After Hurricane Bill passed through Burgeo, the captain decided to wait an extra day in port before getting underway again. Swells were still reported to be big outside and we could see waves crashing at the end of the cove, so we would let the seas settle a bit. In the morning, all hands worked to downrig the extra gear put in place for the hurricane. All the extra gaskets came off the sail, extra hawsers in, extra chafe gear off and rerigging some of the hayards. The starboard watch took the deck in the afternoon, and the port watch enjoyed one more afternoon exploring Burgeo.

On Tuesday morning it was time to get underway and sail for Lunenburg. We had a bright clear morning with modest west winds. With an audience of people from Burgeo, we sailed off the dock. First we used the main lower tops’ls with the yards squared to push the ship in astern and away from the wharf, then set a heads’l to help to turn the bow around. Once we were turned, we set more sail and slipped quietly through the channel in Short Reach and away from Burgeo.

We sailed during the day on Tuesday, then took in sails at dusk and turned on the main engine. Keeping an eye on the weather, we wanted to get across the Cabot Strait to the coast of Cape Breton Island so that we could anchor on Wednesday night when a low pressure system with a good bit of wind was due to pass through. We continued under motor on Wednesday, with some lumpy seas (and some of the crew not feeling very well) until we reached Morien Bay in Cape Breton where we anchored for the night. The wind was up to Force 8, but the port anchor dug in and held well with two shots of chain out.

Thursday morning’s wake-up came early, with all hands called at 0530 to get underway by 0600. The wind had laid down overnight and changed direction. The crew heaved up the port anchor and got it properly stowed, and we were underway again, bound for Lunenburg.

Because we’re always watching the weather, we knew about Tropical Storm Danny, brewing off the Bahamas and headed for Cape Hatteras and forecast to head in the direction of Nova Scotia on the weekend. The latest predictions have it making landfall just east of Yarmouth late Saturday evening, on a path up the middle of Nova Scotia. This means strong SE winds for Lunenburg, which can cause a lot of swell in the harbour.

Danny, this latest tropical storm, has us wanting to be tied up safely in port again, so we’re paddling hard to get to Lunenburg on Friday night or Saturday morning. We’d like to be in and securely tied up well before we start to feel the effects of this pesky Danny.

While we all have weather on our minds, Lunenburg also marks the completion of a voyage and a homecoming. Having this summer sailed around Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, to Newfoundland this sailing into Lunenburg marks the true finale of this 20,000 mile Voyage of the Atlantic. As we motor-sail up the coast, thoughts of the crew turn towards flights home and returning to regular life, or, for some, a fall season in Lunenburg filled with evenings at the Grand Banker, warm fires in the woodstove at the Dory Shop and Wednesday night small boat races while working on down-rigging the ship.

leaving Burgeo under sail, photo by Ollie Campbell (25)

leaving Burgeo under sail, photo by Ollie Campbell (45)

leaving Burgeo under sail, photo by Ollie Campbell (7)

View the the rest of this Album

Picton Castle had an extended stay in Burgeo, Newfoundland thanks to Hurricane Bill. Not a problem, Burgeo is a great place. We arrived on Thursday and got tied up securely at the wharf at the old fish plant at the head of a long land-locked cove called Short Reach, to a good solid dock with cement on top, a wooden face and big solid steel cleats heavily bolted into concrete. It was important to us to find somewhere secure to tie up the ship during the hurricane. Burgeo offered all of the elements we were looking for including a good dock big enough and with water deep enough that was also available for us to use, a very protected harbour with little chance of swell coming in from the open ocean and, as a big plus, an interesting place to visit to distract ourselves occasionally from the weather.

There were a few other options for ports of refuge that we had looked into, but the place that seemed most likely was Burgeo and it was closest. Even so, we arrived early enough that if the wharf was unsuitable or was full because other vessels were tied up there we would have enough time to carry on to one of the other ports on our list and get moored there. As it happened, apart from a few small boats, we are the only vessel at this wharf and we’ve found it a very good place to be.

By getting in and secured here early enough, the crew have also had a chance to explore and check out the fine town of Burgeo. Burgeo is connected to other towns along the south shore by ferry and also has a road that goes inland and connects to the Trans Canada Highway, 150km away. The fish plant here was abandoned in the 1990s, but there is still a part of it being used by a company processing fish meal. Burgeo seems like a self-sustaining community with its own school, town hall, fire department, post office, museum, hardware stores, pharmacy and grocery store. The majority of the adults we have met here have lived in Burgeo most or all of their lives. The museum was nice and very interestingly showed photographs of small schooners from Denmark and England in the harbour, here on some trade.

