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What can I say about our day on the James Craig - a once in a lifetime opportunity. Yes, you can be a paying passenger on one of the ship's open sail days, but to sleep and eat on board, to go up in the rigging, to be part of the crew, to help dock the boat, the list goes on. What a day. All this and I haven't even covered the sights both inside and outside Sydney Harbour !
Would I do it again ??? Tomorrow !!!
Not only did we enjoy the day, but so did everyone else on the water that day. The James Craig doesn't get out very often and to see a 210 foot sailing ship under (nearly) full sail was an opportunity to good to refuse for many.
There were literally 100's of photos taken by everyone on this day, especially of the sails and people climbing the rigging. I hope the ones I have chosen give a good feeling of what the day was like. One thing I haven't covered was the hard learning curve some of us were confronted with. Some of us learnt the hard way that early nights, toast and travelcalm tablets were invented for a reason :-)
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A select few of Sailing Sydney 1 had the privilege of dining at breakfast with the Executive Officers at the captain's table. |
Then it was a map reading lesson. |
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Up on deck our 'watch' got ourselves organised in readiness for some rigging climbing. |
You've got to be kidding me. there was no way the Intrepid Leader was going up there. |
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It didn't stop Sarah though. |
Nearly there. |
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Needless to say, the Intrepid Leader didn't take any of these photos. |
Blimey, it's a looooong way down. Imagine being up there while the boat is at sea ????? |
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You have to be kidding me. And they volunteer to do that ????? |
This tug was used to ease us away from the dock and point us up the harbour. We even had members of our Unit's on board to help. |
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We passed under and by some famous landmarks on our way down the harbour. |
A double banger of a photo - the opera house from underneath the bridge. |
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For those that don't know, the Opera House :-) |
Another view of the Sydney CBD., this time from the water. |
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The skipper of the James Craig at the motor's controls as we headed past Shark Island. |
Sydney heads. Were we supposed go through here and turn right, but we worked out we were about 2 weeks too late. |
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What a view. It was a pity the seas got a bit serious after here and spoiled it for a number on board. |
Laura was always keen to get a few tips on sailing a big boat from the crew. |
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Getting ready to set some sails. |
A picture is worth more words than I can fit in here. |
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It's a job someone has to do. |
What a way to go. |
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Whilst on board, we learnt how to measure a boat's speed using the original 'knot' method. |
Tyler even had a steer. |
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While the rest just laid back and caught up on some well earned rest. |
It was just what the doctor ordered for Sarah, Jess and a couple of new found friends. |
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Just when sea-sickness was occupying many of those on board, the dolphins appeared. |
They hung around for about 15 minutes playing off the port side of the boat before they disappeared as quickly as they appeared. |
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Then it was time to get back to the business of sailing the boat and turning it around to head back towards Sydney. |
Closer to the coast and it was time to relax again and let the north easterly blow us home. |
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Back at dock, T.J. presented the skipper a Certificate of Thanks from the Venturers |
and Melissa presented him one of our Venture hats. |
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