was a lot of coming and going and bunks being stripped and remade rapidly for the Saturday Open Ship and the party…. Tenacious was ofcourse alongside with us and we attracted plenty of visitors between us. The weather was, and is, fantastic – again a trip back to the Canaries temperatures…. and it was good to see such an interest in our ships.
Saturday night was THE party night…. Captain John and Mate Chris did the gentlemanly thing, and watched the ship while we crew were allowed to party. It was all hands to shower stations… Uncle John being assisted ably by Alan, Fred the Fish fleeing along in a towel… Marco blowdrying his Mexican moustache…. Ray Rainbird, birthday boy in a cloud of after shave….. it was a struggle for us ladies to get a look in !!
It was so good to see so many at the party, around 600 people attended and the noise of tongues wagging drowned out the band at times ! It was really emotional to see , and hear about life changing experiences, which we have been privileged to be a part of. What a fantastic thing the JST is….. please keep coming back!
I would just like to let Medical Purser Rae know how glad we all were to see her, we miss you!
Sunday dawned pinkly, and at 7am we swung into action with Ali and Dereks bacon butty fest, and got scrubbed up for the Day Sail customers… a full compliment! It was another really enjoyable day…. Food, company and weather….. better told by one young lady on her first Tallship trip… a budding Ellen McArthur !! So, over to her as I pop up into the warm sunset off Cowes where we are picking up a Pilot and doing an entry manoeuvre…. All the LN770 crew are chirpy, smiley and very well fed after a delicious chicken supper.
Catch up again tomorrow, Jane F MP
Tucking into a Dairy Milk in the relaxed atmosphere of the bar, we are waiting for our first watch at midnight. We haven’t run aground yet, capsized, sunk, had to abandon ship nor lost any crew members; considering the two of us are onboard, it’s quite an achievement. Steve’s already had mess duty and took the role, unfortunately, fairly literally. Whilst on the other hand, Jack spent the afternoon playing with dirty rope under the disguise of 'letting off the mooring lines’. One day in and we’re anticipating an unforgettable voyage.
Steven Cain & Jack Cafferkey (17 years old) 18 /4/11