The crew have sampled the meals at the three different restaurants in town, made friends with Kenny, who owns the Sea View Lounge, played darts and pool at the Sea View Lounge, visited the museum, walked down to the ferry docks, enjoyed the beaches at the nearby Sand Banks Provincial Park (and did laundry at the coin laundromat there) and walked to the top of the lookout in town. We’ve also been exploring the natural beauty of the area. The landscape is pretty rugged around here, rocky hills covered with spruce, pine and thick under brush. The starboard watch made an expedition in the skiff on Friday, motoring around to check out all the little rocky islands and tiny coves in the area. The town itself is even set among a bunch of meandering small coves. On Saturday the port watch also made an expedition, this one mostly on foot and in the fog to climb a nearby mountain. A few of the crew have rented cars and driven the two and a half hours to Stephenville, the next closest major town by road. It used to be the site of a very large US Air Force base established in the Second World War that closed in the 1960’s, so driving into town past the old airfield and hangars was interesting.

Our 15-foot, built-on-deck, wooden boat MR BONES has made a few sailing trips here in Burgeo. All of the port watch took turns going out for about an hour and a half on Friday. With her two sails, a main and a jib, MR BONES sails quite well and goes to windward very well – her sculling oar is like power steering. After a nice day of enjoying Burgeo in perfect summer weather, without the slightest hint evident that an enormous storm was heading our way, the crew of the Picton Castle set about getting our ship ready for Hurricane Bill off by Bermuda but already promising to be a rough one.

Alex and Donald add chafe gear

getting out extra hawsers

leaving Burgeo under sail

Nadja re-rigs the stay tackle

PICTON CASTLE and MR BONES in Burgeo

Susie sailing in MR BONES

View the the rest of this Album

Picton Castle sailed off the hook from our roadstead anchorage at Iles de la Madeleine on Tuesday morning, meaning that we got underway under sail alone, without the use of the engine. We sailed away from the archipelago in light wind, turning and bracing the yards as the wind varied, and carried on under sail through the night.

The ship receives weather forecasts in a few different ways. One is on the weather fax, which prints out large ocean NOAA weather charts. We also get text-only forecasts through our NavTex and by satellite email through Inmarsat-C. Our office ashore can also send the ship weather information by email. This is all in addition to VHF radio weather reports and forecasts

We first saw Hurricane Bill, which was then Tropical Storm Bill east of the Caribbean, on the weather fax while we were in Iles de la Madeleine and have been tracking that bad boy since. It seems to be fairly big and strong and fast, so we’ve been monitoring it closely. As Bill has developed, we have been looking at options for safe harbours on the south shore of Newfoundland so we can tie the ship up and wait for the weather to pass. Hurricanes can be tricky to predict with any real accuracy in the long-term (as can any weather), so while there are all kinds of forecasts, the truth is that nobody knows exactly which way Bill will go and how strong it will be when it gets there. But it looks strong and like it is coming close. Wherever it goes, we can be fairly sure that we’ll feel some effects in strong winds and big seas. In order to keep the ship and the crew safe, we altered course from ports further east on the south coast of Newfoundland to head towards Burgeo, a well-protected harbour with a solid dock we can tie up to. We’re not expecting the effects of Bill here until Sunday or Monday, but by heading here sooner, we can be sure that there’s a safe place to put the ship and time to get the ship well secured and prepared for this sort of destructive weather.

We took in all sail and started motoring Wednesday afternoon and through the night when the wind went light and visibility was poor because of drizzle and fog. We came to the approaches to Burgeo early Thursday morning, then headed in and anchored at Burgeo Port. We launched the skiff and Paul, Alex and Nadja went ashore to seek some local knowledge and take some soundings at the dock. The docks at the centre of town are either too shallow or are used frequently by the ferry, so we motored around to the back of town where there’s an abandoned fish plant with a good solid dock that we tied up to. The dock is at the end of an inlet called Short Reach, the whole area is well protected and will be a good place to ride out Hurricane Bill. Over the next few days we’ll make preparations by adding heavy duty chafe gear to all our dock lines and add a few more lines, we’ll put extra gaskets on the sails to keep them firmly stowed and check everything on deck to make sure it’s lashed down securely.

In the meantime, today is sunny and warm (I was not anticipating wearing shorts in Newfoundland, but I am) and a bunch of the crew are off on an expedition in the skiff to explore some of the small islands that surround us here. MR BONES has been launched and the rig and sails are just being set up, so some of the crew will have her sailing after lunch. We have been welcomed extremely warmly by the people of Burgeo who seem to be as excited to see the ship as we are to see them.

