Taking Over

11.12.2016 - 13.12.2016

Sunday evening, just before dinner. Something unintelligble sounded through the speakers, after which the bell was rung. We had slightly more than 300 miles to go, and it was time.

I went from being in the middle of cutting trash to giving others the order to do it. Not much happened that watch, nor the following morning. Wait, a sudden change of wind caused a pretty big Chinese gybe during the watch handover, with me at the helm oops.

Great start.

I was asleep during the first bit of fun, a patch of rain and strong wind that had been unforeseen and made us have to lower the mizzen as quickly as possible. That afternoon I had to help with raising topsails outside my watch, as nobody else seemed to know how to do it. We discovered a tear in one just as we were ready to go, so only the schooner then. Oh wait, put it above the mainsail, well, no, we’re going fast enough without it, sorry. 

We ate all kinds of nice things, with a fixed kitchen duty that had no other task. The “wheelhouse slut” was very helpful, bringing us drinks etc. when we wanted them.
Our new captain gave us an extra movie night, but I wrote, got drawn by our artist, and went to bed.

I spent a large part of the following afternoon up the mast with Guus, wanting to spot land first. At one point Guadeloupe appeared to starboard, later Dominica to port. We saw it first but were unsure if it was actually land and not just clouds, so weren’t the first to shout, but well.  

All the action happened during other watches, until Tuesday evening, when my watch started with a gybe around Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic). I didn’t lead it, which is understandable. But there was enough work lying just around the westmost point of the island. I was just checking if everything was clear for raising the inner jib & forestaysail in a hurry, when the order came to raise the course (our only squaresail) as quickly as possible.

I divided the lines among those who came rushing towards the front deck, and set them to work. The moment the course was up and out of the way, the forestaysail & inner jib had to be raised. Due to the interruption, the sheet of our hardly used foresail was still stuck, and things didn’t go very smoothly. But we got them up, the wind very hard one moment, calm the next, probably because of the mountains.

Next came the schooner, which Thibault took over (even though there was no need, but he had the right as mate, I believe he just felt responsible).

The wind steadied, and the foresails had to be tightened as much as possible, to be close-hauled to the wind. As we entered the bay I gave Thibault the order to get everything ready to lower the foresails, whilst I positioned people for the mainsail. Funny how I could now command the mates and even Sam.

It was he who told me to order Thibault to get those sails down, though. I shouted, and they came gliding down. Next was the mainsail, which we left till the last moment. And so we came gliding in, me standing at the bowsprit, simply the best place to oversee the bay. I’d choose that kind of entrance over landing with a plane a thousand times over.

We wrapped up the foresail and jib, whilst Sam and Jet did the anchor. In front of us lay Portsmouth, a small town, village almost, lights twinkling in the darkness. Once the anchor was secure and everything cleared up, it was time for a party. Speakers out, middle deck tables away, music on loud.

Welcome to Dominica!