Two more days.....

The count down is on and we're almost ready to go....

We've spent the last week doing tons of ship work including working aloft to bend on 13 sails. This involves climbing up the rigging, then climbing out onto the yards (the large beams that hold up the sails and cross the masts) then shimmying out to the end of the yards and holding on for dear life while hoisting a massive canvas square sail and holding it there while we lash it to the jackstay (a metal bar attached to the front of the yard). It's a pretty weird experience and a bit nerve-wracking, but after the first ten minutes or so you get so caught up in what you're doing that the nervousness wanes and you suddenly feel like maybe you could be a sailor after all.

I've been really enjoying the ship work. I think that sailing comes with a whole different mind set than what we're normally used to. If something needs to be fixed or replaced, we fix it or make it ourselves rather than waiting for someone from the outside to do it for us. I've been working a bit at sewing chafe gear onto some of the lines, which are just pieces of canvas or leather sewn around a line to stop it from rubbing on some surrounding metal or rigging and wearing through. This job uses the same skills as sail makers use and I could see myself becoming very interested in learning more sail making in the year to come. There is a sense of craft to everything we do. Even coiling a line is a bit of an art and not to be done haphazardly.

We've also undergone a major Transport Canada Safety inspection which involved us going through all of our safety drills for the inspector and a thorough inspection of the ship. When it was finished the inspector mustered us all and told us that he was extremely impressed by us, and had found not a single fault in our safety, and would even love to sail on the ship himself if ever he got the chance. This was a huge honour, and apparantly a very rare one, and of course, under the circumstances and attention that has been paid to safety in the last year, a very great relief for all involved.

Now all that is left to do are some final preparations and then we're off!! None of us can believe it!!

Depending on the weather we will be setting sail on either Tues. or Wed. this week.

Next stop Ireland!!

I'll blog again from the other side of the Atlantic.