Ferry GALIPOLI through the fog at Burgeo Port

Ollie prepares MR BONES to sail

PICTON CASTLE alongside at fish plant in Burgeo

View the the rest of this Album

Picton Castle’s visit to Iles de la Madeleine has been fantastic and the crew have fallen in love with these islands in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. With a year-round population of about 13,000 people, these islands can almost triple in population in the summer to about 35,000 people. They’re part of Quebec and many visitors come from the mainland of Quebec, but an increasing amount of tourists are coming from farther away. This comes as no surprise to us – how could anyone resist the natural scenic beauty of the place and the friendly warmth of the people who live here?

The first island we spotted on the horizon was Ile d’Entree, or Entry Island in English, with high cliff faces topped by rolling hills with no trees. As we sailed closer, we could see the lighthouse and a few neat homes, with cows grazing on the hills beyond. Entry Island is the only inhabited island that is not connected to any of the other islands by land. It’s also one of two English settlements in the otherwise very French Iles de la Madeleine and has a population of 100 during summer and 80 during winter. All of the other islands are connected by long, narrow, flat sand spits.

We anchored just off Cap Aux Meules, the main commercial centre of the islands and the port where the ferry comes in from PEI and Montreal. There are two parts of the harbour there, one that is bigger for the large ocean-going ferries to dock in along with bigger fishing vessels, then a smaller harbour that is full of lobster fishing boats and pleasure craft. Fishing in the number one industry in the Islands, the harbour at Cap Aux Meules is home to 80 fishing vessels alone. In all of the harbours on all of the islands, there are hundreds of vessels for fishing.

Tourism is the second biggest industry in Iles de la Madeleine, but we found the people to be more than just ordinarily friendly. We all tried our best to communicate with our broken French (except for Cat, whose first language is French), in most cases people jumped in and helped us out in English. By just sitting on a patio with a cold drink or striking up a conversation on the wharf, it was easy to make friends. Manon, from the local radio station, explained to me that people from the Islands are naturally curious, which I recognize as a trait in many small communities, and are particularly curious about things that have to do with boats and the sea, which makes sense because those elements are such a part of daily life. It was amazing to be at a beach on the opposite side of the islands from where the ship was anchored and start a conversation with someone who knew immediately what I was talking about when I said I sail on Picton Castle.

There seem to be a lot of young people in Iles de la Madeleine, and lots of things to do to keep them engaged and occupied. Our crew took in a few different live music shows, all of which received great reviews. Beaches are beautiful, long ribbons of white sand stretching for kilometres at a time. In some of the low areas between islands, salt water lagoons are formed and they are ideal spots for kiteboarding and windsurfing with lots of wind but less waves than the open ocean. With caves to explore, trails to hike, there are all sorts of beautiful sights to see. Many of the Islands’ residents are artists and craftspeople, there are little studios everywhere. Dining out on the Islands is also fantastic with great restaurants, well-stocked little grocery stores and outstanding bakeries and delis that would be found in big cosmopolitan cities.

Donald, Buddy and I made friends with a local excursion boat driver named Michel who offered to show us around the islands one day. We drove from one end of the archipelago to the other, stopping several times along the way to eat, drink, walk on beaches, take photos and generally enjoy the day. La Grave was one of the most interesting places we stopped, the original settlement on the Islands. While it doesn’t appear that very many people live there now, the old buildings have been turned into restaurants and shops. The buildings are all made of wood with wood shingles on the outside walls, all are quite small and fairly close together along the water. One of the buildings now houses a restaurant with live music – they have instruments there and on nights when no performers are scheduled to play, restaurant patrons are welcome to take the stage. We also saw artists’ studios where jewellery and sand sculptures are made, a cheese house, a place that makes Bagosse (the local home made alcohol), interesting churches and lots and lots of fishing boats.

When the ship is anchored, we make scheduled runs in the skiff to transport people between the ship and the shore. The skiff run was a fairly long one here, so it was a good chance to do some small boat handling instruction and practice. Our 15 foot Grenadian boat that we built onboard last winter, MR BONES, was launched again here, this time with a new sailing rig and two new sails. The sails are made out of green and orange tarps, sewn together where they could be and stuck together in other places with contact cement. The wind was good for sailing and MR BONES sailed well, shooting off to windward.

