Crew Blog

Nearing the end

18 June 2008

Nearing the End

Normally, working at the bow equates to getting soaked in sea water.  In these last few days of low winds, however, the bow remains completely dry. With our new Iceberg Watch to be manned day and night as we pass below the southern tip of New Foundland, some of us are actually vying for the chance to take that job.

Occasionally we’ve dropped to only a knot of speed, if that. Frustrating as that may be in regards to reaching Cork, it nevertheless gives us magical moments to savour. Sitting or even standing on the pulpit, leaning against the forestay, it feels like we’re hovering a few meters above the glassy water. Before us we see nothing but a horizonless curve of pearlescent dark gray sea water ghosting beneath our feet, merging seamlessly into a fuzzy dirty white overcast above our heads.

Trusting in the security of my safety strap, I like to grasp the forestay with one hand and lean out over the water, feeling like a square rigger’s figurehead. With no sound but the quietest of tinkling of the small bow wake below and the enjoyably disorienting lack of a clear horizon, it’s easy to imagine being at the nose of a spaceship moving through the emptiness of space.

We’ve just over two weeks left in this voyage, having spent 40 weeks in getting this far. It’s been great but I am ready to move on. Still, moments such as those iceberg watches on crisp nights under a featureless sky and above a whispering sea will be the kind of moments I’ll miss in the years to come.

Timothy Ettridge