Daily Journal

July 10, 2010

By David M. Lawrence

Just before watch turnover at 0700 hours, B Watch and C Watch set the mains'l, the largest sail on the ship. Given the number of lines involved, it is a fairly simple sail to set – in theory, anyway, but given its size, it takes a lot of effort. First, cast off the sail ties that hold the sail to the boom – the structure that the foot, or lower part of the sail, is anchored to. Next, cast off the reefing gear – reefing gear allows you to literally shorten the sail when conditions, such as foul weather, demand less sail area.

Once those sets of lines are free, the real work begins. Cast off the downhaul – a line used to strike the mains'l by pulling its head (the top tip of the triangular sail) down toward the boom. Next, haul away on the mains'l halyard. Halyards are lines used to haul up, or raise sails that are being set. Once the mains'l is about three-quarters of the way up, someone hauls away on the topping lift – a line used to raise the main boom out of the cradle it rests in when the sail is furled. (You can imagine how inconvenient it would be to allow the half-ton, 60-foot-long boom to swing around uncontrolled.)

As the head of the mains'l reaches its destination, other crew members adjust the mains'l sheet. Sheets are lines used to adjust the trim, or angle of attack to the wind, of a sail. In the case of the Cramer's mains'l, the sheet is attached to a winch on the quarterdeck. When we want more speed, or if the wind is behind us, we sheet out (let out line) the main to let the free end of the boom swing away from the ship's centerline. When we want to slow down, or if the wind is coming from either side of the ship, we sheet in the main – in effect, we pull the free end of the boom toward the ship's center.

On a starboard tack (where the wind comes over the starboard side first), the mains'l is sheeted to the port side, that is, the free end of the boom is set to the left of the ship's centerline. On a port tack, it is sheeted to the starboard side.

By 0700, we had finishing setting the mains'l and were sailing with it, the main stays'l, and the three "square" sails, the course, tops'l, and raffee (a triangular-shaped sail at the top of the foremast). We were on a starboard tack.

About 0900 hours, it was time for more sail handling as we prepared to slow our progress for a neuston tow. Despite their different shapes and orientations to the wind, the forestays'l and course occupy the same sail area. It is necessary to strike one before setting the other in order to keep the boat's sail plan balanced. C Watch (without me) set about striking the raffee and course before setting two of the fore-and-aft sails, the forestays'l and jib.

Both sails, along with the JT (jib tops'l) and main stays'l, are triangular shaped sails whose leading edge (luff) is anchored to a cable called a stay. The procedure for setting the fore-and-aft sails is fairly similar for all: cast off the downhaul, haul on the halyard, and trim the sheets as needed.

Then C Watch struck the course, tops'l, and raffee. The course and tops'l are designed to be furled vertically – the outer edges of the sails are pulled inward toward the foremast and are essentially folded vertically when not in use. A host of lines are used to strike or set them. Two inhauls (one on each side of the ship) pull the earrings, or upper corners of the sails, towards the mast, outhauls toward the mast. Two outhauls (again, one on each side) pull the earrings outward, toward the tips of each sail's respective yard. Brails pull the sides of the sails inward toward the mast.

The course is the lowest of the square sails on the foremast. It hangs from the course yard. It's lower corners (clews) are anchored to the deck by four lines, port and starboard tacks, and port and starboard sheets. The tacks are made fast to bitts (really really large pins) on the deck forward of the mast. The sheets are made fast to pins aft of the mast. To strike the course, the tacks and sheets are either cast off or loosened, the outhauls cast off, and the inhauls and brails (six total, three on the port side and three on the starboard) are hauled in.

The tops'l is the middle square sail on the foremast. It is hangs from the top yard, and its clews are attached to the course yard via sheets, which pull the clews away from the mast. It has port and starboard clewlines, which run from the clews in to the mast, then to to pins forward of the foremast. To strike the tops'l, the sheets are cast off or loosened, the outhauls cast off, and the inhauls, clewlines and brails (eight total, four on the port side and four on the starboard) are hauled in.

The raffee is a bit of an oddball sail. It has no permanent home on the mast. It has to be pulled up when set, and pulled down (and possibly stowed) when struck. The lines are rather simple, though, one halyard, one downhaul, and two sheets. When striking it, you cast off the halyard, cast off the sheets, and pull the downhaul until the sail rests in a heap on the foredeck. Sometimes, such as during an emergency, you need to reduce sail quickly without striking it, so you scandalize the raffee – you loosen the halyard to let it flop forward in front of the tops'l (so that it does not catch any wind).

All this work was completed by 0910 hours – about 20 minutes of work. At 1020 hours, after the neuston tow was completed, C Watch began to undo its work of about an hour before. Setting the tops'l (cast off inhauls, clewlines and brails, haul on outhauls and sheets), striking the jib and fore stays'l (cast off halyard, haul on downhaul, adjust sheets as needed), then setting the course (prepare tacks and sheets, cast off inhauls and brails, haul on outhauls, adjust tacks and sheets as needed), and finally setting the raffee (cast off the downhaul, haul on the halyard, haul on the sheets).

By the time C Watch finished about 20 minutes later, the crew were set – sail-wise, anyway – for the rest of the watch.

Science has been busy with nutrient analysis. Today they analyzed the water samples collected during surface stations for phosphate concentrations. Phosphate may be the most limiting nutrient in the marine ecosystem, and the Sargasso Sea is one of the most nutrient-limited bodies of water in the world's oceans. It will be interesting to see how the results from this expedition compare to samples from other parts of the world.

Later in our watch we passed thru windrows of Sargassum weed. These parallel rows, which run perpendicular to the wind, are formed by the interaction between the wind and the upper layer – the mixed layer – of the ocean. Others had seen large patches of Sargassum before on this expedition, but it was my first time to see so much in one place. I also saw a hiking boot float by in a Sargassum patch just before noon.

Most of today the sun broiled us with ruthless efficiency. After lunch, many of us who were off-duty came on deck to escape the stifling heat below, only to find little shade, hence little relief, above. Personally, I hit a wall of exhaustion and succumbed to a several-hour-long nap in my bunk. I don't think I was the only one who needed some rest.

Later in the day, squalls started building around us. We've been rained on a bit, and we've seen a pretty good light show in a thunderstorm off our starboard beam. The best thing, though, is that the storm clouds have brought some respite to the heat.

And they have made for another yet spectacular sunset over the Sargasso Sea.