After a one day delay in sailing to wait for favourable winds, Picton Castle sailed from Iles de la Madeleine this morning, bound for Newfoundland and the French islands of St Pierre & Miquelon, not far away.

at anchor just off Cap Aux Meules

Dave and Cat stow headsails

Entry Island over the braces

fishing boats in harbour at Cap Aux Meules

hiking through sand dunes to the best beach

View the the rest of this Album

Picton Castle sailed from Summerside, PEI last Tuesday, bound for Iles de la Madeleine. Twelve new crew members joined us in Summerside and they were all oriented to the ship and began their instruction in safety procedures and the sails and rigging while at anchor. We did two drills on Tuesday, one simulating a man overboard where we deployed gear, launched and recovered the rescue boat, the other simulating a fire in the rag bin where we ran out and charged the fire hoses. We sailed off the hook in Summerside, then out the channel and into the Northumberland Strait.

The wind was more favourable for us to head east in the Strait (we could have gone west around PEI), passing under the Confederation Bridge once again. We passed through the centre span under sail late Tuesday afternoon, then headed to anchor on the PEI coast just on the other side of the bridge. Wednesday morning we continued sailing east in the Northumberland Strait, turning on the main engine for a few hours to help push us along in the light wind. We anchored again that evening, on the Nova Scotia side of the Northumberland Strait.

Thursday brought the first overnight sail for our new crew. We broke into watches shortly after heaving up the anchor and started sailing around the east end of PEI. By Thursday evening, we could see the lights of Souris in north eastern PEI, then we sailed out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, out of sight of land, towards Iles de la Madeleine.

Being at sea for a few days means that the crew can fall into a comfortable rhythm of watches and ship’s work. On this passage, the pin rails on the foc’sle head were scraped, sanded and varnished, the breezeway overhead was painted, rust was chipped from the starboard bulwarks on the well deck, ratlines were replaced, the mizzen shrouds were tarred, and blocks were oiled on deck and aloft. Sailmaker David was working on a sail he laid out in Summerside for MR BONES, our Grenadian boat built on board this past winter. MR BONES was on the hatch to get the final bits of a sailing rig installed, so when the sail was finished we set up the rig in the boat on the hatch to test it out. The mainsail looked great, so David also put together a jib, made of the same green and orange tarp material. This was a busy passage for the sailmaker as David also put the finishing touches on a new main royal, which would be bent on while at anchor.

Friday was a great sailing day as we approached Iles de la Madeleine. We spotted Entry Island, the most south-eastern island in the archipelago first, then sailed past it and into the Baie de Plaisance (which translates to English as Pleasure Bay) and toward the island and town of Cap Aux Meules (which translates to English as Wheel Cape, as in a cheese wheel, not sure why that’s its name) where we would anchor.

Hayley learns to replace ratline

Jackie chipping rust

Marie sands the pin rail

new sail and rig for MR BONES

NickSA tars the mizzen

View the the rest of this Album

Summerside was hardly all work and no play. Each crew member had a couple of days off to explore the town and the beautiful countryside of Prince Edward Island. A group of our crew had tickets to a big concert on the day the ship sailed in, so they drove across the Confederation Bridge (which we had just sailed under the day before) to see AC/DC in Moncton, New Brunswick. From all reports, the concert was outstanding. More than 90,000 people attended. Wow!

Low Tide Golf Tournament

On Saturday night, the off-watch was invited to Ron Casey’s house for the 22nd annual Sand Bar golf tournament. Every year, Ron waits for a day in August when the tide is out for a long time and sets up an eight hole golf course on the sand below the high tide mark. All the equipment needed to play was provided, including clubs, balls, tees and score cards. Some of the holes were quite challenging with water hazards and obstructions from seaweed, rocks, tall grass, ridges in the sand and jellyfish. The unusual terrain of the course meant that luck was required almost as much as skill in order to get a good score. Maria won two prizes, one for top female golfer and one for coming from the farthest distance away (she’s from South Africa). The golf game was followed by a huge BBQ and corn and mussel boil, along with a bonfire. All of our crew who attended the sand bar golf were also “Spudded In”, making us honorary Prince Edward Islanders. We were each given a potato to kiss, then we had to hop across the lawn in a potato sack, kiss the potato again and drink a shot of rum if you were old enough. Official certificates were issued at the end of the ceremony and we could have our pictures taken with a guy in a potato suit.

