Handsomely now! Ease the main royal halyard!

This sunday was the third class of Sail Training, and we are really starting to learn things now. We've been taught line handling, how to belay a line on the pin rails, how to properly coil the lines, and today, how to "fake" a line. Faking is how to lay a line out on the deck, so that it is out of the way of main foot traffic, and so that once the line is thrown off its pin, it can run free and without snagging in the blocks. It is very important to know how to do this properly, for the safety of the crew and the ship, and to be able to do it fast and efficiently, because of how fast the crew can go through an evolution (setting the sails to catch the wind and tacking).

Whilst learning the line handling, we went through an exercise. On both the main and the fore masts, the first two yards from the deck up are fixed to the masts. They can't move. But the next three yards move up and down on the masts. This allows for safely setting the sails and being able to take them in very quickly. To raise the yard, there is a chain that runs from the center of the yard, by the mast, down to the pin rails (the sides of the ship where the lines are tied off). But there are balancing lines as well, called Braces, that run from the very ends of the yard to the pin rails. To haul on the halyard to raise the yard, you have to ease off the braces, and the other way around to lower the yard. Well, our group was assigned the halyard, but two of us (myself included) were assigned to the two braces. We followed our commands and as I worked I could see the Royal yard (the highest one on the mast) rise up the mast, and back down when we were done. My counterpart on the opposite brace and I were beside ourselves with happiness, that we finally were able to do something useful on the ship. It was so cool!

The last thing I learned how to do today was to splice a line. I made a loop of line and uncoiled the three strands a bit and had to twist them back into the line to seal the loop. It is amazing how strong this really makes the line. I couldn't break the splice no matter how much force I put on it. Here are some pictures of what I did.



Next week is our last week for learning the basics of sailing the Star of India. We've been over the rigging, the sails, the anatomy of the ship, the history of it, line handling, and knots. Next week we are learning the mechanics of steering the ship, as well as how the sails and lines work on the Californian. The last week is when we have our test. Big day. I have a lot of practicing and studying to do. If I pass the test, then I qualify for the Sail Crew. This means that in July, they give everyone, no matter how many times they have sailed, a qualification test for the November crew. If I pass that, then I go into 8 weeks of intensive sail training. Since I've gone out for Deck Crew, I'll be assigned a station on the ship, and I'll have to learn all the lines of my station, what they do and how to work them. That among a lot of other jobs. That all happens 8 weeks before the ship sails in November. I can't wait. Weeeee!

Ta!