STW21 Auckland to Wellington

Day 2 28th Oct

Permanent Crew:

Captain Chris Phillips
1st Mate – Jon West
2nd Mate – Marcin Dobrowlski
Bosun – Lesley Sale
C. Engineer – Marco Michelagnol
2nd Engineer – Mr Chipps AKA Paul Cole
Cook – Derek Carr
Medical Purser – Steve Ogden

Volunteers:

Bosun’s Mate – Nick, Tom, and Pip
Cook’s assistant – Tash

We joined the ship as instructed yesterday on Queens Wharf in Auckland harbour. The sun was shining and the ship was crawling with people as the Tall Ships in the harbour had open days. We were met on deck by our watch leaders and the new voyage crew were shown to their bunks then signing on, introductions to the PC and the first explanations of the outline plan for the 10 days ahead. Then it was evacuation training and ‘smoko’. Already friendships were being made as we all got to know each other. Some new sailors and some seasoned hands were amongst the crew for STW21.

The first evening aboard commenced with dinner served by the galley team and then it was off to the spirit club in the cloud for a few light refreshments with some of the crews from the other ships. Then horror upon horror…. Harbour watches. Keeping the ship and the crew safe from the threat of invasion from the local population… actually it was more a case of watching our new sailing mates making their way back aboard from the various drinking establishments..

Prompt start to the day as we needed to load stores on board before departing Auckland heading to Napier. As it is Labour Day we had plenty of support from land and out on the water to see us off. Other Tall Ships left the harbour with Lord Nelson and which was quite a spectacle. Training on helming began with taking turns with the wheel and a re-cap on the names of the sails and ropes. It’s been a good first watch. Back on 12am till 4am!

Best wishes, Alli, Bill, Kyle, Justin, Richard, Laszlo, Brett and Anna.