Yacht Club

The Silver Fox Yacht Club was our base of operations ashore. They were great about letting us relax, do laundry, take showers, lay out a sail and use their dock for skiff runs. One of the club members, Dick, had some of our crew out to sail his 35′ sloop for small vessel handling training and practice. This Yacht Club facility is pretty unusual, even unique because it’s a combination yacht club and curling club, the only one of its kind in Canada. The two seasonal uses seem to balance each other out well, with a full marina of boats in the summer and a very active curling program in the winter.

New Crew and Drills

In Summerside, we ended the second leg of this summer’s voyage around the Maritimes and began the third leg. We said goodbye to five crew members and welcomed twelve new ones on Monday. There are a few familiar faces joining us again, including Ollie from the fourth world circumnavigation, Grady and Judy from the summer of 2006, and Allison, Hayley and John who have been with us on a few different summer voyages. We also have some new folks who have never been aboard before. As people arrived on Monday, they all received orientation tours. On Tuesday morning, before we sailed from Summerside, we did a review of safety procedures and safety training for the whole crew, followed by a man overboard drill where we launched and recovered the boat and a fire drill where we ran out and charged the hoses.

We got underway late Tuesday morning, sailing off the hook and out of Summerside harbour. We’re bound for the Magdalen Islands, or Les Iles de la Madeleine as they’re called in French, which are in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and part of the province of Quebec. Then onward towards Newfoundland…

Anne and Allison practice donning life jackets with Marie

Donald rescues his golf ball from a water hazard

Lewis, Nate, Maria and Julie get Spudded In

View the the rest of this Album

Picton Castle sailed in to the inner harbour and the anchorage at Summerside on Thursday and dropped the anchor, all under sail alone. As the crew furled sail, Ron Casey, the Executive Director of Downtown Summerside and host for our visit, came out to meet the ship along with his team in period costume representing some of Summerside’s historic figures. The crew were welcomed warmly by these characters and we were all given burlap potato sacks filled with all sorts of tourist information and small gifts from the Island. Ron is truly one of the most enthusiastic and welcoming people we know and Summerside is lucky to have him. Every town should have a Ron Casey.

Mr. Bones

Exciting projects were planned for days on board at anchor in Summerside. On the passage from Pugwash, we sent Mr. Bones, our small wooden Grenadian boat built mostly aboard, down from the galley house to the hatch for a paint job and to have a sailing rig installed. Mr. Bones was launched in Summerside and many of the crew went rowing. Sailmaker Dave spent a day ashore at the Silver Fox Yacht Club laying out a sail for Mr. Bones, which will be made out of green and orange tarps.

Rigging the Spanker Gaff

The gaff for the spanker, the aftermost sail, was sent down for an overhaul in Summerside. The on-watch brought the gaff down to deck on Friday and moved it forward to the well-deck so they could work on it. The whole spar was scraped, sanded, stained and varnished, the metal and rope hardware was overhauled and replaced as necessary. The rigging that attaches to the gaff was also brought down to be inspected and tarred. All hands were on board on Tuesday to send the gaff back up before we left Summerside. It was hauled up at the inboard end using a block and heavy samson braid until that end, the goose-neck, could be secured to the mast. The gaff vangs and span were then secured to the end of the gaff and the outboard end was hauled up and the span was shackled on and the vangs made fast in order to put the gaff back into its usual place. Lifting heavy spars is a great exercise in seamanship that crew members don’t often get to practice at sea, so sending the gaff down and back up was a good rigging for our crew and an interesting project for them to be a part of.

A New Topgallant Sail

Bending on the new main t’gallant was the third big project in Summerside. This sail was sewn entirely by hand on board Picton Castle during our recent Voyage of the Atlantic. Bending on a brand new sail is like putting on a brand new outfit, kind of a special occasion and everyone comments on how great it looks. This was the first time this sail had ever been bent on, so the canvas was clean and white and stiff. The sail was first set and used to sail out of Summerside. Sailmaker Dave is just days away from completing a new royal, so perhaps we’ll get to bend that one on soon as well.

Alex steadies the gaff while rigging is attached

Captain Moreland and Ron Casey

launching MR BONES in Summerside

View the the rest of this Album

The distance from Pugwash, Nova Scotia to Summerside, Prince Edward Island is only about 40 nautical miles. Picton Castle sailed from Pugwash on Sunday morning, following Fair Jeanne, Roseway, Mist of Avalon and Pride of Baltimore II out of the harbour at high tide into a sunny and very calm day. Pugwash was the final port of Tall Ships Nova Scotia 2009 and all the vessels were going our separate ways.

