Tips for Future Trainees

[Note: Brooks was kind enough to compile the first draft of this list based on his and others' experience in the Caribbean during the winter of '97. He's got some excellent tips that aren't in the manual. If you can think of any others to add here, please let me know.]

Things to take:

1. Penlight - Penlight is better than a full size flashlight. Flashlights are prohibited on deck at night to protect the night vision of crew on watch. A penlight is more easily shaded when moving in your sleeping quarters, thus lessening the chance of awakening bunk mates.
2. Foot care stuff - My shoes gave me lots of blisters. Walking on a pitching deck, going up and down ladders, and climbing aloft all put your feet in positions you are probably not used to. I quickly ran through my stock of Band-Aids and Dr. Scholl's Moleskin. I ended up using Duct Tape and cloth cut from my pants legs to pad my feet. Take lots of Moleskin.
3. Gloves - I wore high grip gloves, the kind with criss-crosses of rubber. The finger tips were cut off, and my hands developed blisters where the glove material ended. Over the course of the week, I started to get calluses, but unless you have outdoor hands, I suggest gloves.
4. Fan - The sleeping compartments are hot; it is the tropics, after all. I wish I had taken a small battery powered fan.
5. Air mattress - Several nights I slept on the gun deck, to avoid the heat. An air mattress would have made the nights go better.
6. Duct tape - Good for repairing suitcases, clothes, feet.
7. Small diameter line - Good for clothes lines to hang wet stuff in the berthing compartments.
8. Fewer clothes - Everyone gets real dirty, and no one minds if your clothes are not clean. You have two cubicles to store stuff, each about 2 cubic feet in size. I was lucky in that there were empty bunks where I could keep all the junk I brought, but with a full ship, I would have been hurting for space.
9. No spare food - Hunter is a marvelous cook, and you needn't worry about getting enough good food to eat. I was really impressed by his skill. His lasagna is world class! We had nice salads at every dinner, too.
10. Ear plugs - It's inevitable someone will snore. If it's you, consider bringing earplugs for your cabin-mates!

Working the Lines, Capstan

Our group of trainees pretty much figured out hauling techniques on our own. Here are a few tips from our experience.

1. Vertical lines: When several people are all hauling on one vertical line, where do you place your hands? We found that letting the tallest person grab highest, next tallest just below, etc. worked best. Let tallest grab first, then you place your hand just below theirs, and so on; so you all grab on in a sort of ripple effect. You all haul simultaneously when all hands are on the line, of course. Seems simple enough, but it took us several days to figure that out.
2. Sweating a line: If you are helping sweat a line (the crew will show you how) with another person, let one person be the leader, and the other just watches the leader's body to get in synch. This worked better for me than trying to synchronize based on timing; what with vessel motion, the leader's timing may not be regular like a clock.
3. Manning the capstan: a) For the really tough heaves, you must have a person call out to time the push. Don't be afraid to do the calling; "Two..Six" is the traditional call, with the mighty heave on the "Six." One night we heaved "Rose" off a sandbar when the engines couldn't do the job. b) Also, don't spin the capstan too fast; you have to cross the heaving line twice each revolution, and if you are going fast you can't get your legs over the line reliably. c) When the mate calls out "Safety" he is not talking to you, but to the anchor party. You just hold the bars when he calls out, you don't "flip the dogs" (until he expressly tells you to).