TNS473, 12-18/11/2016

Ahoy there from the Bass Strait.
This is Aft Port reporting in on a gorgeous sunny, yet slightly chilly Thursday afternoon. The sky is currently crystal clear and the water is as blue as blue can be. The wind forecast hasn’t been the greatest but we are making do with what we have. The wind is currently in the North, so we are heading slightly West, to get some more sailing time in. Since the last blog we have entered the Bass Strait, we are around 45 nautical miles off the coast of Victoria. After a beautiful moon-lit evening, this morning started like any other with a 0730 wake up call for a 0800 breakfast. After breakfast there was a penultimate happy hour (cleaning hour), which lasted up until morning smoko. During morning smoko the Bosun’s mates organised a guessing competition to raise funds for a new industrial toaster after its predecessors untimely demise on the first day of the voyage. The competition consisted of guessing the distance (in nautical miles) between Hobart and the Pilot Station in Melbourne. The prize is 1 hour in which you can do with what you will (within reason) of Bosun’s mate Vinnie’s time. At 1030 we then braced the yards (moved the horizontal arms from where the sails hang) and set some sails. During sail setting all watches participated in setting the fore upper and lower topsails, the fore course and the main upper and lower topsails. Once the deck was tidy of all its “spaghetti” (mountains of lines), we had a sail handling talk from First Mate Fliss. The crew found this talk extremely helpful, as they finally learnt what the lines they have heaving on for the last 5 days actually do. Once the talk was over we headed to lunch and then Aft Port started watch. The first sighting of the mainland was at approximately 1300hrs, this of course being the beautiful and rugged coast of Victoria. A big shout out to our Cook Micah and his lovely assistant Mandy for keeping our tummies full and smiles on our faces. As well as the fantastic Bosun’s mates Katie, Vinnie and Michael who constantly have a smile on their faces, even after being woken up in the middle of the night to assist the watches with sail handling.
Cheers,
Aft Port