Picton Castle was bound for Summerside, on the other side of the Northumberland Strait. We had four days to make this 40nm passage, so our original plan was to sail around Prince Edward Island. We thought it would be a good objective for a four day sail at about 270 miles all the way around, but that would require wind. When we left Pugwash on Sunday, there was next to no wind, so our plan had to change. We motored east until we reached the North Shore of Malagash Point around noon, then anchored. So no problem, the next plan was good too, sail in the Northumberland during the day light hours and anchor at night and do plenty of maneuvers like tacking.

Sunday was declared Sunday Funday. We often take Sundays off from doing ship’s work while we’re at sea. Sunday Funday also has the added fun of swimming, rope swinging and generally relaxing together. The rope swing was rigged from the fore yard, crew took turns swinging out from the cathead and plunging into the ocean. The water was warm by Nova Scotian standards at 21 degrees Celsius and even those crew members who are used to swimming only in the tropics declared that the water temperature was decent enough to dive in. Inflatable pool toys were dragged out of the foc’sle and blown up. Most hands spent a good part of the afternoon floating about.

After a peaceful night at anchor, we got underway the next morning and sailed slowly for Summerside. First the gang scrambled up the rigging and loosed all sail, then they hove up the anchor and got underway under sail without using the engine. The wind was light, so our top speed was about three knots. We sailed out into the Northumberland Strait, then had to tack the ship in the afternoon to head back towards the Nova Scotia shore to anchor for the night. Tacking is a great exercise for the crew because it requires coordinated efforts and snappy sail handling. The helmsman first puts the helm hard over to turn the ship into the wind, then the heads’l sheets are let loose to take the pressure off the bow while the ship starts to turn. The spanker is hauled amidships, sometimes heads’ls are taken in and the clews on the courses get hauled up. The main topmast stays’l is passed to the new tack, main yards are braced around to the new tack and finally the fore yards come around and heads’l sheets are passed to the new tack as well. All of these movements need to happen quickly at just the right moment to get the ship to turn properly. To really get a feel for it, we tacked three times in a row with the crew taking different jobs each time. .

Monday night we anchored off Cape Cliff, about 8nm to the west of where we had been anchored the night before. On Tuesday we continued the routine of heaving up the anchor in the morning, getting underway, sailing out into the Northumberland Strait towards PEI then turning back to Nova Scotia and ending up just a bit closer to Summerside than we were the night before.

Day sailing has meant that we can be more productive with workshops and ship’s work because we have the full crew on deck all day. During Tall Ships events it can be difficult to get to the maintenance projects that take more time, or create mess or noise, because we have to keep the ship looking her best at all times. This passage has allowed us to chip, prime and paint different spots, to tar the rig, to get some painting projects done and to get Mr. Bones, the boat that we partly built, from a set of Grenadian frames and finished on board during the Voyage of the Atlantic, onto the cargo hatch for a fresh paint job and to be fitted with a sailing rig.

In addition to tacking practice, other workshops have been taking place on this passage. We’ve been cleaning up from ship’s work around 4pm, then holding workshops before supper. On Tuesday, Chief Mate Michael taught the crew about weather maps and how to read and analyze them, followed by a lesson and hands on practice with the lead line, which we use to take soundings to measure the depth of the water.

The wind was quite light on Tuesday, pushing the ship along, under full sail, at less than two knots, sometimes even slower. When the wind had almost died completely after lunch, we had another swim call. After bracing the yards on opposite tacks to stop the ship from moving forward at all (heaving-to), we put out a life ring, set lookouts and all the other things we do for an at sea swim call and the crew jumped into the water. We didn’t rig the rope swing, but jumping into the water from the bowsprit is just as much of a thrill and equally entertaining to watch.

Tuesday night we anchored off Heather Beach, about two and a half nautical miles away from Pugwash. Wednesday morning we heaved up the anchor again and continued on towards Summerside. The wind was stronger on Wednesday than it had been for the rest of the week, so we had a great sail. Shortly after lunch, Picton Castle passed under the centre span of the Confederation Bridge under sail alone. The Confederation Bridge links Prince Edward Island to the mainland, a very long bridge that was built in the 1990s. It’s amazing to be underneath it and see how thin and long it really is. After we passed under the bridge, the wind picked up a bit more and we were flying along at about 8 knots, a real thrill, especially for those crew members who have only been aboard a few weeks and who will be leaving us in Summerside.

We anchored once again on Wednesday night, across the Northumberland Strait from Summerside so that we would be close enough to get into port early in the day on Thursday. We sailed off the hook, then made our way across the Strait. As we approached Summerside, we sailed into the channel, bracing the yards as we needed to turn the ship to keep our course, and then dropped the anchor in Summerside harbour under full sail.

