Öckerö gymnasium

11th of January

My day started off by me and my cabin getting called up for breakfast at around seven o clock. However, I was too tired to get up in time and therefore decided to skip breakfast and go directly up on deck for our watch beginning at eight o clock sharp. Since we are still closely located to the canary islands the weather is quite warm I could wear a simple sweatshirt and pants without freezing which was nice.

At first we practiced to set and dowse the royal sail of the mainmast (for quicker manoeuvres in the future). After this had been done a couple of times we proceeded to do maintenance work, both on deck and in the rig. Since we already had all sails set, and the winds were stabile we did not have very much active sailing to do, and could therefore do maintenance work during sea watch. Although, before maintenance we had to loosen the buntlines in the square sails, in order to let the canvas move without unnecessary restrictions hence disturbing the shape of the wind-filled sail. I was assigned the task to nip the buntlines of the topgallant sail and the royal sail, on starboard side. I climbed up in the main rig and began tying the yarn to the buntlines. When I had finished my task i climbed down, right in time for our ten o clock snack.

A quarter past ten and a few orange slices fuller I was up on deck again to keep working. Now I was told to disinfect and varnish the lead blocks to the braces for the headsails. After this was done I was once again sent up in the rig. I climbed to the topgallant yard in the mainmast, only this time to disinfect and scrub the surface of the blocks with scotch brite, in order for the varnish to stick better. But as soon as I reached the topgallant sail and began scrubbing the first block, I was called down from the mast again since the clock now had almost turned twelve, and my watch was over.

Vanna, portside

Publicerad:

Öckerö seglande gymnasieskola
Björnhuvudsvägen 45
475 31 Öckerö

Telefon: 031-97 62 00
e-post: kommun@ockero.se