SeeingEyeBlog

This weekend was the culmination of a yearlong training commitment, as I stood aboard the Star of India as a member of the sailing crew. Standing, yes, but rarely standing around, as there was food and music and a lot of work to do to sail her properly.

I had been training to sail the Surprise, but the Coast Guard put a fork in us over a bureaucratic matter, cancelling our sail. The crew of the Star offered to give us spots on their crew, and I was able to sail on Sunday.

It was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done, and it has a lot of parallels to a film set. It is a dynamic environment where a rig might seem safe one minute and kill you the next. Time is a factor, and the entire crew must coordinate in such a way as to get the job done right. Although there is a routine to the work, adaptability and improvisation are required by the crew on almost every piece of work. There’s a lot of waiting for the next shot/tack, but then there is 5 to 10 minutes that can only be described as a dance, because our coordination has to be at the level of a dancing couple, except there are up to 75 people in the dance.

We had 24.5kt apparent winds, and the Star of India made 7.4kts. Pictures forthcoming.

Here’s a dreamy photo of the ship I sail on, called the Surprise. It’s a replica of a 1805-era frigate in the British Royal Navy. In fact, it is the ship used in the making of Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World. We don’t get to drink while working aboard, but of course, neither do we get shot at.

While working in port today, we set most of our sails, and then I took a picture from across the street. We’ll be sailing this ship in the waters around San Diego, CA, on October 29th and November 5th. We also sail November 11th and 12th, this time alongside the Star of India.

In my meager research into my previous post, I stumbled upon these pictures from Shackleton’s voyage to the South Pole, also in color. This site from PBS is also interesting.

These ships were both on the cutting edge of technology at some point.

A scene perhaps typical of the 1860s if they had Nikon Coolpix cameras.

The San Diego Maritime Museum sails the Star of India once per year in November with an all-volunteer crew, making her the oldest active ship in the world (she was built in 1863). The USS Constitution is older, built in 1797, with the longest Navy commission in US history. I believe she also sails every year but for some reason is not considered an active sailing ship.

Here’s a couple pictures of Nick Lee, the AD on The Urn, and the guys when we came to sail on his boat. It’s an Ericsson 30 footer, and apparently you can pick these up as cheap as $6000.