Very sad news from the Picton Castle:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,235743,00.html
That’s a shame; her chances of survival appear be very slim at this point. Check in when you can, Robot.
I am surprised the article thinks a person could last 36 hours. It gives some slim hope. Lost at sea has to be one scary way to go.
I’m so jealous - I watched the “Tall Ship Chronicles” following the Picton Castle on its voyage around the world and wanted so much to take part.
Have fun, and regards to Captain Dan 
I read today that the search for Laura Gainey has been given up for good. So incredibly sad, for her family and also the crew of the ship. I know from my USN days that shipmates form a tight bond, and it must be very, very difficult right now. 
*Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.*
Fair winds, fellow Sailor.
As a fellow sailor (Someday… on a tall ship), I envy your voyage Robot Arm. I suspect that someday, as a fellow sailor, hopefully in the far far future, I will envy how Laura Gainey began hers.
Greetings to one and all.
I don’t even know where to start with this. We loaded the ship, we shivered in our bunks, we left port with two inches of snow on the dock. We had to heave-to in a force 10 storm. We threw rings and life preserves in after Laura, even lost our skiff off the starboard davits, then searched almost four days with Coast Guard planes overhead and found everything but her.
We sailed days east to avoid more weather. We went swimming in 10,000 feet of water. I’ve seen dolphins and flying fish and a sea turtle while furling on the upper-topsail yard. I’ve stood watch 4-hours-on, 8-hours-off for three weeks. I’ve taken the helm and bailed the sole with a paper cup.
I walked on a beach and danced to reggae on Christmas Eve, and had Christmas dinner on the back deck with the best goddamn sailors in the world.
It was more than I expected and almost more than I could handle.
We’re trying to avoid the media a little bit. I’m on an island, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say where. It’s three more days sail to Grenada, and I fly home on January 4th.
And I’m safe and well.
Glad to hear it. Good sailing and fair winds.
Good to hear from you, friend. I’ve been watching to see if you’d checked in. What an intense experience it sounds like it’s been. Be well, and I wish you good sailing for the rest of the trip.
Hey Root, heard about the lady falling overboard and thought of your trip. Wasn’t sure they were the same until just now, what a tragic footnote to your voyage.
We’re keeping your seat warm, sounds like you’ll have tall tales to tell.
I sure hope the rest of your voyage goes well.
I really must try a trip like that sometime.
Fair winds.
Wow, quite an intersection with fate in this thread. Without meaning any disrespect to the Gainey family, I hope at least some of your expectations for the trip were fulfilled. Keep us posted.
No tall tales; the truth is better.
We sailed down here under Captain Michael. With all that’s happened, Captain Dan has come down to take over the ship again. After my last post, I was walking toward the beach and a taxi pulled over. The door opened and someone was waving at me. It was Captain Michael. He was catching a flight in two hours. We went to a bar on the beach, met up with the first mate, the second mate, the engineer, and another trainee. We gave him a sendoff that was worthy of the trip and the man.
Someday, if you’re lucky, you’ll get the chance to drink with sailors.
The trip of a lifetime.
You have now ‘been there’.
You have now ‘done that’.
The sea has her hold on you.
You will never be completely free of her.
Nor will you want to be.
I’ll share an anchorage with you anytime.
Hey Root, didn’t know you were on THE ship, until our poker clan got together tonight and I found out about it. All I can say is an enthusiastic “Wow!” Can’t wait to hear more when you get back.
Thoughts and prayers for Laura and the Gainey family.
I know that you took his ‘learn the ropes’ phrase as intended, and were just giving a helpful hint, but isn’t it a bit far to say there are no ropes on a ship or a boat.
Isn’t that somewhat akin to saying “There are no men on a ship or boat. They are sailors.” or “There is no floor underfoot…there is a deck”.
Surely there are ropes, but you’d show your boat-virginity (the pseudo-squaddie in me is struggling not to make a navy joke…and now not to make a joke about “the squaddie in me” bit) if you went around calling them so rather than lines?
I’m home.
We’re trying to give the Gainey family as much privacy as we can, so I may be a bit stingy with details. I did a web search just now, and there are still new stories coming out in the press. They’re getting some things right and some things wrong. I even found a couple pictures of our arrival in Grenada. I didn’t see anyone taking them, but from the angle, they must have been across the harbor anyway. It’s all very surreal.
My previous posts were from Nevis. We stopped in at St. Kitts and met some of Laura’s family. We also took on an investigator hired by the Cook Islands to look into what happened. He interviewed us all and asked for any information we could give him. Then he sailed with us to Nevis (only a couple hours) to see the ship in operation and we did a man-overboard drill.
We had about four days anchored at Nevis. It’s about three-days sail from there to Grenada. St. George’s, Grenada, is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. There’s a small harbor, sort of a double-horseshoe shape, with hills running right up from the edge of the water. I walked up to Fort George which has a great view of all of it (and is where several people were executed during the 1983 coup). The ship looked so small from there, but I could almost picture the days when it would have been full of tall square-riggers like ours.
I had one night in a hotel there. You’ve no idea how good a hot shower can feel until you go without one for a month. I took my watch mates out for lunch, said my goodbyes and flew home.
And there are ropes on a sailing ship, or at least there are on this one. Among others there’s the foot rope. When you go out on the yards to do anything, like furling the sails, there’s a rope that hangs a few feet below it. You step on the footrope and bend over a bit at the waist, then work your way out for whatever you need to do. Each person on the rope changes the tension, so you call out “laying on” or “laying off” so the other people on the rope know what to expect.
Speaking as a Navy veteran, there are many ropes on a ship, but they’re made of wire. Ropes made of metal are “wire ropes.” Ropes made of fiber or fabric are lines.
My first visit to this thread; I’m envious of Robot Arm and sad about Miss Gainey.