David, Lewis, Jackie and Sasha jump

Maria, Julie, Rachel and Andrea sand MR BONES

Meredith steers us under the bridge

Mike explains weather maps

Susie chips rust

View the the rest of this Album

Manoeuvring a big ship in and out of the harbour in Pugwash is a bit of a challenge. Small, narrow and there is a strong current running through the harbour at about five knots for a good part of the day – the only time that a ship like Picton Castle could enter and leave the harbour particularly safely is about 45 minutes on either side of high tide. Salt mining is a big industry here so they load salt into pretty big freighters here, about 50 times a year, with two powerful tug-boats big salt ships get pulled in backwards to load. They get pulled in backwards as there is not room in Pugwash to turn them around. The sailing was good on the way from Pictou to Pugwash so we arrived at the entrance to the harbour before nightfall and anchored until high tide the following morning. Early Friday morning we heaved up the anchor, got underway, followed the narrow, winding channel into the harbour and got the ship tied up for our next and last Tall Ships Nova Scotia 2009 event.

The Tall Ships visit in Pugwash was combined with their annual HarbourFest, which meant there were all sorts of events going on. The duty-watch, of course, looked after the deck tours aboard the ship. The off-duty watch took in musical performances, beach volleyball, the across-the-harbour golf ball driving contest, the Nova Scotia Arm Wrestling championships and other fun events. No shortage of lobster-rolls, fried this and grilled that, cotton candy and Johnny Depp “Capt Jack Sparrow” look-alikes wandering about brandishing plastic swords and groaning that pirate “arrrr” that seems so necessary. We had three pairs of crew entered in the dory races, Sasha and Jason, Buddy and Bub, and Julie and Gratia. The two men’s teams ended up racing each other in the consolation finals. Our women’s team, Julie and Gratia, came second in the womens’ division and received medals. We take these sort of things in stride.

Pugwash is home to a giant salt mine, which supplies most of Atlantic Canada with salt, as well as markets in Quebec and the US. The wharf where the ships were tied up belongs to the Canadian Salt Company and is where they load salt onto large bulk carriers for distribution. Being a working mine, it is not usually open to visitors, but they arranged a special tour for a handful of crew with the mine manager, Grant Sutherland, and two supervisors, Gordon and Peter. After a safety orientation and being outfitted with safety gear, we went 1,000 feet underground in a small elevator, and stepped into a strangely quiet and dry underground world. The mine is made up of long tunnels that are wide enough to accommodate three big trucks side by side, with the overhead either 30 or 60 feet up, depending on what stage of mining that particular tunnel is at. Our group got into the back of two trucks and rode around on some of the 62 miles of underground roads through the mine. On the well-travelled main thoroughfares there is plastic mesh bolted to the overhead to prevent dust and other bits from falling, and to keep the wires that run through the mine supplying electricity out of the way. Big tubes also ran overhead in some areas, supplying fresh air to the mine. While some sections were lit by bright overhead lights, there were some sections that were completely dark, except for the lights we wore as part of our safety gear. We were told that miners are trained to look up every time they move into a new area in the mine to make sure that there is no danger of anything falling on them. There is a big machine with one pointy end that scratches the surface of the overhead every four to six inches to loosen and remove any bits that may fall before that area is opened up for people not in big, protected machines to work in. The machines they use are huge and powerful. We drove through the underground repair shop to see where they are all fixed. There is next to no moisture in the air in the mine, so equipment made of metal, covered in salt, does not rust. Because there is so much salt on them, those same pieces of equipment, if brought to the surface, would rust completely within days to a point where vehicle doors won’t even open and the equipment is absolutely useless. Everything goes in and out of the mine in the same elevator we rode in, including all the new equipment which must be dismantled, shipped down and reassembled below ground, and all the salt coming out of the mine. The whole tour was quite amazing.

Pugwash was also the setting of some of the very first informal nuclear arms limitation talks in the late 1950’s between the east and west. Quite famous back in the day for this, the town won the Nobel Prize for hosting these talks.

Pugwash being the last port of Tall Ships events, we figured we should host a party on our last night there for the crews of all the ships in port including Pride of Baltimore II, Roseway, Mist of Avalon, Fair Jeanne, and Theodore Too. We had been sailing company with all these fine ships and their excellent crews for a while at the different ports and now this was all coming to an end. The dress code was semi-formal so most of the girls were in skirts and dresses, the guys wore button down shirts with ties and even a few suit jackets. Pride of Baltimore II crew are a musical bunch and have formed a band, complete with guitars, banjo, fiddle and bass, who played two sets at the party. There was dancing on the hatch, great music and conversation, a good way to bid farewell to our little fleet. That same evening we had a reception for the Jost Vineyards family and staff and invited to them all to stay for our crew party – good time had by all. The next day, promptly with the tide, one by one, all the ships motored out of the harbour into the Northumberland Strait and then scattered to the winds. A salt ship lay at anchor waiting for us all to make room so the wharf could get back to is normal business. And thus ends Tall Ships Nova Scotia 2009.

Crew on the mine tour at Pugwash

Tim on lookout as MIST OF AVALON sails by

View the the rest of this Album

Picton Castle sailed out the long fjord-like river from Sydney on Monday morning with our Sydney harbour (and all of Cape Breton) pilot, Captain MacKelvie, aboard. All in a flat calm. We would have sailed the night before but we could not get the required pilot to take us out. Pictou, the next port on our Tall Ships tour of Nova Scotia, was 200 nautical miles away. Some of the ships in the fleet had chosen to sail through the Bras D’Or lakes in Cape Breton, some, like us, who have rigs too tall for the high tension wires over the lakes, would be heading around Cape North, the tippy-top of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia and along the northwest coast of Cape Breton Island. It was a bit foggy as we rounded the Cape, but shortly after the skies cleared we were amazed by the beauty of the coastline. Giant cliffs rising out of the sea, heavily forested hills, sections of shale that looked like they were sliding into the ocean, even a long and narrow waterfall. Most of the land we saw is uninhabited, except for the occasional farm or small village. Breathtakingly gorgeous in the summer, probably a difficult place to live in the harsh winter conditions they must experience here.

We sailed into Pictou at 2:00 on Tuesday afternoon with a big crowd on the wharf to welcome us in and within an hour, we had the ship tied up and ready to open for deck tours. I have been amazed by the number of people who come out to see the ship in these small Nova Scotia towns. Some are repeat visitors, having seen the ships in Halifax a few weeks ago or in previous years, some are new to tall ships, having never been aboard before. There’s something about these ships that excites people and wraps them up in the idea of sailing, ships, the sea and adventure. Maybe it’s the heritage angle as once upon a time these small ports were regularly serviced by schooners and square-riggers about the size of the Picton Castle.

Pictou is home to its own tall ship, Hector, a replica of the original ship which brought the first Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia from Scotland in 1773. The original ship was built earlier in the 1700s, so she was an older type ship when she left Scotland for the New World, bringing people who were looking for new business opportunities, particularly in the forestry industry. They were also motivated by the idea of owning their own land and getting away from a tough life in Scotland. The replica was built over a period of about seven years, about ten years ago. Captain Moreland was chief rigger in 2003, getting the ship rigged up as you see her today. Hector was blown onto the rocks in Hurricane Juan in 2004, and again had drama in 2007 when one of her masts was struck by lightning. Hector is tied up at the Hector Heritage Quay, which also has an interpretation centre, a blacksmith shop, a carpentry shop and a small gift shop. Captain Moreland says she is one of the best replica / display ships anywhere.

The organizers of the Tall Ships event in Pictou hosted a breakfast for the crew on Wednesday morning at the Hector Heritage Quay. The food was great and our crew was joined by the mayor of Pictou, who introduced himself simply as Joe. As the morning went on, Joe mentioned that a woman from Pictou had sailed on Picton Castle. Mary Anne was shipmates with of a few of us aboard, and Donald and Ben mentioned to Joe that they had tried, unsuccessfully, to get in touch with her. Joe knew exactly where Mary Anne lives and drove Donald and Ben to her house. Imagine Mary Anne’s surprise when, at 8:15 in the morning, two old shipmates and the mayor turned up at her front door.

On Thursday morning, it was time to get underway and sail from Pictou to Pugwash, the next and final stop on our Tall Ships tour of Nova Scotia. The wind was good and strong on Thursday morning, making it a great day for sailing. All of the ships got off the dock, one after another, and hoisted their sails to parade out of the harbour. We parted ways here with Amistad, as they headed back towards the USA to continue on with their program. Sail were set up to the t’gallants and the helmsmen steered full and by as we sailed up the Northumberland Strait along with Pride of Baltimore II, Roseway and Mist of Avalon.

Jackie on helm on the coast of Cape Breton

Marie gets ready to ospho on the way to Pictou

PC under sail on the way to Pictou

View the the rest of this Album